Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
I don't know that there are really mutually exclusive ideas here.
Given the way everything played out from draft day 2014 to April 12, 2021, we can recognize that it was a pretty good return and reasonable enough resolution to a tough situation.
It's also reasonable to rue how things played out, especially from ~2017-2020. How things have played out for Sam since leaving certainly exacerbates those feelings.
Though I'd argue that even if he had flamed out in Florida (and any subsequent stops), it wouldn't totally invalidate the idea that he was mishandled here (at least to some extent) - ie. there was probably a path for Yakupov to be a useful (albeit underwhelming) NHL player with a different first 4 years...
It was even reasonable to have hope going in to the start of the 2021 season after another promising playoff performance by Sam, but those hopes evaporated pretty quickly after another start in the bottom 6 blender (mostly on Backlund's wing in the first 6 games before trade request - while Simon and Leivo got fairly long looks on the top-line)...pretty tough to see much of a realistic chance to salvage things beyond that given his contract status and the ED.
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To be clear I have no objections to people who rue how things played out and believe Bennett was mishandled in his time as a Flame. I actually agree with those points.
I object to the takes that the trade was a poor return, that had we just held on longer it would have worked out, and that Sutter would have turned him around here (there were some signs of that but largely he was still the same guy in 17 games under Sutter).
With him asking for a trade, being a pending RFA, and the expansion draft he needed to be moved.
And it’s not like coach Q had some magic wand to make Bennett better overnight. A big part of what made bennett take off has been the opportunity, but I think Bennett himself has a bigger role in all of this than people think.
IMO he had given up a little bit in Calgary. Part of that was the poor coaches and lack of opportunities in the top 6 but he didn’t seem as engaged and had absolutely no confidence.
He saw he had a fresh start in Florida, got the opportunity with a star player, and didn’t want to let what could have been his last opportunity slip.
I look at Nashville as a similar story this year. Duchene, Johansen, and Granlund all looked done as impact NHLers.
But they get left unprotected in the expansion draft, don’t get selected, and maybe needed a bit of a wake up call to refocus.
The trade was that same wake up call / fresh opportunity for Bennett.