2014 NHL Draft Combine May 26-31 aka the Pull-Up thread

[RyZ]

Originally Posted by FlameZilla

Bennett is a special talent with an rare mix of skill & aggression. A prospect can work on his upper body strength & improve his pull-up technique fairly easily, but you can't really teach a player to have the natural skill that Bennett has. I can't imagine this will affect his draft standing. If anything it probably ensures he drops to #4. Happy days.

Im not sure that Bennett blows anybody away with natural skill. He seems like a player like Iginla in that he doesn't have heaps of puck skills like a Datsyuk or Getzlaf but gets the puck to the net with his speed, aggression and physical will.

In any of the youtube scouting highlite videos I have watched I have always come away thinking that Bennett has less natural skill than Reinhart and Draisaitl but uses his physicality to get similar results.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by RyZ

Im not sure that Bennett blows anybody away with natural skill. He seems like a player like Iginla in that he doesn't have heaps of puck skills like a Datsyuk or Getzlaf but gets the puck to the net with his speed, aggression and physical will.

In any of the youtube scouting highlite videos I have watched I have always come away thinking that Bennett has less natural skill than Reinhart and Draisaitl but uses his physicality to get similar results.

His puck skills were enough for him to get voted best playmaker and puck handler by the players in the OHL

[RyZ]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

His puck skills were enough for him to get voted best playmaker and puck handler by the players in the OHL

Thats great. Doesnt mean he is a better puckhandler or playmaker than Reanhart or Draisaitl, who both had more points, higher PPG averages and far higher percentage of team points on teams that scored a full goal per game less than Bennetts Kingston squad.

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by RyZ

Im not sure that Bennett blows anybody away with natural skill. He seems like a player like Iginla in that he doesn't have heaps of puck skills like a Datsyuk or Getzlaf but gets the puck to the net with his speed, aggression and physical will.

In any of the youtube scouting highlite videos I have watched I have always come away thinking that Bennett has less natural skill than Reinhart and Draisaitl but uses his physicality to get similar results.

You're describing Jake Virtanen more than you are Sam Bennett, really.

Bennett's a very skilled player, not magic like Gaudreau but what separates him from Reinhart and Draisaitl is that he's willing to play physical and mix things up.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by RyZ

Thats great. Doesnt mean he is a better puckhandler or playmaker than Reanhart or Draisaitl, who both had more points, higher PPG averages and far higher percentage of team points on teams that scored a full goal per game less than Bennetts Kingston squad.

Points really don't matter to me with Bennett, I would want him because of his physical, gritty play that gets things done.

[automaton 3]

IIRC Lemieux could not even do one bench press at the starting weight.

He turned out ok.

[strombad]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

His puck skills were enough for him to get voted best playmaker and puck handler by the players in the OHL

Originally Posted by RyZ

Thats great.

Correct.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

Points really don't matter to me with Bennett, I would want him because of his physical, gritty play that gets things done.

His grittiness is the reason he would be my pick of the available forwards as that's an element you don't always see in high end prospects. I like the idea of stocking talent in a variety of flavours as opposed to say the Oilers that kept stocking up on the same type of player. The Flames don't have grit in a lot of their top end forward prospects so Bennett would fill that void nicely.

Really if it's just about getting the most skilled guy the Flames may as well draft Nylander because he's probably the most skilled and can play RW which is a position of organizational need.

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

Points really don't matter to me with Bennett, I would want him because of his physical, gritty play that gets things done.

You could get that with Brendan Lemieux in the 2nd round.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Rick M.

You could get that with Brendan Lemieux in the 2nd round.

Who are you picking if it goes Ekblad, Reinart, and then Draisaitl?

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

So you know what his post-season schedule was and what he was thinking and what is important to him?

It just kills me how people get worked up about little things and try to infer so much from them.

He is 17. He is arguably the best and is definitely one of the most intense players in the draft. The game is hockey, it isn't rope-pull.

Plus, strength is the easiest thing to work on with these kids. I can get Bennett as strong as the other kids. Can you get them as talented as him?

Well first of all I wasn't worked up.

