Quote:
Originally Posted by The Fonz
The point I was making, was that we've handled Baertschi and Bennett very differently, and the OP said we mismanaged both.
We tried to make Baertschi play his way through the ranks, having him go back to the WHL for his draft+1, then in the AHL in his drafts+2 and +3, when it was apparent he wasn't NHL-ready. He requested a trade due to lack of NHL opportunity.
With Bennett, it's nearly the opposite. For 2 seasons now, it has looked like he could use 1st-line time in the minors to find his game, and gain some offensive confidence. Despite that, he's been kept on the NHL roster and has primarily played a middle-six role.
We took 2 very different approaches with these 2 players, and the OP argued that we were wrong each time. So I was asking, what is the proper way to develop young blue chip prospects then?
You can't just gift them time on the top line when you're trying to compete and they haven't earned it. That is what the Oilers do.
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Your last line kind of says it all.
The organizational failing is what plagued the development of both Baertschi and Bennett. They happened in different ways because players are different, but the root cause is the same: As prospects, they were both on an island.
Baertschi is the ultimate 7 in a sea of 3s. His contemporaries were guys like Nemisz, Reinhart, Cundari, Hanowski, Horak. Sven happened to be the warmest body in a group that was collectively cold. But, Feaster had his
'marching orders' from Murray Edwards that the team was to 'compete', so Baertschi became part of the
Rock Solid Plan™. Hartley, aka, the worst coach Cory Sarich ever had, helped ruin Baertschi as a prsopect. A major contributing factor in that was the lack of any other prospects to take the heat off Baertschi, and the insistent pressure from ownership relayed down through his good friend the GM to 'win now'.
Instead of being able to cycle several forward prospects into the lineup to see who stuck, the organization was relying on Baertschi to help them compete at a time when he shouldn't have been shouldering any of that burden.
Spoiled by the incredible success of recent draftee Monahan, Bennett was similarly ruined. The rush to get him into the lineup wasn't for his development, it was to help the team be competitive. The between the lines criticism here is there weren't any other prospects in the system other than 18 year old sam bennett that could possibly have contributed to the team winning. Activate him after an entire season of inactivity! Burn a year of his contract to get him into the lineup! Have his first major taste of pro hockey be in a rivalry playoff series!
Coming in and immediately scoring goals was the worst thing that could've happened to both Baertschi and Bennett. Eyes went wide in the Calgary Flames C-Suite, I'm sure.
Not hard to outcompete David Wolf and Corban Knight for icetime if you're 18 year old Sam Bennett, but that doesn't mean you belong on the roster. When the expectations are to make the playoffs every year, regardless of how terrible your team, you do things that aren't in the best interest of the organization or the player in the long term, you drop that unprepared player into the lineup and have them sink or swim.
Make the playoffs. Try to compete. Even if Roman Cervenka is your second line Centre, make the playoffs.