The Legend of Sam Bennett

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by flambers

Key with Bennett he is playing with high end talent with the Panthers,

Flames have to many forwards that struggle to generate offense.

Totally different teams, I doubt Bennett would generate the offense with the Flames that he has with the Panthers.

The other thing with the Panthers is they have such a deep forward group, and can roll 3 high end scoring lines that it creates match-up issues for the other team. Everyone is slotted in a position that allows them to excel. Teams have to choose which match-ups they want, which leads to advantageous match-ups for other players and lines.

They have 8 players with more than 25 points.
The Flames, just a comparisons have 3.

The Lightning have had a similar make-up the past few seasons, with 3 lines that can take it to you - which creates all sorts of issues for the other team. Having lost their 3rd line though in the off-season this year they have 5 players with 25 or more points.

None of that is to discredit Sam at all. Just pointing out that there are several dimensions to why he's been put into a position to succeed
- Coach's trust
- Playing with good players
- Offensive zone starts
- PP time
- Better slotting overall

[TheSquatch]

Slotting is the thing I really don't think the Flames have done well. "You're new, here's a couple plugs to play with, try not to get scored on." It's not great.

[powderjunkie]

Part of the Flames messy slotting may be the refusal to trade away roster players. Until 2021 the only 'outs' were:

- Neal for Lucic
- Lazar
- Hamilton (already bought on credit)
- TDL deals (Stempniak, Hudler, Russell, etc.)

Basically nothing to alter the flawed forward composition. Even if the Kadri deal went through we may have simply robbed ourselves of the best possible Lindholm (but obviously hard to say).

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

The other thing with the Panthers is they have such a deep forward group, and can roll 3 high end scoring lines that it creates match-up issues for the other team. Everyone is slotted in a position that allows them to excel. Teams have to choose which match-ups they want, which leads to advantageous match-ups for other players and lines.

They have 8 players with more than 25 points.
The Flames, just a comparisons have 3.

I was going to point out that the Panthers have played 5 more games, but it only comes into play with two of those guys:

Weegar 26 pts in 45gp and Lundell 27 in 41.

Whereas the Flames top 10 forwards have all played 40 games (except Coleman at 39). Would be fair to include Mangi 24pts with those two Panthers.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

I am impressed by the Panthers' home attendance during their win over the Sharks. Maybe hockey in a miami suburb can be a longterm success if they can build a regular competitor during the Bennett Era

Wow, that's really cool. 18152 is amazing for that market.

[tvp2003]

Speaking of slotting, according to this https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/f...-combinations/ they currently have Sam between Tippett and Verhaeghe. Huberdeau and Duclair now with Barkov. Just switching things up?

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Speaking of slotting, according to this https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/f...-combinations/ they currently have Sam between Tippett and Verhaeghe. Huberdeau and Duclair now with Barkov. Just switching things up?

Does that mean Bennett will be a single digit scorer soon? Asking for a friend…

[Cali Panthers Fan]

^Yeah, they did that a couple games ago, but some still yammered on about how Bennett is leeching off of Huberdeau.

In his last 3 games with those linemates, Sam has 3 goals and 4 points.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

The other thing with the Panthers is they have such a deep forward group, and can roll 3 high end scoring lines that it creates match-up issues for the other team. Everyone is slotted in a position that allows them to excel. Teams have to choose which match-ups they want, which leads to advantageous match-ups for other players and lines.

They have 8 players with more than 25 points.
The Flames, just a comparisons have 3.

The Lightning have had a similar make-up the past few seasons, with 3 lines that can take it to you - which creates all sorts of issues for the other team. Having lost their 3rd line though in the off-season this year they have 5 players with 25 or more points.

None of that is to discredit Sam at all. Just pointing out that there are several dimensions to why he's been put into a position to succeed
- Coach's trust
- Playing with good players
- Offensive zone starts
- PP time
- Better slotting overall

This is amazing really. Mangiapane started with 15 goals in 19 games.

I hope the gap isn't as wide as the bolded would suggest. Monahan, Backlund and Coleman are decent forwards but the secondary scoring just isn't there like those teams. Flames don't have that much cap tied up in the top line, they are built to be a deeper team.

Actually in looking at this some more, the Panthers are a bit of a unicorn with 8 players with over 25 points. The Avalanche for example have four forwards over 25 points but they get a ton of production from the back end.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

None of that is to discredit Sam at all. Just pointing out that there are several dimensions to why he's been put into a position to succeed
- Coach's trust
- Playing with good players
- Offensive zone starts
- PP time
- Better slotting overall

And sometimes a change of scenery is what a player needs to relax and just play his game. I recall Treliving talking about Bennett one offseason and how he put so much pressure on himself as the highest pick in team history.

You get traded and all that pressure went away, then he got a coach that put him in a perfect opportunity, and he's taken advantage of it.

Also there just seems to be something going on in Florida these last couple years....Duclair, Verhaghe, Bennett, and now Marchment have all blown up offensively on that team. Even Reinhart to a lesser extent, he had never been above 0.8 P/GP for his career, and he's up at 1.00 P/GP this year.

It's crazy that Bennett has been as good as he has this year, and he's still 7th on the team in P/GP.

Huberdeau: 1.37 P/GP
Barkov: 1.15
Marchment: 1.10
Reinhart: 1.00
Duclair: 0.89
Ekblad: 0.89
Bennett: 0.83
Verhaeghe: 0.82
Lundell: 0.76

9 players above 0.75 PPG is crazy.

