I think it was just hard to get Bennett into the top 6 as a center because he had to beat out Monahan or Backlund, and then later Lindholm at the time. I don't think he was ready to be a top 2 center at the time and he never showed that he was better than any of those guys. They tried to get him into the top 6 as a winger, but he didn't seem to adjust to that well.
In hind sight, do you trade Monahan or Backlund to accommodate Bennett, who at the time was a downgrade? Maybe not acquire Lindholm, or keep Lindholm on the wing where he wasn't as productive?
I guess knowing what we know now about Monahan, trading him for some serious loot back then and keeping Bennett would have been great, but Monahan's decline due to injuries wasn't predictable.
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