The Legend of Sam Bennett

[OldDutch]

Good for Sam. The Flames did him solid as a young guy going to the Miami area. Sure the arena is like 1/4 full but the team is doing well and the area for a guy with money is fantastic.

Have fun and good luck!

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

To that point, here is a list of players currently under the age of 20 that played more than 30 games in the SHL this year (30 games being roughly half to two-thirds of the games, a number I arbitrarily picked. It seemed like a fair cut-off point to distinguish between players that were just filling in versus ones that were considered key players on the team):

Forwards
Lucas Raymond - 34 games (4th overall in 2020) - 18 points
Emil Heineman - 43 games (43rd overall in 2020) - 13 points
Zion Nybeck - 39 games (115th overall in 2020) - 7 points
Daniel Ljungman - 42 games (154th overall in 2020) - 4 points
Oskar Kvist - 34 games (undrafted) - 4 points
Elliot Ekmark - 31 games (198th overall in 2020) - 1 point


Defense
Moritz Seider - 41 games (6th overall in 2019) - 28 points (Wow)
Phillip Broberg 44 games (8th overall in 2019) - 13 points
Helge Grans - 43 games (35th overall in 2020) - 12 points
Emil Andrae - 31 games (54th overall in 2020) - 7 points
Anton Olsson - 39 games (draft eligible this year) - 4 points


Goalies
Hugo Alnefelt - 39 games (71st overall in 2019)

That's a very exclusive club. Out for ~400 players that played in the SHL this year, there were 12 under the age of 20 that played 30 or more games. Of those, 6 were forwards and Heineman was 2nd in scoring.

I only used players that are currently under 20 year of age as of today. Players that turned 20 this year but started the year under were not included, basically because it's time consuming. Had to draw the line somewhere.

Wait what about William Eklund, Albert Johansson, Alexander Holtz, Noel Gunler, Albin Sundsvik...

[the-rasta-masta]

I was surprised to see that Sam will have to pick a new number since 93 is retired in Florida. Weird.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

To that point, here is a list of players currently under the age of 20 that played more than 30 games in the SHL this year (30 games being roughly half to two-thirds of the games, a number I arbitrarily picked. It seemed like a fair cut-off point to distinguish between players that were just filling in versus ones that were considered key players on the team):

Forwards
Lucas Raymond - 34 games (4th overall in 2020) - 18 points
Emil Heineman - 43 games (43rd overall in 2020) - 13 points
Zion Nybeck - 39 games (115th overall in 2020) - 7 points
Daniel Ljungman - 42 games (154th overall in 2020) - 4 points
Oskar Kvist - 34 games (undrafted) - 4 points
Elliot Ekmark - 31 games (198th overall in 2020) - 1 point


Defense
Moritz Seider - 41 games (6th overall in 2019) - 28 points (Wow)
Phillip Broberg 44 games (8th overall in 2019) - 13 points
Helge Grans - 43 games (35th overall in 2020) - 12 points
Emil Andrae - 31 games (54th overall in 2020) - 7 points
Anton Olsson - 39 games (draft eligible this year) - 4 points


Goalies
Hugo Alnefelt - 39 games (71st overall in 2019)

That's a very exclusive club. Out for ~400 players that played in the SHL this year, there were 12 under the age of 20 that played 30 or more games. Of those, 6 were forwards and Heineman was 2nd in scoring.

I only used players that are currently under 20 year of age as of today. Players that turned 20 this year but started the year under were not included, basically because it's time consuming. Had to draw the line somewhere.

For future reference you can use elite prospects, select a league, and filter by age, so you don’t have to manually go and try to find the players under a certain age in a league.

Using that side there were 22 players that played at least 30 games, who were under 20 at the start of the year.

Of those 22 Heineman ranks 8th in scoring.

[blender]

Originally Posted by dammage79

I was all in on a Panthers bandwagon for the playoffs, having Bennett there now just seals the deal.

Yeah I think there might be a fair number of Panthers fans around here soon.

[DomeFoam]

https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showth...ts+goal&page=2

Depressing yet interesting to go back to his draft thread. Just goes to show sometimes things just don't go according to plan. Best of luck to Mr. Sam Bennett.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Wait what about William Eklund, Albert Johansson, Alexander Holtz, Noel Gunler, Albin Sundsvik...

