Quote:
Originally Posted by blankall
I don't think it's that simple. Bennett/Backlund/Tkachuk probably wouldn't have worked.
Bennett just doesn't have very good hockey intelligence. The Backlund line is one of the best shut down lines in the league, and in order to play on it you need a lot of play awareness. Bennett's classic move was to get himself deep into the corners and turn the puck over. There's no way to transition back to the defence when you're making those kind of bonehead plays repeatedly.
I also don't think that Gaudreau/Bennett was the best pairing either. Gaudreau likes to slow down the play and relies on everyone to get into proper position and take advantage of space he creates. Once again not what Bennett does. With Gaudreau, Bennett would have gotten some goals causing chaos in front of the net. However, Monahan despite his faults is one of the best trigger men in the league. Monahan was just better in that role.
Huberdeau, on the other hand, loves to take the puck end to end and is always driving right towards the net. Bennett is great at playing with Huberdeau, as what he can do is bully his way towards the net.
If you look at any Florida replays and highlights from last year, all of Bennett's points either came from driving the net with his stick down and receiving a fantastic pass from Huberdeau or just feeding the puck to Huberdeau in transition and Huberdeau finishing the play himself. That wrap around goal from the other night was probably the best goal I've seen Bennett score as a Panther. Even then, Bennett looked a bit shaky with his puck control. He took advantage of Huberdeau drawing defenders back towards the right upper slot and Tippett tying up his man in front of the net. If there had been a defender down low, I don't see Bennett having the ability to deke around them. He simply doesn't have that kind of stickhandling ability.
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Yeah he doesn’t have the ability to make the like of Brouwer, Versteeg and Jankowski looke good. Only Crosby can do that, even Crosby has at least one great winger