Sam Bennett as a center or winger?

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

Why not as punishment? He deserves to sit a few games because he's playing bad. No need to beat around the bush.

Because I don't think he's playing bad. Like most players he's had good games, bad games and inbetween. He clearly has lost some confidence and is squeezing his stick so he's not getting the numbers. His offense is struggling but the rest of his game is not bad.

[JFK]

The time for benching Bennett has passed. He hasn't put up a point yet but he's turned a corner on his play since moving to the wing and has strung together some good games. Last night was another one and the Hamilton goal doesn't happen without his strong play. Sitting him at this point makes no sense.

Not against the idea of sitting players but Bennett's been getting better. Really feel he's close to breaking out here.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by zuluking

With Ferland cementing his spot on the top line and Jagr back from injury, the team now has the luxury to allow Bennett and Jankowski to learn from and build chemistry with Jagr. As seen in numerous clips from earlier practices, Jagr is in wise mentor mode and frankly that is exactly what Bennett needs right now. It would have been great to have maintained this third line from the beginning of the season, but Ferland hadn't translated his game to the top line and they had to shuffle Jagr in there. Time to keep these three together and let it happen...

I'm interested to see this tried, but could see it going horribly wrong too.

Jagr still isn't in full flight mode and asking him to get Bennett going may be too much.
Jagr may actually need stronger linemates to get him going still. This line could just end up full of players who can't get each other going and don't have strong enough strength to help any of them.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by JFK

The time for benching Bennett has passed. He hasn't put up a point yet but he's turned a corner on his play since moving to the wing and has strung together some good games. Last night was another one and the Hamilton goal doesn't happen without his strong play. Sitting him at this point makes no sense.

Not against the idea of sitting players but Bennett's been getting better. Really feel he's close to breaking out here.

I agree, and I'll add that I think benchings are for players who aren't listening or aren't trying. Those are not Bennetts problems.

[JFK]

Originally Posted by Itse

I agree, and I'll add that I think benchings are for players who aren't listening or aren't trying. Those are not Bennetts problems.

Sometimes it's good for a struggling player to just sit a night out, reset, watch from the press box and get a new perspective on things.

We're going a bit back on this one but Toni Lydman sitting out saying how much it helped his game when he was a rookie always stands out. Gave him a refreshed look at the game.

[---Hatrick---]

Originally Posted by JFK

The time for benching Bennett has passed. He hasn't put up a point yet but he's turned a corner on his play since moving to the wing and has strung together some good games. Last night was another one and the Hamilton goal doesn't happen without his strong play. Sitting him at this point makes no sense.

Not against the idea of sitting players but Bennett's been getting better. Really feel he's close to breaking out here.

Haha, it's funny because I feel like every game we say he's about to breakout and we'll.... it's been 15 games.
But I do agree that he seems to be playing fairly well. He's not hurting the team like some suggest, aside from the odd bone headed penalty. He's working hard and it's gonna be a huge relief for him once one finally goes in

[Itse]

Originally Posted by JFK

Sometimes it's good for a struggling player to just sit a night out, reset, watch from the press box and get a new perspective on things.

We're going a bit back on this one but Toni Lydman sitting out saying how much it helped his game when he was a rookie always stands out. Gave him a refreshed look at the game.

Yeah, I guess I should've said "typically benchings are for"...

Let's just hope the coaching staff knows what they're doing with him.

[VilleN]

Don't know how to imbed tweets, but as per Wes Gilbertson: "#Flames C/LW Sam Bennett has now logged 200 minutes of icetime this season without collecting a point. He's played 47 minutes more than any other NHL forward with zeroes on the stat-sheet."

I do think he's looked better as of late, and I still hold out some hope... but man, that's bad no matter how you look at it.

[H2SO4(aq)]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

Why not as punishment? He deserves to sit a few games because he's playing bad. No need to beat around the bush.

"sam, youre not scoring. We're gonna sit you a couple games. But remember, if you don't start producing when you get back in the roster, the punishment will be worse the next time. good luck, sam".

Yep, this seems like a good motivator for a guy who is obviously very hard on himself and already overthinking things due to his lack of offensive production.

I personally think Gully should, and has been btw, be giving Bennett favorable icetime (PP/offensive zone starts) to let him play his way out of this slump.

[Bingo]

The eye test has certainly suggested he's playing better hockey since a) he moved to the wing and b) he joined up with Jankowski and it's tough to tell how much of either factor is driving things.

His metrics though support it too ...


Red lines represent the move to the wing/Jankowski

Upper graphs are out right, bottom graphs are accumulated.

Really points out a big change as blue (for) are bigger than (red) against. He's really cut back on high danger chance against as well (Jankowski).

If you take out the Edmonton game it's a very different season accumulated, and that's true for the whole team.

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by JFK

Sometimes it's good for a struggling player to just sit a night out, reset, watch from the press box and get a new perspective on things.

We're going a bit back on this one but Toni Lydman sitting out saying how much it helped his game when he was a rookie always stands out. Gave him a refreshed look at the game.

It was the same for Gaudreau in his rookie season too.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Bingo

The eye test has certainly suggested he's playing better hockey since a) he moved to the wing and b) he joined up with Jankowski and it's tough to tell how much of either factor is driving things.

His metrics though support it too ...


Red lines represent the move to the wing/Jankowski

Upper graphs are out right, bottom graphs are accumulated.

Really points out a big change as blue (for) are bigger than (red) against. He's really cut back on high danger chance against as well (Jankowski).

If you take out the Edmonton game it's a very different season accumulated, and that's true for the whole team.

So in 7 games on the wing, he has had 5 "positive" games and 2 "negative" ones? Small sample size obviously but that is somewhat encouraging. Still need to see the puck go into the net of course.