Ok, so I missed a few. Johansson is 20 as of today, so I didn't include him.

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

For future reference you can use elite prospects, select a league, and filter by age, so you don’t have to manually go and try to find the players under a certain age in a league.

Using that side there were 22 players that played at least 30 games, who were 20 or under at the start of the year.

Of those 22 Heineman ranks 8th in scoring.

I only included players that were under 20 as of today (very end of the post).

[stang]

Shocked you guys got that much for him. Good trade.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Very interested to see how the team responds.

Best of luck, Ben E.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by the-rasta-masta

I was surprised to see that Sam will have to pick a new number since 93 is retired in Florida. Weird.

They retired a jersey number of a non-player?

[TheScorpion]

Just wait until you hear what the Minnesota Wild did, retiring #1 for "the fans."

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by the-rasta-masta

I was surprised to see that Sam will have to pick a new number since 93 is retired in Florida. Weird.

I hope it's 39. for some reason for me, it always felt like Sam should be 39.
I have no idea if it's available.

[TheScorpion]

39 does indeed appear to be available.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I have seen and read a lot on Heineman in the last couple of hours. Seems like a really good prospect actually. My best comparison is like a Frolik but with what looks like a better shot. If that doesn't make you excited, well, think about it this way.


I thought Frolik on the Flames was a very important piece even though he didn't really generate much offensively. I don't know how he always managed to get his goals (and I do remember some ugly goals he scored), but when he was on the ice it really seemed to disrupt the other team quite a bit - both with his fore-checking and his back-checking.


Heineman really looks like a Frolik out there with his non-stop motor in every video I was looking at. Really doesn't stop skating. Seems to be extremely aggressive on the fore-check and is a total puck hound on the backcheck. Some of the videos posted are definitely worth the time in looking.



Know who is going to absolutely love this kid? Darryl Sutter.



He seems to be ok offensively. I mean, I loved Frolik for the majority of his time here - first few seasons anyway - but he always had this absolute muffin of a shot that he often didn't even get on net. Really, I have no idea how Frolik accumulated those goals. Heineman seems to have a way better shot, and he seems to have a lot more puck skills - making and receiving passes for instance.



Plays in a men's league, and it was a treat to watch this kid just get on the back-check and not give up. Highlights are highlights of course, but he is playing in a men's league and seems to be doing well. I can see him in the NHL next year, actually. His non-stop motor and 2-way play will make him a Sutter favourite.


He also seems willing to engage physically. I didn't see many open ice hits - but he does knock guys down along the boards and doesn't shy away from any area, and uses his body well. Doesn't look like he is going to be a big hitter like Bennett is, but definitely a guy that is more than willing to engage. Really tenacious.


I like this crop of players coming up - Pelletier, Zary, Phillips and now Heineman - these are all really tenacious players with non-stop motors that are willing to engage and with high levels of compete. I liked that about Bennett, and I will miss him, but at least he was replaced with someone who can fill some of what he was providing the Flames with.


One thing that I do worry about, however, is that this team just gets soft. Sure, physical players are cheap and you can find them ever off-season like Ritchie and Ronaldo, but guys who can play and contribute in elevated roles sure seem very hard to find. Flames had a bit of a gem with Ferland and traded him away (though, especially with hindsight, it wasn't a poor move). Now Bennett. Hockey is still very much a physical sport, and tough, physical players with some ability are not so easy to get. Carolina paid heavily for Ferland, Canucks signed him to a hefty deal as well, and Florida paid handsomely for Bennett as well. Hope this organization can find some players with some toughness - toughness in the top 6 can make an impact, but only if they are legitimate top 6 players.


Next best thing to toughness, in my opinion, is tenacity and a high compete level. Mangiapane has that. Giordano (him taking a step down is irrelevant - that guy competes hard every night). Backlund most nights (most off nights for him in many seasons, but he is usually very tenacious).



