Sam Bennett Value: Have the Flames held on TOO long? OR is he awesome?

[bubbsy]

I think if the flames plan is to have him develop on the 3rd line with a rookie C and some grinder on rw, then they might as well give up on him and trade him for whatever.

I thought he looked amazing after being moved to wing and having jagr on his line. At some point he seems to have lost any and all confidence.

Either play him in the top 6 with high skill players to get him going or ship him out.

He's not good enough to carry his own line in the nhl yet. It's taking the flames forever to figure out that whatever they think they are doing to develop Bennett is failing.

[madmike]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

I think if the flames plan is to have him develop on the 3rd line with a rookie C and some grinder on rw, then they might as well give up on him and trade him for whatever.

I thought he looked amazing after being moved to wing and having jagr on his line. At some point he seems to have lost any and all confidence.

Either play him in the top 6 with high skill players to get him going or ship him out.

He's not good enough to carry his own line in the nhl yet. It's taking the flames forever to figure out that whatever they think they are doing to develop Bennett is failing.

Where do you play him in the top 6? He’s another left handed shot which means he won’t play RW for the Flames. So he has to slot in for one of Monahan, Backlund, Tkachuk or Gaudreau.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by transplant99

http://calgarysun.com/sports/hockey/...-disappearance

There's Gulutzan with the negative reinforcement again instead of actively doing something to get them going.

[dieHARDflameZ]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

There's Gulutzan with the negative reinforcement again instead of actively doing something to get them going.

Oh give me a break, he’s 100% right.

They’re going through some growing pains right now for sure but it’s the NHL for god’s sake, if they can’t take a bit of criticism, good luck.

I’m a huge Bennett fan but to me it’s 100% mental. It’s crazy how he can be our best forward for a stretch of ten games or so and then completely disappears for the next twenty and looks like he completely forgot how to play the game.

The terrible o-zone penalties he takes are starting to cost the team games. He needs a wake up call and quite frankly should probably sit for a game or two.

That stupid toe drag move he tries to pull one on one as he casually enters the offensive zone is absurd. He needs to start skating and moving his feet again. Such a frustrating player to watch. All the talent in the world but the mental toughness of a three year old. Hopefully he can figure things out.

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

There's Gulutzan with the negative reinforcement again instead of actively doing something to get them going.

Again? Gulutzan's been pretty lenient. For all we know bob Hartley would have run Sam Bennett out of town by now, just as he did with Sven.

It's about time GG started calling some guys out publicly. Given the fact he hasn't until now illustrates how patient he has been.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

There's Gulutzan with the negative reinforcement again instead of actively doing something to get them going.

Pathetic post

[ForeverFlameFan]

We probably won’t see Bennett’s true potential until one of the 2 LW’s/2 C’s get injured.

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

I think if the flames plan is to have him develop on the 3rd line with a rookie C and some grinder on rw, then they might as well give up on him and trade him for whatever.

I thought he looked amazing after being moved to wing and having jagr on his line. At some point he seems to have lost any and all confidence.

Either play him in the top 6 with high skill players to get him going or ship him out.

He's not good enough to carry his own line in the nhl yet. It's taking the flames forever to figure out that whatever they think they are doing to develop Bennett is failing.

You bring up a good point. If there's anything that is 'unfair' in regard to Bennetts development it is that he hasn't had the privileg/benefit of a linemate(s) that can shelter him a bit since his rookie year. It's also worth pointing out that Gulutzan's managing the line up (at least at even strengt, pp another story for another thread) as best he can. The first two lines are doing what they should/need to do most of the time. They're fine.

The Flames need to find a guy who can compliment Bennett, and it doesn't appear that they have that internally. I don't see any other way things are going to work in Calgary for Bennett. The Flames either need to find a center or a rw who can slot into their third line and take some of the weight off him.

That or move on and trade the kid. It would be better for the player and the organization, because proceeding with the current situation seems to be toxic. I'm sure part of the issue here is frustration must be building on Bennett's side.

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

We probably won’t see Bennett’s true potential until one of the 2 LW’s/2 C’s get injured.

This is also true. An injury might give him the kick start he needs. That said, best case scenario would be for the team to find a player that can compliment him.

The Flames want/thought Sam was ready to take the next step and be a contributor. I doubt they give up the assets they did this past summer if they didn't think Bennett, and/or some of their other young forwards were ready to step up.

[drewtastic]

Some decent perspective from Darren Haynes (as per usual):

https://twitter.com/darrenwhaynes/st...26764068745217

Perhaps ironically (from that list) Backlund might just provide the jumpstart Bennett needs to get back on track...

[gunnner]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

There's Gulutzan with the negative reinforcement again instead of actively doing something to get them going.

your posts border on garbage sometimes. All the flames have done organiziationally from top to bottom is positively reinforced Bennett. Come on man, GG is spot on. The flames have showed nothing but patience, given pp time when it wasnt waranted, and let him fill in for Monahan when he was out for one game. The flames have done it right, and I think they will continue to show patience with him.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by drewtastic

Some decent perspective from Darren Haynes (as per usual):

https://twitter.com/darrenwhaynes/st...26764068745217

Perhaps ironically gfrom that list) Backlund might just provide the jumpstart Bennett needs to get back on track...

Here's Haynes' two posts on this:

@DarrenWHaynes
Here’s how I’d look at it. Their age when they hit that same 214-game mark:
- Bennett, 21 years, 234 days
- Backlund, 24 years, 300 days
- Ferland, 25 years, 264 days

So yes, Bennett’s going through his trials and tribulations at a much younger age than the other two.

