Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Why do we assume Bennett would have become the player he is in Florida if he stayed here? There are hundreds of examples of NHL players finding their game after a change of address. It doesn’t mean the original team mismanaged the player. Sometimes it takes a new team, a new city, a new role - a total reset - for a player to find another gear.
If Sharangovich becomes a 35 goal guy with the Flames, that won’t mean the Devils screwed up or that he would have become that player in Jersey.
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I remember somewhere Conroy saying we should have given Sam Bennett more opportunities.
To say he wasn't mismanaged is like saying the organization couldn't have done a better job. I don't think they knew what they had in Sam Bennett. They didn't have the right coaching personal to bring out his abilities the way Florida does. You just have to look at how Ward was benching him with no explanation before he was traded. This was after he was "promised" to be moved to center and given more opportunities after a very strong playoff performance. Inspite of it all Bennett kept wanting to make it work even taking back his trade request. The focus at the time was more on counting on Johnny and Monahan to carry the team but they proved they were not ideal together in the playoffs they lacked size and grit. Flames might have had a much stronger team by pushing Bennett up the line up with Matt.
I think to some degree Bennett was the first domino that started the decline to the core. Those guys were buddies.