Sam Bennett vs. Matthew Tkatchuk

[Bunk]

Tkachuk's transition to the NHL has been smoother, and aided by having the same, consistently good linemates. That's something Bennett hasn't had to date. Tkachuk also a bit more physically mature at his young age than Bennett was.

I think Bennett will continue to improve slowly, but steadily into a 50-60pt forward. I think Tkachuk will be slightly better.

Glad to have both!

[MikePatton]

Tkachuk is having the better season at this point.

I don't know what it is, but often when I watch Bennett it looks like he's moving in slow motion. I don't see the speed in his game a lot of the time. Maybe he's just not as fast as I thought he was.

I don't think it's fair to say one is better than the other. I just hope they both reach their potential.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

He almost obviously will. It'll be interesting to watch who "turns" when he does.

It's a useless fan exercise to see which fans are better than others

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Tkachuk's transition to the NHL has been smoother, and aided by having the same, consistently good linemates. That's something Bennett hasn't had to date. Tkachuk also a bit more physically mature at his young age than Bennett was.

I think Bennett will continue to improve slowly, but steadily into a 50-60pt forward. I think Tkachuk will be slightly better.

Glad to have both!

37 games into his career Bennett looked just as good and arguably created more offense.

That isn't a slight to Tkachuk but I think it's revisionist history saying Tkachuk's transition to the NHL has been smoother.

[heep223]

They're both ####heads and they're our ####heads. Canucks and Oilers fans are going to hate these two for years to come.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

It's a useless fan exercise to see which fans are better than others

Who said anything about better darling?

[FBI]

Love em both.
Love our entire young core actually.

[Firebot]

It's been a tough year for Bennett, but let's remember a few things.

- He was our best player by far in the preseason
- He got in Gulutzan's doghouse with careless offensive zone penalties
- He is still learning center and was moved to the wing for a bit while he was in the doghouse
- He was neutered in the offensive zone because he is afraid of taking more penalties (penalties = no play time)
- He is being played on both the power play and the penalty kill (which I love to see)

When Bennett is on, there is little that can stop him. Right now he is still playing rather timid, and also has a Taylor Hall'esque side to his game where he still tries to do junior moves that do not work in the NHL. Hall mostly got out of it eventually, Bennett will too. He will get there. He is being taught to be more defensively minded, and that means production is bound to take a hit.

I really like Tkachuk and think we may have gotten the steal of the draft, where a few years down the road everyone would have had him as #3 overall.

Bennett tends to go over the line with his penalties, while Tkachuk tends to do a careful balancing act. Bennett needs to be more like Tkachuk to succeed in his role.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Bennett's on pace for a 20-20 season, it hasn't been that rough. Couple big games could easily swing that higher.

Tkachuk's pace is 17-48. Less goals then either Bennet or Monahan scored. Much more assists but he's been consistently lined up with Backlund and Frolik, the former having his best season.

[Monahan For Mayor]

I think Tkachuk is second only too Gaudreau on this team in terms of skill. If I was comparing him to Bennett it would look like this.

Shot - Tkachuk
Speed - Bennett
Hockey IQ - Tkachuk
Defensive Play - Tkachuk
Offensive Play - Tkachuk
Size - Tkachuk
Passing/Vision - Tkachuk

Literally the only thing I see Tkachuk as inferior is his speed, while he makes up for that in edge work. Bennett is still young but I feel like we may have over rated some of his game a bit, in particular his Hockey IQ. He makes many dumb plays, takes dumb penalties, etc. Now im sure that will improve but if it doesn't he will never be a #1C IMO.

If Tkachuk was a centre this would be Tkachuk by a landslide IMO. And I hope I'm not coming off as a Bennett hater cuz I really like him, and happy we have him.

[Locke]

Hard to say, points-wise I think they're both going to be pretty close, I think Bennett has more utility to him as a natural centre and they both bring that edge although Tkachuk moreso.

It depends on the rest of the makeup of my team. If I'm good at centre I take Tkachuk, if not I take Bennett.

I love the fact that we have both.

Gun to my head I'd take Bennett. Shift disturbers are a dime a dozen, shift disturbers with high-end skill? Those are harder to come by.

[Enoch Root]

If Tkachuk was a C, he'd be struggling to learn how to play his position at the NHL level right now.

In fact, there's a good chance that he'd be doing it in London.

[devo22]

love them both as Flames players and am thrilled they're both part of the core going forward. They're going to help the Flames win and piss off rival teams for many, many years. As an expansion team I'd probably take Bennett because center over winger, but it's extremely close due to Tkachuks fantastic rookie season.

[AC]

I love that we have both.

All I want is the ability to watch a playoff series soon with Ferland, Hathaway, Bennett, and Tkachuk out causing mayhem shift after shift.

[dissentowner]

Bennett for me easily. I love Tkachuk's game but Bennett is the total package. I think in his prime he is an 80-90 point C with a physical edge as well. I see Tkachuk as a guy who will slam 30 goals and hit around 65-70 points in his prime while being a physical force and able to irritate the other team to no end. Both will be super valuable to us but Bennett more so.

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Bennett for me easily. I love Tkachuk's game but Bennett is the total package. I think in his prime he is an 80-90 point C with a physical edge as well. I see Tkachuk as a guy who will slam 30 goals and hit around 65-70 points in his prime while being a physical force and able to irritate the other team to no end. Both will be super valuable to us but Bennett more so.

Curious why you see Bennett as a 80-90 point player? Those are real high expectations and something he will likely never reach.

Only elite centers ever hit a PPG.

Toews has hit 70 points once in his career.

[shadowlord]

Bennett played pretty well with Backlund+Frolik last year as well; until Hartley decided to shift him to the C position. I think Bennett is learning to become an NHL calibre C, which is a more difficult position to play than wing.

Bennett may not be putting up points, but he's holding his own as a C right now, which is good for our development. If Backlund is out for any period of time, we're going to need some C depth.

Right now, I wouldn't take Tkachuk off of Backlund's line, but I'm curious to see if he has the same impact on other lines as well. Remember Bennett-Brower-Tkachuk during training camp? What happened to that chemistry when the regular season started?

As a fan, I'm glad the Flames have so much talent that we're debating this instead of which dead-weights to trade and how much we can get for them.

[CSharp]

Flames are better off trading Bennett right now than risk losing him on an expansion draft. Right now, Tkachuck shows a way higher ceiling for any team than Bennett will ever be. Bennett showed a glimpse of greatness last year and the Flames should've pushed for a blockbuster trade last year. The more he stays as a Flames, the lower his value will drop.

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by CSharp

Flames are better off trading Bennett right now than risk losing him on an expansion draft. Right now, Tkachuck shows a way higher ceiling for any team than Bennett will ever be. Bennett showed a glimpse of greatness last year and the Flames should've pushed for a blockbuster trade last year. The more he stays as a Flames, the lower his value will drop.

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by csharp

flames are better off trading bennett right now than risk losing him on an expansion draft. Right now, tkachuck shows a way higher ceiling for any team than bennett will ever be. Bennett showed a glimpse of greatness last year and the flames should've pushed for a blockbuster trade last year. The more he stays as a flames, the lower his value will drop.

lol