Quote:
Originally Posted by dammage79
Who cares what Bennett does in the regular season, he proven quite robustly that he is everything a team looks for in a player when the games matter most.
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But you need to get to the playoffs first. Sam Bennett, with his 51 career high points in the regular season, is a complimentary player. If the Flames never traded Bennett, we wouldnt have signed Kadri. If you swap Bennett for Kadri last season, do the Flames make the playoffs? I think they would be further out.
Bennett plays a hard game and succeeds in the playoffs because opposition needs to focus on Barkov, Reinhart, Tkachuk etc which gives him mismatches that he thrives on. He has never and will never be a 1C. It's a combination of Bennett improving his game in a new environment and Flames not having the structure for an ancillary player like him to thrive.