Quote:
Originally Posted by Mathgod
How much of that was management telling Sutter that Bennett was about to be traded? Maybe Sutter handles things very differently if Bennett is not on his way out.
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C'mon, now you are reaching. Bennett was in and out. If he was held out for a trade, he'd not be inserted back at all. And since when does Sutter let management push him around.
Suttler likes grit, which Bennett had even then. But he hates penalties, he hates guys that don't do what he says, especially on defence, and he hates odd man rushs, which Sam sometimes caused by an overaggressive or ill advised forecheck.
Bennett was obviously not developed well here. but some of that is on him as well. Was he gifted top line minutes? Sometimes, albeit not for an extended time, and he never did well up there. Was he played as a centre? No, but he never beat out Monahan, Lindholm or Backlund for those jobs. Was he played on a lower line with underperformers? Yeah, but in theory, putting him with another first rounder in Jankowski and veteran scorer Neal should have been a good development move. Other top picks have kicked the doors down to get their spots. Bennett had a rough start and then didn't help his own cause.
Edit: after he healthy scratched him Sutter put him on the wing with Leivo and Ryan.