If Dube can pick up some of Mangiapane's tenacity, I think he would be light's out. I don't like Ruzicka much as a prospect because of his lack of tenacity, but he does have a tonne of skill. However, Colborne and Jankowski both had a tonne of skill, but lacked tenacity. Hopefully he develops it - that's what will hold him back, as I do think he has all the tools to be an effective top 9 or even top 6 NHL player.


I like tenacity seemingly being a characteristic that this team is trying to draft. IMO, that 2015 'lucky season' wasn't as lucky as people thought. That was a poor team that was out-skilled, but they had tenacity. Gaudreau, Monahan, Brodie, Giordano, Bennett, Backlund - they all rose to the occasion and attacked and attacked. That's why they had those 3rd period comebacks - they were just a tenacious never-say-die bunch. They were just outclassed, but rarely out-worked.


I think this team - this EXACT SAME TEAM - has more than enough talent to be successful, but they have to start being tenacious again. However, changes are going to be made, and there seems like a nice handful of very tenacious prospects licking their chops.

[memphusk]

I can get on this wagon. I like Bennetts style, but his game isn't good. Tough, can fight, will hit. Won't accept that he's not a top 6 player and will try to do too much to make up for it.

He's tough as nails. I hope he joins up with Florida and ends up with a Goldie Howe the first game.

[868904]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

One thing that I do worry about, however, is that this team just gets soft. Sure, physical players are cheap and you can find them ever off-season like Ritchie and Ronaldo, but guys who can play and contribute in elevated roles sure seem very hard to find. Flames had a bit of a gem with Ferland and traded him away (though, especially with hindsight, it wasn't a poor move). Now Bennett. Hockey is still very much a physical sport, and tough, physical players with some ability are not so easy to get. Carolina paid heavily for Ferland, Canucks signed him to a hefty deal as well, and Florida paid handsomely for Bennett as well. Hope this organization can find some players with some toughness - toughness in the top 6 can make an impact, but only if they are legitimate top 6 players.


Next best thing to toughness, in my opinion, is tenacity and a high compete level. Mangiapane has that. Giordano (him taking a step down is irrelevant - that guy competes hard every night). Backlund most nights (most off nights for him in many seasons, but he is usually very tenacious).



If Dube can pick up some of Mangiapane's tenacity, I think he would be light's out. I don't like Ruzicka much as a prospect because of his lack of tenacity, but he does have a tonne of skill. However, Colborne and Jankowski both had a tonne of skill, but lacked tenacity. Hopefully he develops it - that's what will hold him back, as I do think he has all the tools to be an effective top 9 or even top 6 NHL player.


I like tenacity seemingly being a characteristic that this team is trying to draft. IMO, that 2015 'lucky season' wasn't as lucky as people thought. That was a poor team that was out-skilled, but they had tenacity. Gaudreau, Monahan, Brodie, Giordano, Bennett, Backlund - they all rose to the occasion and attacked and attacked. That's why they had those 3rd period comebacks - they were just a tenacious never-say-die bunch. They were just outclassed, but rarely out-worked.


I think this team - this EXACT SAME TEAM - has more than enough talent to be successful, but they have to start being tenacious again. However, changes are going to be made, and there seems like a nice handful of very tenacious prospects licking their chops.

Pospisil looks like a keeper and what you are describing as a big need, really sucks he got injured from that cheap shot. I think Darryl would have wanted to see him in the NHL this year.

Hopefully he comes back 100% healthy and his game isn't affected.

[Sandman]

Yeah, Darryl's going to love Pospsil when he gets ahold of him. Sutter is the guy that gave Jordan Nolan a career, and Pospisil is much more skilled than him.

[klikitiklik]

I'm a bigger Flames fan then I am a Mr. Bennet fan. Him not panning out is one of the reasons we are where we are.

"Mr Bennet at no point in your rambling, penalty filled time with the Flames were you even close to anything that could be considered an elite player.
Everyone in this dressing room is now dumber for having played with you. I hope you get no further points, and may God have mercy on your soul."--Michael Scott

[Redrum]

Hopefully Pospisil can fully recover from that ****stain kneeing him.

[djsFlames]

Oh to be a young, athletic millionaire going to Miami to play a game professionally.

Things worked out nicely for ol' Samwise.