@DarrenWHaynes
Perhaps a showing of patience is smartest way to ‘deal’ with Sam Bennett? Spoiled by meteoric rises of Monahan and Tkachuk, journeys for two other top-six forwards wasn’t nearly as fast.

Through first 214 NHL games:
- Bennett | 38-43-81
- Backlund | 29-50-79
- Ferland | 39-35-74

People are impatient.

Bennett is younger (significantly so), and has outscored both. This impatience that some people seem to love and grasp onto is not how you successfully develop players at the NHL level. Just give it time, and help him raise his game up by giving him someone undeniably better than him on his line to help him generate offensively.

[CSharp]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

I think if the flames plan is to have him develop on the 3rd line with a rookie C and some grinder on rw, then they might as well give up on him and trade him for whatever.

I thought he looked amazing after being moved to wing and having jagr on his line. At some point he seems to have lost any and all confidence.

Either play him in the top 6 with high skill players to get him going or ship him out.

He's not good enough to carry his own line in the nhl yet. It's taking the flames forever to figure out that whatever they think they are doing to develop Bennett is failing.

If Bennett was an Iginla type player with the same mindset to win and if he's top 6 material right now, then, yes build the team around him. Right now, he's barely 3rd line material and the team has given him ample opportunities to get on the first and second line.

So, if GG puts him on the first two lines right now to just appease him and to appease some of you who thinks he should play with better players. Then, when he causes turnovers or does his offensive zone lazy penalties and the Flames lose games by 1 or 2 goals because of him. Then what? So, we blame the coach again? That's just total BS.

The team is in a win mode right now. His chances of cracking the top 6 has passed him.

The best thing right now is to see if the Flames can find him a good fit on another team while the Flames can bring in either depth or acquire depth for their farm team. Flames are better off moving him offseason, but the longer they wait, the worse his value gets. I do wish he'd turn his game around and show his potential as we all saw when he had that 4-goal game. I just don't see this happening again in the future with Bennett in a Flames uniform.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Like i said previously, Bennett needs to get his confidence back and there are only a few ways to do that:

play him with backlund for a number of games while dropping Frolik/Tkachuk down for a few

or acquire someone that can drive the third line (which would allow janko to drop the fourth line for a while)...like a Pageau for example

trading Bennett at this point would be silly, as his value is rock bottom; you wouldn't get much of anything for him and there's still the chance he's going to figure it out...

its 3-5 just to try getting his mojo back; Brouwer's stint during frolik's energy seemed to help him so its possible it might help bennett.

[Kovaz]

Fun fact: despite their recent cold streak, Bennett-Jankowski as a pair are still scoring more frequently than Tkachuk-Backlund as a pair.

• Bennett-Jankowski have produced 17 goals in 449:55, good for 2.27 goals / 60.
• Tkachuk-Backlund have produced 22 goals in 639:52, good for 2.06 goals / 60.

Our team as a whole only scores 2.34 goals / 60. If anything, our 2nd line needs to pick it up offensively. Our problem isn't our top 6 carrying our bottom 6. It's our top line carrying our bottom 9 (at least offensively). So when people talk about shuffling our lines to spark some offense, our 2nd line should absolutely be involved in that conversation.

The way I see it, Jankowski and Bennett are both struggling at the same time - and because it's simultaneous neither has a linemate to lean on and help them work through it. I think breaking that pair for a bit could do them both a world of good, but if we continue to elevate the 3M line to untouchable status based on last year's play, then we've got no one left to shuffle them with.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by bubbsy;6573884[B

]I think if the flames plan is to have him develop on the 3rd line with a rookie C and some grinder on rw, then they might as well give up on him and trade him for whatever.[/B]

I thought he looked amazing after being moved to wing and having jagr on his line. At some point he seems to have lost any and all confidence.

Either play him in the top 6 with high skill players to get him going or ship him out.

He's not good enough to carry his own line in the nhl yet. It's taking the flames forever to figure out that whatever they think they are doing to develop Bennett is failing.

I think the plan was for him to be the center to Tkachuk. I don't see center when i see Bennett. I would also add that other prospects will probably be better off at center over him. Now that he probably isn't going to be a center , i'm not sure where he fits in? He is never going to pass Tkachuk or Johnny hockey on LW.

[Kovaz]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

I think the plan was for him to be the center to Tkachuk. I don't see center when i see Bennett. I would also add that other prospects will probably be better off at center over him. Now that he probably isn't going to be a center , i'm not sure where he fits in? He is never going to pass Tkachuk or Johnny hockey on LW.

That lasted all of 3 games, before Tkachuk got healthy scratched for 2 games, Versteeg-Bennett-Brouwer became a thing, and then 3M got put together for the first time the next game.

I find it frustrating, as someone that really wants to see Bennett succeed, that Tkachuk-Bennett got all of 3 games before Gulutzan pulled out the line blender, but that abomination that was Versteeg-Bennett-Brouwer took about 50 before we realized it was dog ####.

[killer_carlson]

Agreed with the patience narrative. Trading Bennett now for someone else's problem is nuts.

I'm also not a fan of GG going public at this point - with Bennett or anyone. GG's has so many head scratching decisions as a coach that the last thing he should be doing is pointing to an incident in a game and calling it "dumb".

[Nehkara]

Just look at Backlund. Hold your horses. Give the kid a couple more years at least.

[ComixZone]

More perspective...

@RyanNPike
#Flames only have two players on team that have a penalty differential at +5 or more: Gaudreau and Tkachuk. Everyone else is either even or deep in the red. Team-wide issue, not just Bennett.