Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov
If he had even 1/4 of this IQ when he was a Flame, he would still be here. Too bad he only showed this in 40 of the 400 games he played here.
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I wouldn't call his style of game, even in Florida, especially high IQ. What Florida did was let him off his chain. Even in his Conn Smyth winning run, he averaged over 2 minutes a game in penalties, and at least some of those weren't great ones.
The Flames were obsessed with this idea that every player had to be tough to play against, because they were griding it out on both sides of the ice. For periods they would let the top line loose, and the top line always seemed to have success in those times.
Bennett has always looked great in the playoffs, even when on the Flames, when the rules were relaxed, hence the nickname "Playoff Sam Bennett". In his last two playoffs with the Flames Bennett had 13 points in 15 games, whch is actually a better rate than he put up in Florida.
The team even knew what they had, but insisted on shackling Bennett to the bottom line and teaching him to be the next Backlund instead of just letting the dog off the chain. That being said, Bennett's regular season stats in Florida, with gifted top 6 minutes aren't spectacular, but it keeps him happy and amped for the playoffs.