Bennett told to find a place in Calgary

[sureLoss]

Wes Gilbertson @SUNGilbertson
Absolutely no surprise, but #Flames brass recently told C/W Sam Bennett to find a place in Calgary.

He can still be sent back to juniors.

[hummdeedoo]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

He can still be sent back to juniors.

Hahaha!

[Benched]

no more living out of this?

[Enoch Root]

Still shaking my head that a few people were suggesting sending him back to junior a week or two ago.

Sure he got off to a bit of a slow start - so did Gaudreau, and a large percentage of all rookies, ever.

But that's why a little bit of patience is a good thing. Had he been sent down, that would have been it for the season.

Now it's quickly becoming apparent that he is going to be one of our top forwards this year.

[calgaryblood]

Yeah even McDavid struggled out the gate...oops just pulled a TSN and brought up McDavid on a completely unrelated story.

But seriously Bennett is here to stay and he looks like he might have a chance to be even better than Monahan.

[Erick Estrada]

I love his energy. We aren't going to see his best for a few years when he gets more physically mature but he's definitely a spark plug for this team. You can never go wrong keeping around a player with his compete level.

[rain_e]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

But seriously Bennett is here to stay and he looks like he might have a chance to be even better than Monahan.

IMO he will be better then Monahan.

[mrdonkey]

Bennett will easily be better than Monahan in his prime. Which is no slight to Monahan, either. Sam is the real deal.

[jg13]

He's been better than Monahan the past few games by a mile.

[Mass_nerder]

Bennett appears to have an extra gear that monohan doesn't, and he plays with an edge.

[ernie]

I hope he manages to find a place quick and get his TV hooked up so he doesn't miss any McDavid updates.

[GioforPM]

Monahan hasn't been as bad as some suggest IMO. He's just getting more attention and having to learn to get through it. But he's still a 22 year old centre facing top lines every night.

Bennett will be better offensively, but at the same point in his respective career, Monahan had a much better grasp of NHL centres' defence requirements. This was always expected, though - Monahan was going to be the solid 2-way guy and bennett was going to be a bigger offensive gun. Frankly, Monahan's offense thus far has been a bigger surprise than what Bennett has done for me.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Monahan hasn't been as bad as some suggest IMO. He's just getting more attention and having to learn to get through it. But he's still a 22 year old centre facing top lines every night.

Bennett will be better offensively, but at the same point in his respective career, Monahan had a much better grasp of NHL centres' defence requirements. This was always expected, though - Monahan was going to be the solid 2-way guy and bennett was going to be a bigger offensive gun. Frankly, Monahan's offense thus far has been a bigger surprise than what Bennett has done for me.

Monahan turned 21 less than a month ago.

[Crumpy-Gunt]

Actually if you compare the first 15 or so games of either players career.. Monahan got more offensive zone starts. Until recently Bennett was playing a defensive role for us. I do agree that Monahan at this age had a better natural positioning and reading of the center of the ice, doing all the little things a center needs to. But it's not as if Bennett doesn't come back or play both halves of the ice with equal intensity. Also the time Monahan came into our team was much different. There's a size difference and even at both of their drafts it was different predictions, Monahan was said to be the most NHL ready prospect whereas it was evident Bennett didn't have much to prove in chl but he was perhaps too small to play his game against men. Which i think is still holding him back a bit. I think he would be outright dominant wth another 15lba of muscle.

Mony is just not as skilled offensively, doesn't have that great skating, plus he is rather lethargic and not engaged enough for someone his size. I thought he would be the dude for our top line. I now think he will thrive in a 2nd line c position. He is also more suited to it than Bennett. Not to mention sam complements Gaudreau better imo. It's a no brainer to have Bennett play with Gaudreau.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Crumpy-Gunt

Actually if you compare the first 15 or so games of either players career.. Monahan got more offensive zone starts. Until recently Bennett was playing a defensive role for us. I do agree that Monahan at this age had a better natural positioning and reading of the center of the ice, doing all the little things a center needs to. But it's not as if Bennett doesn't come back or play both halves of the ice with equal intensity. Also the time Monahan came into our team was much different. There's a size difference and even at both of their drafts it was different predictions, Monahan was said to be the most NHL ready prospect whereas it was evident Bennett didn't have much to prove in chl but he was perhaps too small to play his game against men. Which i think is still holding him back a bit. I think he would be outright dominant wth another 15lba of muscle.

Mony is just not as skilled offensively, doesn't have that great skating, plus he is rather lethargic and not engaged enough for someone his size. I thought he would be the dude for our top line. I now think he will thrive in a 2nd line c position. He is also more suited to it than Bennett. Not to mention sam complements Gaudreau better imo. It's a no brainer to have Bennett play with Gaudreau.

I'm not saying Monahan doesn't get plenty of offensive zone starts, although the stat is probably skewed because he started the season with Johnny and Hudler -pure offensive players.

I'm basing it more on matchups. Hartley would never throw Bennett out to check the opponents top line. He does that with Monahan (and more than he used to because of Backlund not doing well at it this year).

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I'm not saying Monahan doesn't get plenty of offensive zone starts, although the stat is probably skewed because he started the season with Johnny and Hudler -pure offensive players.

I'm basing it more on matchups. Hartley would never throw Bennett out to check the opponents top line. He does that with Monahan (and more than he used to because of Backlund not doing well at it this year).

Are you comparing third year pro 21-year-old Monahan to first year pro 19-year-old Bennett? Rookie Monahan was much more sheltered than Bennett.

Bennett has for the most part been much, much better defensively as a 19 year old than Monahan was. However he's had some breakdowns that are just bad habits established on an OHL team that had zero structure. Don't confuse that with a worse understanding of defensive responsibilities. Bennett in his draft year was described as a two-way forward along the lines of Toews.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Not sure why we needed to turn this into a who's better between Monahan and Bennett. Maybe just fun debate I guess. I have no idea who is going to better, or who is / was better at the exact same point in there development. Bennett was the higher touted draft pick during their draft years, so I'd guess it would be fair to suggest he should have the higher ceiling, but I also feel like Monahan has exceed expectations in his young career to date, so maybe the ceiling for him moved up?

We should be happy that we have two young promising centers as part of our core group, and even more happy that the two of them are very different players, both in personality and how they get it done on the ice. I feel that diversity bodes well for the future in Flames land.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by rain_e

IMO he will be better different then Monahan.

Fixed.


I see them bringing different skill sets to the team.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

Are you comparing third year pro 21-year-old Monahan to first year pro 19-year-old Bennett? Rookie Monahan was much more sheltered than Bennett.

Bennett has for the most part been much, much better defensively as a 19 year old than Monahan was. However he's had some breakdowns that are just bad habits established on an OHL team that had zero structure. Don't confuse that with a worse understanding of defensive responsibilities. Bennett in his draft year was described as a two-way forward along the lines of Toews.

No, I said at this time in their careers.

I think Bennett's defensive positioning is not as good as first year Monahan's. Monahan was, from the start, complemented by analysts on his defence. Bennett hasn't been as good at that and Hartley has said as much, in fact, he said it again yesterday. It's part of why he was on the wing for a while.

[saillias]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

Bennett in his draft year was described as a two-way forward along the lines of Toews.

Came to post this. Bennett pre draft was compared to Mike Richards but with way better skating