[CP Story] Banking on Bennett

[Bingo]

A quick look at Sam Bennett's ice time breakdown in Calgary versus his draft peers from 2014

http://www.calgarypuck.com/2017/03/banking-on-bennett/

Included is a touchy list of impact versus non impact players as linemates and the decisions I made.

Agree? Disagree?

[Erick Estrada]

I'm not too worried about Bennett. He like a lot of players struggled to get their offensive game going with the coaching change and new system. The difference between him and say Gaudreau is that despite Johnny's offensive struggles early in the year he never lost his spot and continued to get top line and top PP time. Bennett only got short stints on top lines and while he didn't take it and run with it it's worth noting that his line mates also didn't help prop him up. I don't think he would argue that he's struggled this season and that's part of the process as he's played a lot better of late and the chances just haven't gone in and sometimes it's a year to year thing where the puck goes in or doesn't. I will say he's never going to excel offensively or mirror the numbers of the other two forwards drafted around him playing with vets on the downside of their career like Versteeg and Brouwer. Eventually some of the onus will fall on the coaching staff for putting him in a better position to succeed but at 20 years of age he's still got a lot of time to improve and force the coach's hand. I think it will sort itself out.

[Azhouse]

Corsi tables make my head explode. Is Sam good?

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Azhouse

Corsi tables make my head explode. Is Sam good?

Corsi was a pretty tiny part of it.

Bottom line is Bennett has had 55% of his young career spent on a line without impact players when his comparables have spent 18% and 9% of their time in the same situation.

Add in the fact that the other two drafting clubs took generational players the year after and it certainly points towards patience in his development.

[Imported_Aussie]

TL;DR - be patient with Bennett

Good analysis!

[Dan403]

Originally Posted by Azhouse

Corsi tables make my head explode. Is Sam good?

Um...Edmonton is NO Good...does that help?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Corsi was a pretty tiny part of it.

Bottom line is Bennett has had 55% of his young career spent on a line without impact players when his comparables have spent 18% and 9% of their time in the same situation.

Add in the fact that the other two drafting clubs took generational players the year after and it certainly points towards patience in his development.

Bennett has also been faced with playing centre, whereas both Reinhart and Drasaitl have been moved to wing with the teams' star centres(Draisatl more than Reinhart). Bennett hasn't had that opportunity.

I understand why he's at centre, but that's gotta cut into his opportunities to produce points. Especially with his wingers.

[DJones]

I would love to see Bennett get some solid linemates and stick with them for ten games. I am very worried about the playoffs if we don't have a scoring threat on the 3rd line and I have zero faith in the Vertseeg/Brouwer pair

I think Tkachuk would be better utilized on Bennett's wing. Yes the 3M line will have a slight decrease but the third line will get a giant upgrade. Backlund and Frolik can hold their own.

Gaudreau - Monahan - Ferland
XXX - Backlund - Frolik
Tkachuk - Bennett - XXX

I think that's a better overall line-up.

[bigrangy]

Interesting analysis. It would be neat to see this applied to other slow developing players like Johansen, Zibanejad, Scheifele, Galchenyuk etc.

It would also be interesting to see how Monahan's ice-time was spread out over his first two years with the team.

[burnitdown]

Interesting analysis - thanks!

Leads me to wonder if Reinhart and Draisaitl's strong play without impact players (~51% CF%) led to them being moved up to play with better players? Unlike those two, Bennett has been quite poor when he doesn't have at least one impact player on his line (46% CF%)...so that may be why he hasn't made the similar jump up the line combos yet.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by bigrangy

Interesting analysis. It would be neat to see this applied to other slow developing players like Johansen, Zibanejad, Scheifele, Galchenyuk etc.

It would also be interesting to see how Monahan's ice-time was spread out over his first two years with the team.

Looks like a pretty even split between 0, 1 and 2 impact players 37%, 34% and 29% respectively.

Important to point out though, the Flames were pretty poor and didn't have the same impact players. I had Hudler, Gaudreau, and Cammalleri

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by burnitdown

Interesting analysis - thanks!

