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Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
Was the problem Gulutzan though...or just that we didn't have enough NHL talent on the wing at the time?
Gaudreau - Monahan were a thing
Tkachuk - Backlund - Frolik were great.
The problem was the Brouwer signing was terrible and the guy brought in to mentor Bennett and be his winger was a terrible player.
And Bennett-Jankowski-Hathaway worked...it didn't really benefit the development of Bennett but those three had decent results and a 56% xGF when they played together that season.
It was probably the best Bennett looked outside of playing on Backlund's wing in his rookie season. And once again it's a problem with the team trying to win too soon, they prioritized immediate results instead of what was best for the development of guys like Bennett and Tkachuk.
But at the time he was still only 21 which meant he still had lots of room to develop. And a better coach "like coach Q" could have figured it out.
Plus Those seasons under Gulutzan his actual play was still good. I remember having a discussion about how he was ready to break out because his underlying chance generation numbers were great.
His actual play as a Flame didn't fall off until the 19-20 season, and then the start of the 20-21 season with Ward. His numbers and underlying stats were legitimately bad in his time with Ward as coach.
Maybe Gulutzan set the table, but in the end it was Ward that drove the nail in the coffin.
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There wasn’t much for Quenville to figure out. Have Bennett centre in the top 6 and leave him there. It was as obvious then as it is now.