No one “gave” Monahan and Backlund “elite possession wingers”. They earned them. And when they were played with them, it worked. It’s not hard to figure out. Coaches stick with success.
Half of the Bennett defenders were irate he wasn’t put at centre by Hartley. Half of them were mad he wasn’t put on the wing with Monahan and Gaudreau.
They tried to grow Bennett with another first rounder, Jankowski. That’s not an abnormal call. They tried him as well with some guys who’d scored in the past. Brouwer, Neal, Jagr, Lucic. What he didn’t get was minutes. That’s probably a bigger argument about his development IMO.
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