The Legend of Sam Bennett

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by CSharp

I absolutely see no comparisons between the two players. Ferland was a power forward who stepped up. Just too bad he got concussed and banged up from how he played the game full on rather than float around.

I remember plenty of times Ferland floated around. He didn’t play full out all the time, and it’d be naive to expect him to. I think your recollection is failing you.
For the record, I loved Ferland and rooted for him after he was traded too. I don’t remember the same bellyaching about that.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by CSharp

I absolutely see no comparisons between the two players. Ferland was a power forward who stepped up. Just too bad he got concussed and banged up from how he played the game full on rather than float around.

Haha. We sure are romanticizing Ferland

He was a wildly inconsistent player that left his physical game behind on the top line, fancied himself a finesse player, went through droughts, had to be sent back to the 4th every now and again

As a top line player, he had a career year getting 71% of his time with 13 and 23, and he had 21 goals and 41 points. That’s the only time he ever hit 20 goals

Absolutely no comparison. Bennett never had more than 30 percent of his ice time with the same 2 line mates, and that was in the bottom 6 blender

Ferland did step up one year in the playoffs and people loved him for that. His top line output was nothing special .
Tre sold high on Ferly

[mikeecho]

Originally Posted by combustiblefuel

Holy ####. It's one good game from Bennett so far. Let's pump the brakes a bit. He scored 4 goals once too .. he had a good game but consistency has never been there. Let see how this reflects in a year.

He will be in that tier with Galchenyuk, Duclair etc journeyman stage again.

Agree. He had 2 assists in Darryl's first game behind the bench and then took 9 games to get his next point. That's how he does it.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

I think as long as he was playing behind Monahan, Lindholm, and Backlund, he never would have made it here. He was made redundant by three other mediocre middle six centers in their primes who had all proven more before he had ever even played a game in this league. .

One important note - at no point did Bennett prove that he could consistently play better than any of those centers. If they were mediocre centers and he couldn't outplay them, what does that make him? He never was able to take the ball and run with it on his own.

[Flamenspiel]

Interesting about Ferland, yes he was more consistent then Bennett, but that type of play led to a short career. Can someone sustain that?

Also Ferland had a terrific shot and was not a centre.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

Interesting about Ferland, yes he was more consistent then Bennett, but that type of play led to a short career. Can someone sustain that?

Also Ferland had a terrific shot and was not a centre.

I recall management saying outright that Ferland couldn’t sustain the way he was playing after that Canucks season. Unsustainable. Also, yeah his shot was leagues ahead of Bennett’s.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by ben voyonsdonc

. If they were mediocre centers and he couldn't outplay them, what does that make him? .

It makes him a Florida Panther.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by ben voyonsdonc

One important note - at no point did Bennett prove that he could consistently play better than any of those centers. If they were mediocre centers and he couldn't outplay them, what does that make him? He never was able to take the ball and run with it on his own.

Important note alert!

Huh, imagine that.

Monahan is stapled to Gaudreau, and Sam couldn’t outplay him from whatever slot he drew in the bottom 6 blender on any given day? Wow.

Do you even know what the expected production is from players who are deployed as 3rd and 4th liners even strength? You may be surprised


What we saw was that Sutter gave him clear direction and he was settling in, had 6 points in the last 6 games. All ES. In the post Sutter stats, he had more ES points than many players paid much more handsomely.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by CSharp

I absolutely see no comparisons between the two players. Ferland was a power forward who stepped up. Just too bad he got concussed and banged up from how he played the game full on rather than float around.

You see absolutely no comparisons to Sam Bennett and Micheal Ferland? In my opinion, the 2 players are cut from a very similar cloth. Both hit like trucks,
clean too and could separate players from pucks on the forecheck. Sam Bennett also has a lot of power forward qualities. He has a very gritty game, scores a lot of goals a few feet from the net, has very strong edgework and can make hard cuts to the net while protecting the puck. He's certainly more of a power forward than a skilled guy in my opinion.

I think the biggest difference between Bennett and Ferland was the hockey sense. Ferland had extremely underrated hockey iq and puck skills. Very soft hands for a power forward and he also had a bomb of shot in comparison. I think that's why he worked with Gaudreau and Monahan whereas Bennett didn't. His awareness allowed him to play off that duo very well.

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

I did not, and I offered no opinion as to whether he was any good or not.

Newera called out posters asking if they actually watched the game, or just went to the scoresheet. I know some of us watched the game. You posted in his defense that this was a good point in support support of his pov, yet you yourself never watched the game?

I know people have different points of view, nothing wrong with the idea some not happy with Bennett's time here, but same goes for those who wish him well and still want to see him do well. The constant calling out of posters who appreciate Sam Bennett the player is wrong. If your gf/bf cheered for another team would you berate or talk to her/him in a condescending tone because you didn't like her/his team? My wife cheers for another team, that is not a appropriate reason for me to get her hating something because I don't support the same team.

[Bonded]

lol I hope Bennett gets a hat trick tonight so we can continue this productive back and forth conversation

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by Bonded

lol I hope Bennett gets a hat trick tonight so we can continue this productive back and forth conversation

Hat trick, two fights and drives the Zamboni between the second and third.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Important note alert!