[united]

Originally Posted by Bingo

The eye test has certainly suggested he's playing better hockey since a) he moved to the wing and b) he joined up with Jankowski and it's tough to tell how much of either factor is driving things.

His metrics though support it too ...


Red lines represent the move to the wing/Jankowski

Upper graphs are out right, bottom graphs are accumulated.

Really points out a big change as blue (for) are bigger than (red) against. He's really cut back on high danger chance against as well (Jankowski).

If you take out the Edmonton game it's a very different season accumulated, and that's true for the whole team.

I think it's important to note his circumstances, too, for full context.
Pre-wing/Jankowski offensive zone starts: 51%
Post-wing/Jankowski offensive zone starts: 74%

[Bingo]

I'd leave this line alone for a month ... see where it goes.

I'm guessing it's an investment that pays off.

[ignite09]

Originally Posted by united

I think it's important to note his circumstances, too, for full context.
Pre-wing/Jankowski offensive zone starts: 51%
Post-wing/Jankowski offensive zone starts: 74%

Yeah, thank god we have the Backlund line there to take the #### minutes so we can shelter everyone else. Shouldn't be this hard too find a couple NHLers who could take advantage of that.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by united

I think it's important to note his circumstances, too, for full context.
Pre-wing/Jankowski offensive zone starts: 51%
Post-wing/Jankowski offensive zone starts: 74%

So, it seems like the coaching staff has been trying to give him more chances to succeed.

Although there could be a lot of other factors, like not trusting Jankowski with a lot of defensive zone faceoffs, or just trusting the 4th line more.

I would assume that Stajans line is getting buried pretty hard now in zone starts?

[Classic_Sniper]

The more I watch Sam play, the more I realize the flashes of brilliance are still there, but he struggles to do the little things that puts him in position to display his high end skill. His hockey iq is definitely not his strongest attribute, his skating is average and he’s not particularly strong protecting the puck. So he needs the type of player on his like who can drive play, create space for him and do the heavy lifting that he can’t do. I’m talking about zone exits, zone entries, puck retrievals, down low battles and etc.

That’s why I think he’s seen the most successful with guys like Gaudreau, Backlund, Frolik and even Jagr has been helping him in this regard. These guys all do some heavy lifting in some way and they give Sam Bennett the freedom to just focus on trying to generate offense in his way. Right now, he doesn’t have anyone who can do the heavy lifting and that’s why he has struggled immensely to put up points.

Maybe Sam will develop the ability to do some heavy lifting of his own as he matures, maybe he doesn’t, but that’s why I don’t think we need to trade him just yet, I think there’s a lot of untapped potential here. We just need to find the right partner for him to formulate chemistry with.

[edslunch]

I wouldn’t be surprised if he asks to be traded. Maybe the contract negotiations didn’t go the way he wanted, he feels he’s not in a position to succeed, he’s buried on the depth chart, needs a change....not that any of those by itself is a deal-breaker

There are examples even of Baertschi who had more success when they changed teams. He might look at that as a way out of his current funk.

I trust the organization is doing what they can to keep him positive. It’s not uncommon for people under a lot of (self-induced) pressure to look for an out.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

The more I watch Sam play, the more I realize the flashes of brilliance are still there, but he struggles to do the little things that puts him in position to display his high end skill. His hockey iq is definitely not his strongest attribute, his skating is average and he’s not particularly strong protecting the puck. So he needs the type of player on his like who can drive play, create space for him and do the heavy lifting that he can’t do. I’m talking about zone exits, zone entries, puck retrievals, down low battles and etc.

That’s why I think he’s seen the most successful with guys like Gaudreau, Backlund, Frolik and even Jagr has been helping him in this regard. These guys all do some heavy lifting in some way and they give Sam Bennett the freedom to just focus on trying to generate offense in his way. Right now, he doesn’t have anyone who can do the heavy lifting and that’s why he has struggled immensely to put up points.

Maybe Sam will develop the ability to do some heavy lifting of his own as he matures, maybe he doesn’t, but that’s why I don’t think we need to trade him just yet, I think there’s a lot of untapped potential here. We just need to find the right partner for him to formulate chemistry with.

so with the right line mates, he's Eberle?

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

The more I watch Sam play, the more I realize the flashes of brilliance are still there, but he struggles to do the little things that puts him in position to display his high end skill. His hockey iq is definitely not his strongest attribute, his skating is average and he’s not particularly strong protecting the puck. So he needs the type of player on his like who can drive play, create space for him and do the heavy lifting that he can’t do. I’m talking about zone exits, zone entries, puck retrievals, down low battles and etc.

That’s why I think he’s seen the most successful with guys like Gaudreau, Backlund, Frolik and even Jagr has been helping him in this regard. These guys all do some heavy lifting in some way and they give Sam Bennett the freedom to just focus on trying to generate offense in his way. Right now, he doesn’t have anyone who can do the heavy lifting and that’s why he has struggled immensely to put up points.

Maybe Sam will develop the ability to do some heavy lifting of his own as he matures, maybe he doesn’t, but that’s why I don’t think we need to trade him just yet, I think there’s a lot of untapped potential here. We just need to find the right partner for him to formulate chemistry with.

He's become one of the best forwards on the team for his play down low as he's physical and almost dogged in how hunts down defenders in the corners and behind the net.

Where he seems to really hurt himself is by forcing things or refusing to take the easy play when he's carrying the puck.

If I was coaching him I'd just focus on grey zone turnovers, how many games can you go without one. That would have him getting pucks deep and not thinking so much when he's attacking.

Once the puck is behind the defender he's one of the best to go in and cause mayhem.