Quote:
Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen
This is assuming the only means of assessing his play is point production. But it's not. Ferland didn't produce much away from the top line, but his play still got him promoted to the top line where he was able to produce. The opposite seemed to have happened with Bennett.
Even this season, started on the fourth line. Had an opportunity on the third line, had a good game despite not making the scoresheet. Gets to play again on the third line with a better player in Neal. If he has another good game, he'll stay on the third line and when he strings a couple together and an opportunity presents itself, he may even see some top six minutes. But if he sucks, he'll be pushed to the fourth line where people will argue that's why he's not producing.
Again, Flames management had every incentive to want Bennett to flourish. There's no ulterior motive at this point of trying to ruin his NHL career. He played where they thought he should have played. It was up to him to prove them wrong and he had, up until now, failed to do so.
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Ferland was a right winger on a team on which the next best option for part of the season was Brouwer. Of course he moved up the lineup. Bennett had the misfortune of sitting behind Gaudreau and Tkachuk, so there was no chance of him moving up.