2014 Draft

[Poe969]

The only guy I'd think of drafting instead of Bennett would be Ekblad but he wasn't available. If there was a redraft, I doubt Bennett would be there at 4 when the Flames pick.

It was a good pick. Bennett is a good player.

[Monahan For Mayor]

Originally Posted by Poe969

The only guy I'd think of drafting instead of Bennett would be Ekblad but he wasn't available. If there was a redraft, I doubt Bennett would be there at 4 when the Flames pick.

It was a good pick. Bennett is a good player.

What ?

Draisaitl is a level or two above Bennett today.

Reinhart had more points there rookie years, and is once again out pacing him.

Bennett definitely hasn't done anything to move up in a re draft.

[smiggy77]

What a terrible thread. The kid is 20 in his 2nd season in the league, give him a god damn break.

[DJones]

As others have said, he's been fine besides the powerplay which he just doesn't fit on right now. 8th in PP TOI for forwards.

Biggest problem is Calgary hasn't found what works for him yet. Next year I see Tkachuk being put on his line. I know this is an extremely low sample size but their CF/60 together is 85.75, just ridiculous when you think about it. Both Tkachuk and Bennett looked great with Backlund and Frolik. Next year is the sink or swim year, their styles seem like they'd be great together.

People seem to forget that Bennett lost a year, then played wing. Has he even played 80 games as a center yet?

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Monahan For Mayor

What ?

Draisaitl is a level or two above Bennett today.

Reinhart had more points there rookie years, and is once again out pacing him.

Bennett definitely hasn't done anything to move up in a re draft.

At this point, I still think Draisaitl, Bennett, and Reinhart are a bit of a toss up. Bennett is still almost a year younger than the other 2, so it's a bit unfair to judge until we see what Bennett does next year compared to the other two.

The only one I'd clearly take over Bennett is Ekblad.

[Dan403]

Originally Posted by smiggy77

What a terrible thread. The kid is 20 in his 2nd season in the league, give him a god damn break.

And he's being compared to other players in his age bracket. Apples to Apples.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Monahan For Mayor

What ?

Draisaitl is a level or two above Bennett today.

Reinhart had more points there rookie years, and is once again out pacing him.

Bennett definitely hasn't done anything to move up in a re draft.

Draisatl was one of the oldest of the 2014, Bennett one of the youngest. Think he'll "catch up".

[Flamescuprun2018]

His slowed development (if we can even say that) has a very positive silver lining. A major breakout to 70+ points this year would have created some major cap pain for Tre.

He will sign a bridge or long term deal in the 2-4 million/yr range (depending on term) that will easily allow us to keep our core together through the Johnny Hockey years (2016-23).

It might even give us enough space to resign Backlund in a year and/or afford us cap space to get that 1RW sniper we need the most.

[dino7c]

If they picked anyone other than Bennett 99% of fans would have absolutely lost it

[dino7c]

Draisaitl also plays on a PP with McDavid

[Keselke]

I would rather have Ehlers and Nylander today. Furthermore they have just as bright of futures and better opportunities in terms of line mates and ice time

Sam at this point is clearly behind those two players

[Iggy_12]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

You have a history of terrible terrible threads.

You might call them.... SUB-par?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YMPAH67f4o

[icecube]

Draisaitl is better today. So is Ehlers. Nylander... I'd rather have Bennett. It's still early though in all these guys careers.

[Robbob]

Sam is also getting a couple minutes less ice time a game and as noted less PP time. In the grand scheme of things the Flames can be patient because they aren't depending on him to drive offense. He can be a tough player to play against, which is what this team needs. I can't wait for a couple years to see what Bennett and Tkachuk bring to the table.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Short answer, no.

Long answer, no because Bennett has all the raw tools you could ever hope for, and then some.

Highly skilled? Check
Fast? Check
High IQ? Check (regardless of what someone stated)
Decently sized? Check (he isn't huge, but he is filling into his frame really nicely)

He also has 'intangibles'. What are these? Stuff like a non-stop motor. He looks slow at times because you can see he is trying to think of where he should be positioned. People forget that he isn't REALLY a natural center. AFAIK, Bennett played center his draft year in Junior, and I believe that was it. However, I like what I see from him already.

Bennett is a gamer. I loved Reinhart in his draft year because of his 'elite IQ'. However, I absolutely love how fast and gritty Bennett is. When he finishes putting on weight (and he has done well so far in this regard), and gets a bit of confidence, you will see it all come together for him.

Bennett and Gaudreau are the only two forwards on this team that can create offence at high speed. He is not afraid to mix it up physically with guys. He is super aggressive on the forecheck (which may end up pushing him to the wing), and though we haven't seen much of it, kid will drop the gloves and is a pretty tough kid (just ask Laughton in junior who was 2 years older).

Things haven't come together for him, but I would bet they do. He has pretty much everything you want in a player. He just has to gain confidence and find consistency in his game. Once he does, this thread is going to look pretty damn stupid.

[Monahan For Mayor]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Draisatl was one of the oldest of the 2014, Bennett one of the youngest. Think he'll "catch up".

Even if you look at it that way. Drai put up 51 points in 72 games as a 20 year old. So Bennett has a lot of catching up to do. I do think Bennett and Reinhart are definitely still close as well. I'd rank it today as...

Ekblad

Draisaitl - 70 point pace

Pastranak - 47 G/ 65 Point pace
Ehlers - 70 Point Pace

Bennett - 37 Point Pace
Reinhart - 51 Point Pace
Nylander - 60 Point pace

The rest

[Monahan For Mayor]

And everyone trying to flame, troll, what have you the posters saying they take other players today... These kids were all drafted the same year. They all had set backs. They all had obstacles to over take. Don't be homers and act like Bennett is the only one who is young and had injuries etc. It's unfortunate but he's falling behind, while others are progressing much faster.

Now with saying that, could he catch up and even overtake ? Absolutely. If I'm a gm and I want to mitigate my risk and become a better team today I have a few players above Bennett it's as simple as that.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Monahan For Mayor

Even if you look at it that way. Drai put up 51 points in 72 games as a 20 year old.

(after having half a season of experience as an 18 year old)

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Bear

The thread is fine and the questions reasonable. Ignore the princesses who get butt hurt anytime someone suggest a flames player might be inferior to another player in the league.

For the record - I'd still take Sam. He's not developed as quickly as I hoped but isn't being gifted PP minutes to pad his stats and is scoring at a decent pace 5v5.

So you agree with everyone that you would still take Bennett, but you felt the need to call everyone else butt-hurt princesses for thinking the same thing.

Solid post.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Par

Very true but Dal Colle, has not played in the NHL yet, so we can't really judge him yet.

Why can we not judge him yet?

The fact that he hasn't made the NHL yet, while the others have, is pretty straight-forward evidence that they are all ahead of him.

The reason people roast you is that you post - and start threads - without thinking. You seem to want to hear other peoples' opinions - which is great - but if you would spend a moment to think about it yourself, and post your opinion first, you might get less flack for it.

Anyway, I am happy with the pick. We have no idea who among them will turn out the best, and people need to have patience - it's a marathon, not a sprint.