[FBI]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

And sometimes a change of scenery is what a player needs to relax and just play his game. I recall Treliving talking about Bennett one offseason and how he put so much pressure on himself as the highest pick in team history.

You get traded and all that pressure went away, then he got a coach that put him in a perfect opportunity, and he's taken advantage of it.

Also there just seems to be something going on in Florida these last couple years....Duclair, Verhaghe, Bennett, and now Marchment have all blown up offensively on that team. Even Reinhart to a lesser extent, he had never been above 0.8 P/GP for his career, and he's up at 1.00 P/GP this year.

It's crazy that Bennett has been as good as he has this year, and he's still 7th on the team in P/GP.

Huberdeau: 1.37 P/GP
Barkov: 1.15
Marchment: 1.10
Reinhart: 1.00
Duclair: 0.89
Ekblad: 0.89
Bennett: 0.83
Verhaeghe: 0.82
Lundell: 0.76

9 players above 0.75 PPG is crazy.

Now do goals per game

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

^Yeah, they did that a couple games ago, but some still yammered on about how Bennett is leeching off of Huberdeau.

In his last 3 games with those linemates, Sam has 3 goals and 4 points.

Huberdeau is getting him points from the bench.

[dino7c]

Huberdeau did setup his last goal...from the ice

I don't think that takes anything away but they play together at times

[SuperMatt18]

Of his goals 9 have been assisted by Huberdeau, 12 have not, so his success is not a direct results of playing with Huberdeau for sure.

Ice time, offensive opportunity, overall quality of Florida's forwards, high pace system, and Sam himself trusting his offensive instincts again all play a role here.

I think Florida just shows that you can't put skilled players with grinders and expect them to be able to produce offensively.

Skill needs skill to play with to be able to succeed.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

And sometimes a change of scenery is what a player needs to relax and just play his game. I recall Treliving talking about Bennett one offseason and how he put so much pressure on himself as the highest pick in team history.

You get traded and all that pressure went away, then he got a coach that put him in a perfect opportunity, and he's taken advantage of it.

Also there just seems to be something going on in Florida these last couple years....Duclair, Verhaghe, Bennett, and now Marchment have all blown up offensively on that team. Even Reinhart to a lesser extent, he had never been above 0.8 P/GP for his career, and he's up at 1.00 P/GP this year.

It's crazy that Bennett has been as good as he has this year, and he's still 7th on the team in P/GP.

Huberdeau: 1.37 P/GP
Barkov: 1.15
Marchment: 1.10
Reinhart: 1.00
Duclair: 0.89
Ekblad: 0.89
Bennett: 0.83
Verhaeghe: 0.82
Lundell: 0.76

9 players above 0.75 PPG is crazy.

See the Bennett trade could be worse. The Leafs trade Marchment for this guy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Malgin

[dino7c]

Sens let Duclair walk for nothing...now he is on the first line of the top scoring team in the league and they are in the basement again

[Bongsong]

Florida Misfits

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

And sometimes a change of scenery is what a player needs to relax and just play his game. I recall Treliving talking about Bennett one offseason and how he put so much pressure on himself as the highest pick in team history.

You get traded and all that pressure went away, then he got a coach that put him in a perfect opportunity, and he's taken advantage of it.

Also there just seems to be something going on in Florida these last couple years....Duclair, Verhaghe, Bennett, and now Marchment have all blown up offensively on that team. Even Reinhart to a lesser extent, he had never been above 0.8 P/GP for his career, and he's up at 1.00 P/GP this year.

It's crazy that Bennett has been as good as he has this year, and he's still 7th on the team in P/GP.

Huberdeau: 1.37 P/GP
Barkov: 1.15
Marchment: 1.10
Reinhart: 1.00
Duclair: 0.89
Ekblad: 0.89
Bennett: 0.83
Verhaeghe: 0.82
Lundell: 0.76

9 players above 0.75 PPG is crazy.

Some people felt Reinhart wouldn't be a good fit here and that he was too slow but he seems to be doing fine on the Panthers. Maybe we are looking at this wrong and we should be identifying. talented players and finding ways to get them playing together. I thought at one point Taylor Hall wanted to be here.but the Flames had more pressing targets. Can't fault Brad for addressing goaltending but Hall, Reinhart, and Bennett are all skilled players that would have looked good on the Flames. I felt Reinhart was a better player than he showed in Buffalo, the type of player worth the risk. Seems Florida has a good strategy that is working well for them.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Yeah if you're a Panthers fan you can't believe you got this guy for the price you paid. They have none of the history, he was productive from the second he showed up.

About the only was this would have turned out different for the Flames was maybe if Darryl was coach at start of the year and Bennett gets a reset. That is what he needed here.

In a lot of ways, it's almost like when we got Huselius from Florida.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

See the Bennett trade could be worse. The Leafs trade Marchment for this guy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Malgin

Fun fact, Marchment was at Flames development camp one year as an undrafted free agent, but Treliving didn't sign him

[AC]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

Fun fact, Marchment was at Flames development camp one year as an undrafted free agent, but Treliving didn't sign him

Marchment signed an AHL deal with Toronto instead. He's an Ontario guy, so maybe he chose Toronto as opposed to Treliving not trying to sign him to an AHL deal.

He didn't sign his ELC until 2018.