Sam Bennett as a center or winger?

[Dion]

Originally Posted by FBI

I love Bennett but I'm starting to lose patience

I'll also be extremely pissed if we trade him and then the new team just plays him at wing and he dominates.

I know it will never happen but a stint in the minors might do him some good. Send him down and bring up Jankowski.

[GoFlamesGo1989]

Bennett is an AHLer at the moment.

He has had his best moments on the wing.

[calgaryblood]

Just amazing that something that took me 3 games to see hasn't been seen by management yet. God damn I'm smart.

Bennett is not a Center. He's clueless in all three zones. Try him as a winger and let him try to resurrect what we seen in his rookie year.

It's actually funny re reading the thread and seeing all these garbage advanced stats being posted trying to show he was a good center when anyone could see he looks lost and confused defensively. Cost the team tonight with his dumb play in the neutral zone.

[Kybb79]

Bennett's confidence is shot he looked horrible tonight.GG has a big hand in this,Sam should be on the wing if he has any hope in the future.GG reminds me of Eakins 2.0.

[vilzeh]

"Bennett's gonna be fine" - 95% of the fanbase.

No he's not if he plays C.

[djsFlames]

If I were GG I have him in the press box for a game or two just to reset and watch the game from another perspective. It's not working and he needs that reset first and foremost.

Then after some good pep talks before/after practice, I put him back in on the wing.

I feel like this isn't rocket science or anything as similar steps have been taken with other players that have yielded positive results, but I suppose what do I know.

[icecube]

"He's only 21. He lost a year of development to injury. We have to be patient. Just look at Mikael Backlund."

[GoFlamesGo1989]

Originally Posted by icecube

"He's only 21. He lost a year of development to injury. We have to be patient. Just look at Mikael Backlund."

At least Backlund had shown signs of improvement. Bennett is just useless at center. Put him on the wing, or show him the door.

[icecube]

0 shots on goal. Minus 1. He was just 2 pims shy of a Sam Bennett special.

[OzSome]

Center. Just need to get chemistry with the right wingers. So far he's been playing with rotating wingers except Versteeg. Also let him play with an edge. He can be $h17-disturber like Kesler that can get on opponent's skin. I think he can get more points once his confidence gets back.

[Inglewood Jack]

Haha oh no... 0 SOG, -1, 2 PIM is totally gonna stick as the Sam Bennett hat trick.

[burnitdown]

I can't believe he only has 5 shots on net despite playing in all 8 games, with the 6th highest TOI amongst forwards. His shot rate is worse than guys like Tanner Glass and Bartkowski. He needs to pick that up.

[PepsiFree]

The way the fan base turns on young players is almost a cliche at this point. Zero patience, and having the same people who trashed Hamilton and Monahan last season jump on board the Bennett train is a bad look. Patience is something you’re supposed to learn, not have the lesson repeated to you over and over.

Maybe Bennett isn’t going to turn out, maybe he will. But the lack of patience and willingness to condemn young players who aren’t experiencing ideal growth is pretty ridiculous.

[ComixZone]

Ridiculous. So many of you wanted a rebuild, we finally got one and the moment it begins, people lose touch with what a rebuild actually is. The loud minority (I hope it's the minority) have shown such an extreme lack of understanding when it comes to player development that it's outright embarrassing. All these same people turned on Monahan/Hamilton/Gaudreau last year - and you think they would have learned something about patience, but nope. Here we are again - lunacy in full flight. Game threads are unreadable at this stage on this forum because it's just a constant witch hunt.

I love the Flames, and I love Flames hockey and game threads weren't always like they are now. Sure you had some overreactions and emotion, which is all part of the fun. Now though? It's getting annoying and sad, which is on me for reading it - but hey, I guess I won't anymore.

[Heavy Jack]

Looking at how the face-offs are going now and how players are getting tossed out I think it would be smart to have two capable guys to take face-offs on as many lines as possible outside of the top line. Janko centering Bennett is ideal IMO ~ Janko is bigger and more cerebral type player; committed to discipline and plays with intelligence. Bennett is an emotional player who likes to muck it up and his style IMO is better suited for the wing much like Tkachuk.

Bennett - Jankowski - Ferland

This is the line I am wanting to see a little later on here in the season. We have seen what we are getting from the F. Hamilton's, Glass' and Stajan's; what you see is what you get with those guys and they really aren't going to swell the Offense and defensively they help add minutes to the PK which has been an asset of sorts but I feel like some of the guys in the AHL are forcing managements hands here.

Gaudreau - Monahan - Jagr
Tkachuk - Backlund - Frolik
Bennett - Jankowski - Ferland
Versteeg - Brouwer - Lazar

Extras: Stajan, Hathaway

Waivers: Glass, F. Hamilton

Profit.

[Poe969]

I've had patience with most every other player. Bennett just hasn't shown anything this year. He needs to start showing some kind of promise, he needs to play like he belongs in the NHL because he hasn't shown that yet this year.

[gargamel]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

The way the fan base turns on young players is almost a cliche at this point. Zero patience, and having the same people who trashed Hamilton and Monahan last season jump on board the Bennett train is a bad look. Patience is something you’re supposed to learn, not have the lesson repeated to you over and over.

Maybe Bennett isn’t going to turn out, maybe he will. But the lack of patience and willingness to condemn young players who aren’t experiencing ideal growth is pretty ridiculous.

There are a few people who have turned on Bennett, but the majority are just frustrated that it seems like he (and Jankowski and, by extension, the team) aren't being put in a position to succeed.

If he hadn't shown more on the wing and we didn't have another talented young centre waiting to step in, I think there would be more patience about Bennett playing centre. As is, though, it just looks like stubbornness on the part of management to refuse to try something that seems so logical.

[Heavy Jack]

For Sam you look at all of his offensive stats through the first 8 games and he's down on everything across the board, shots, shot attempts, time on ice, hits; so much of what made him an impact player at times throughout his early career are missing in his game right now. His face-offs % is better but he has only taking 68 total face-offs in the first 8 games which is about 8 or 9 a game which isn't that much. He needs to slide over to the wing, simplify his game, be physical and stop taking stick infractions. There is a top-end talent in Sam but I think they need to pivot away from how they are currently using him and play him to his strengths. GG said he expected big things from Sam this year and he needs to find out how to find those big things sooner rather than later.

[calgaryblood]

The same people defending Bennett for his garbage play were defending Colborne as well.

And then when he didn't sign with the Flames they kept defending him saying Flames couldn't afford him...then he went on waivers and nobody picked him up and then silence. He's now in the AHL.

Criticism sometimes is absolutely warranted. Would be nice if some could actually do that instead of looking like they are the PR team for the Flames.

[Justin]

I remember when I made the comment last year at the start of the season:

"Bennett at centre won't translate well to the NHL league. He needs to play wing"

I was ripped to shreds by some of the "intelligent" hockey fans on here.

It doesn't take a genius to see Bennett's game hasn't translated well to the pro leagues. Right now he reminds me a lot of Nazim Kadri pre- Mike Babcock. The game he was known for in Junior isn't panning out with grown men and it's causing him to take a lot of stupid penalties. Bennett needs a coach (like Babcock to Kadri) who can help him change his game style and adapt to a different role in order for him to have a better shot at flourishing more promisingly.

Right now his style is costing this team more than benefiting.