If I had a test and I knew exactly what I was going to have to do, I would train/study those things so I would excel in them. Not being able to do one pull-up brings up a question.

Asking a question about a player isn't getting worked up, its normal.

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

Who are you picking if it goes Ekblad, Reinart, and then Draisaitl?

Obviously Bennett, but more for skill than grit. Get some big mean defencemen in later rounds.

[ForeverFlameFan]

I'm not much of a Bennett watcher, but for those that have, if you were to rank his speed, skill, and grit, where do you rank them?

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

I'm not much of a Bennett watcher, but for those that have, if you were to rank his speed, skill, and grit, where do you rank them?

Speed - B+
Skill - A to A+
Grit - B+

Quick but not blazing fast, great shot and passing ability, significantly above average creativity and is not a pushover. If he was taller, he'd be a shoe in for #1 because of the combination of things.

[mile]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

I'm not much of a Bennett watcher, but for those that have, if you were to rank his speed, skill, and grit, where do you rank them?

According to Red Line Report's player spotlight:
http://www.redlinereport.com/wp-cont...rofile-RLR.pdf

Their report card has the following:
Size/Strength: B-
Skating: A-
Shot/Scoring Ability: B+
Puck handling: A
Hockey sense: A
Competitiveness: A
Physical play: A-
Composure/poise: A-
Defence: B

There's also a nice in-depth scouting report in the link.

[RyZ]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

Bennett's a very skilled player, not magic like Gaudreau but what separates him from Reinhart and Draisaitl is that he's willing to play physical and mix things up.

I understand that. I guess Im just making a point that (IMO anyway) although Bennett has a physical and "truculent" edge on the other 2 centers in the top 4 he is likely the least purely skilled of the bunch and, (again IMO) has the lowest offensive upside.

And just to put to bed the whole Bennett is a year younger than Reinhart argument, the difference is 7 months (SB Jun 96, SR Nov 95), not a year.

[RyZ]

Originally Posted by mile

According to Red Line Report's player spotlight:
http://www.redlinereport.com/wp-cont...rofile-RLR.pdf

Their report card has the following:
Size/Strength: B-
Skating: A-
Shot/Scoring Ability: B+
Puck handling: A
Hockey sense: A
Competitiveness: A
Physical play: A-
Composure/poise: A-
Defence: B

There's also a nice in-depth scouting report in the link.

Any chance you have Redlines report card on Draisaitl and Reinhart?

[mile]

No, sorry. They only have free articles on a few random prospects each year. The rest has to be ordered.

I know they also did one recently on Ritchie.
http://www.redlinereport.com/wp-cont...rofile-RLR.pdf

It's also interesting looking at Monahan's report last year - the reason why I like Bennett is because he excels at aspects of the game Monahan doesn't, and vice versa. They seem like a nice complement to each other up the middle.
http://www.redlinereport.com/wp-cont...-Spotlight.pdf

If you go to their site and look under player spotlights there are reports on a few 1st/2nd rounders.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by RyZ

I understand that. I guess Im just making a point that (IMO anyway) although Bennett has a physical and "truculent" edge on the other 2 centers in the top 4 he is likely the least purely skilled of the bunch and, (again IMO) has the lowest offensive upside.

And just to put to bed the whole Bennett is a year younger than Reinhart argument, the difference is 7 months (SB Jun 96, SR Nov 95), not a year.

I don't see him being the least purely skilled out of those guys. I think they've all got great offensive toolkits. Don't see him having significantly lower offensive upside than Reinhart or Draisaitl. Where did you get that impression?

I think there's a reason why people think he'll probably be the 1st out of those forwards picked and it's not just his competitiveness. Redline has him at #1 in their rankings. CSS has him at #1 as well. It's because of his high skill, better skating than Reinhart/Draisaitl now, and competitiveness all rolled into one.

[ForeverFlameFan]

I think all of the centers have a little bit of something to offer... You've got the big Draisaitl, who has soft hands and can protect the puck, the gritty, speedy Bennett, and also the play-making Reinhart. They all provide something the Flames could use.