Leads me to wonder if Reinhart and Draisaitl's strong play without impact players (~51% CF%) led to them being moved up to play with better players? Unlike those two, Bennett has been quite poor when he doesn't have at least one impact player on his line (46% CF%)...so that may be why he hasn't made the similar jump up the line combos yet.

I think that's part of it.

The bias in me thinks the Flames drive to "do it right" and develop a center is a big impact issue as well.

[Street Pharmacist]

Great analysis Bingo. I agree with everything you wrote, but watching Draisaitl at least, he brings more to the table from an offense generation perspective. He holds the puck better, is stronger with it, and in general is better suited to drive the puck forward when he has it. Sam just isn't with strong enough yet to compete in the same way. Not using that to forecast the future, more of a comment on offensive contribution

[Roof-Daddy]

Need to be patient with Bennett for sure.

Plus there is no need to be impatient with him IMO because:

1. The Flames are winning
2. Monahan and Backlund are our #1 and #2 centers

The guy has a lot of runway to take off as an NHL center, keep pushing him and work to get him better line mates and it will pay off in the long run.

[FBI]

I wish he would get some PP time. ESPECIALLY over Brouwer.

[fastpuck]

I like Bennett, and I like Bingo's analysis. I think the Flames are being patient because they are training him to be the next dependable Backlund type power centre. They know that he has skill and grit, what I think they want is the guy that drives possession on a line, so pairing him with less offensive linemates, forces him to up his game and be responsible. I think this is a really serious young player that totally takes that responsibility serious and has been willing to be less productive as he learns that part of his game. I think as he becomes more comfortable in that role we will see the scoring increase and our increasing depth of wingers, will make that third line very effective in the future. I think they also see Lazar in that same category of gritty, defensively responsible, offensively capable role. A true power forward, and it's not necessarily taught in Juniors, where offensive stats are often the judge of how good you are.

[bubbsy]

interesting analysis.

What gets interesting for me is that as Bennet goes into the next season or two with more and more time to get comfortable playing C in the NHL, and with Tkachuk solidifying himself as a top 6 guy, the Impact player list should, ideally, allow the flames to create 3 'pairings' with impact players well distributed.

Example:
gaudreau - monahan
frolik - backlund
tkachuk - bennett

it should give the flames incredible depth, with the challenge really becoming finding the right guy to complete each trio with the likes of Ferland, Brouwer, prospect, UFA/trade....

i think it's far too early to be making any rash judgements on Bennett as a player. If there's anything i have learned from watching backlund, it's that a high skill/IQ prospect Center needs to be given some time to figure things out. I'd argue for all his struggles, bennett has still looked better (more impactful) than backlund did at this stage of his career.

[foshizzle11]

I agree, this was a great way to show what is happening with Sam and why we need to be patient. I like that we are taking things slow with him and he is learning to do things the right way.

I don't think we should make changes to the lines this season. We need to just keep going in the direction we are right now. Messing with the 3M line, not ideal just before the playoffs. JG and Mony are clicking and they are back into their groove. Keep Sam with the vets for now, especially going into the playoffs, Versteeg and Brouwer are fine with Sam for now, I am sure we will see an emergence from the youth in or organization in the next few years to make the jump to play with Bennett.

Thanks Bingo, this was a good read.

[GullFoss]

Maybe I'm seeing something that isn't there, but in my view Bennett has played his best hockey of the season over the past 5 games or so.

The reset of the playoffs (every player starts from 0 games played) could do him wonders in terms of breaking out.

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Bennett has also been faced with playing centre, whereas both Reinhart and Drasaitl have been moved to wing with the teams' star centres(Draisatl more than Reinhart). Bennett hasn't had that opportunity.

I understand why he's at centre, but that's gotta cut into his opportunities to produce points. Especially with his wingers.

Also, Backs and Frolich play with pace, like Bennett. Bennett has been playing with guys who can't keep up or get open for a pass. The temptation then is to do it all yourself.