[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

Craig Conroy essentially said that Bennett should have gotten more opportunity in Calgary. I think the "it wouldn't have worked out here" line is lazy to be honest, or at best not a well thought-out argument. Why wouldn't it work out here? It definitely did start to look like it was working out here for him under Darryl, and even Bennett stated as much. Why wasn't Bennett put into a position to succeed? Why did it work in Florida? How can the Flames avoid making this same mistake in the future?


Every team misidentifies talent at one point or another. Every team screws up a player's development every now and then. Flames have done this a few times now, and I am sure that if you go around the league, most teams have examples. It doesn't make it ok. Nobody blinked an eye when St. Louis left. That was a huge miss. Button had misidentified Savard and prioritized coaching ahead of Savard, and that was a miss. It cost the Flames a cup - most of the '04 team with Savard + Iginla = cup. Yeah, butterfly effect, so who really knows - it is a what-if game, but definitely one that makes you think. There are other examples too of course (and as I said, I am sure every team screws up in this manner every so often, so this isn't some shot at the Flames).



My point with Bennett - and I was not happy to see him go in that trade - was that he was never really given the runway. I felt the only coach to really put him in a position to succeed here was Hartley, but once he got canned, that was it. Gulutzan came in and the 'growing pains' were no longer tolerated. Ditto for Peters and Ward. None of these were quality coaches, but Bennett was a 4th overall pick. The Flames invested a LOT by drafting him, but then stopped prioritizing his development. Not all prospects develop the same way, and it can be very unfair. I just think it was a mistake to not prioritize his development, and if they had, Bennett would have worked out here. He started getting that more with Sutter, but that was 10 games and he was gone. Bennett apparently didn't even want to get traded any longer as he was enjoying his time with Sutter (and vice versa).



I am glad that Conroy mentioned Bennett himself and how it was a mistake to have not given him more of an opportunity and runway. Hopefully no other talented players fail through the fingers of this organization in the future.

Sutter made him a healthy scratch. At least twice IIRC.