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Originally Posted by DazzlinDino
Not sure if it is far fetched but. I think it is more, he had coaches who didn't know what they were looking for and how take advantage of Bennett's skillset. Hartley himself said you have to play star players when they are raw and get them using their skills even if they make mistake and put them back out there. He was talking about Johnny and Monahan and how he did this when he was coaching Colorado. The first thing coach Q did when they traded for Bennett was to start giving Bennett lots of ice time; So now Bennett could gain the confidence and start playing at the level he was drafted for. The coaches we had were unproven and inexperienced at different levels and that factored into Bennett's deployment. If we had a proper coach who knew what we had in Bennett there is no way he would have been left tolling the 3rd and 4th line coach after coach.
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Hartley also played Bennett on wing which was a huge debate here. He, like the others, never put him in Monahan or Backlund’s spot.
ETA: The unfortunate thing is, I think they were all trying to put Bennett with good players. I mean, Brouwer, Janko, Neal, Jagr - those guys were all supposed to be good. On paper they were the right style for him - big, physical linemates with hands.