Huh, imagine that.

Monahan is stapled to Gaudreau, and Sam couldn’t outplay him from whatever slot he drew in the bottom 6 blender on any given day? Wow.

Do you even know what the expected production is from players who are deployed as 3rd and 4th liners even strength? You may be surprised


What we saw was that Sutter gave him clear direction and he was settling in, had 6 points in the last 6 games. All ES. In the post Sutter stats, he had more ES points than many players paid much more handsomely.

Sorry about that - I sounded a lot more dickish than I meant to. Bennett has had tons of chances but never really capitalized. He certainly never consistently outperformed any of the guys that were ahead of him or even really showed many flashes that he could do so.

Yes, he had some improvement under Sutter but that was such a small sample size that its hard to extrapolate that it would continue much beyond that first stretch of games. Even under Sutter, he wasn't really a dominant force out there or anything - in my opinion.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by ben voyonsdonc

Bennett has had tons of chances

As a center?

[soulchoice]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

You see absolutely no comparisons to Sam Bennett and Micheal Ferland? In my opinion, the 2 players are cut from a very similar cloth. Both hit like trucks,
clean too and could separate players from pucks on the forecheck. Sam Bennett also has a lot of power forward qualities. He has a very gritty game, scores a lot of goals a few feet from the net, has very strong edgework and can make hard cuts to the net while protecting the puck. He's certainly more of a power forward than a skilled guy in my opinion.

I think the biggest difference between Bennett and Ferland was the hockey sense. Ferland had extremely underrated hockey iq and puck skills. Very soft hands for a power forward and he also had a bomb of shot in comparison. I think that's why he worked with Gaudreau and Monahan whereas Bennett didn't. His awareness allowed him to play off that duo very well.

Exactly this, Ferland, although being a gritty power forward, had extremely silky mitts and puck skills. His hands were one of the softest on the team, during his duration here.

[CSharp]

It'll be hard to quote everyone comparing Bennett and Ferland here. The only comparison I can make of Ferland is probably one of Bouma and Prust except with a bit more feistiness. So, Ferland definitely had more truculence and is a typical truculent protégé player that Tre wanted. Like I said, if Ferland wasn't concussed, he'd still be a top 6 winger on any team with his skills, soft hands, and a great shot. The only time we saw Bennett with soft hands with some skill is in that one game against the Panthers where he scored 4 goals - that's it! Yeah, Bennett can be truculent, but you can't deny those stupid penalties he took!

As for floating - who doesn't but you're talking Sam Bennett for how many years in an 82 game schedule and how many games where he sat out? As well, with Ferland being injured and him coming back with a scoreless drought, he was likely still injured from concussion and the team wasn't doing all that great once he came back. I'm not making excuses for anyone, but damn, you can't make excuses for one player not showing up for most of his career only to show up in the playoffs when nobody else shows up.

As for both given the opportunity to play on the top line - only one took the opportunity and ran with it and his name wasn't Bennett. End of story there.

[CSharp]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Haha. We sure are romanticizing Ferland

He was a wildly inconsistent player that left his physical game behind on the top line, fancied himself a finesse player, went through droughts, had to be sent back to the 4th every now and again

As a top line player, he had a career year getting 71% of his time with 13 and 23, and he had 21 goals and 41 points. That’s the only time he ever hit 20 goals

Absolutely no comparison. Bennett never had more than 30 percent of his ice time with the same 2 line mates, and that was in the bottom 6 blender

Ferland did step up one year in the playoffs and people loved him for that. His top line output was nothing special .
Tre sold high on Ferly

Also note that Tre tried to sell Bennett to the Hurricanes but they wanted Ferland instead. I guess if you want to make a comparison between the two, that would be the only comparison. I guess the Panthers looked back in history and wanted that 4-goal performance and finally pulled the trigger on Bennett.

I guess I can always romanticize about Ferland because he time here as a Flames will always be remembered as a good one. I'm not sure I can say the same about Bennett other than his 4-goal performance that got everyone's hopes up as a rookie only to disappoint every year after that.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

As a center?

One of the funny things about Bennett is that people have complained that he wasn’t developed properly because he was not put at centre, but other say he wasn’t developed properly because he was put at centre (and taken away from Backlund).

Frankly, when one of the complaints is his tunnel vision I’m not sure centre is his best spot. But moreover, I think the reason he’s not been used at C is the importance of the position in the defensive zone, not because of offence. In general coaches focus on D and posters here focus on O.

[CSharp]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

As a center?

Yes, every coach that got fired with Bennett on the team and even Sutter. Everyone of them then moved Bennett as a wing or out of the lineup after that. Obviously there are better centers ahead of Bennett on the team. Otherwise, he'd be playing center. Even Looch is a better center than Bennett LOL!

[ComixZone]

Benny with a solid first period. I like watching him play. Hits someone, draws a penalty. Hits someone, takes the puck and quickly transitions the puck up.

And now he scores his first as a Panther.