Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
I always saw Bennett as a similar player to a guy like Nazem Kadri or Henrik Zetterberg. A guy who could be a top two line center on a cup contender, but probably won't be a top tier star (yes Kadri had that one outlier season but i mean his overall body of work) due to mediocre finish / non-elite hands. I think he's proven he's essentially that with Florida since his arrival there.
The Flames simply and mistakenly saw Bennett as a similar player to a guy like Martin Pospisil. An energy winger because he smashed bodies hard.
The smashing was a bonus, but you can't slot someone into a role because of that and force them to be that in every line combination.
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The interesting thing about Bennett as centre is that his improvement (like Lindholm) came when he played with a winger who took over the normal centre role of puck distribution. For Lindholm it was Gaudreau, for Bennett it was Huberdeau. Bennett is a net crasher, which works well for a guy feeding the slot like Huberdeau (and now Tkachuk).