Sam Bennett vs. Matthew Tkatchuk

[dying4acup]

Monahan isn't an elite playmaker, but until this season I always thought that he benefited greatly from playing with one(or two when Hudler was on his game).

This season, after a rough start (I'm willing to write off due to a back injury) he has been a better than average playmaker and a play driver on a line with Versteeg and Brouwer.

I love Bennett and I think he has some elite talents, but what he has lacked is playmaking ability so far. When he plays wing he's shown great flashes as an elite finisher, but as a centre, he needs to find that perfect pass sometimes, and that has been lacking.

If and (I hope) when he learns to to thread a pass, like he did in junior, his bulldog mentality as a centre will make him a Gilmour-lite.

Worst case (to me) he becomes an A level sniper off the wing at least as valuable as Tkachuk.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Anyone who thinks Bennett will get 80-90 pts is beyond crazy . And that is no knock on Bennett.

This would literally put Bennett as the 3rd best player behind Crosby and McD

Sam Bennett has played 115 friken NHL games, how about giving it a little time before nailing down his potential.

Not saying you're out to lunch wrong but I can't help but wonder if Chiarelli said the same thing about Sequin after playing his 3rd season with the bruins.

[1qqaaz]

Seguin wasn't given much of an opportunity to produce huge numbers. That all changed when he got to play with Benn in Dallas.

I think a better comparison would be the Sedin Twins. Their offense really exploded rather late in their careers.

115 NHL games is a pretty decent sample size IMO. Bennett hasn't improved on in points per game, but of course he's still very young.

At this point, there's almost nothing that suggests he can be a 90 point player.

I don't think anyone on the Flames has the potential to be over a point per game except Gaudreau.

[Geeoff]

I've thought about it and if I'm an expansion team, I'd take Bennett simply for the fact that he's the flashier offensive player. Gotta put some butts in the new barn and Bennett definitely has a more exciting play style.

[Gaskal]

I'd have to go with Bennett, simply because elite centers (or young centres with elite potential) are way harder to come by than elite wingers. Losing Tkachuk would suck in the short term. Like, really suck. I feel like today, Tkachuk brings more to the table than Bennett does. But losing Sam would open up a really big hole at center over the long term, a problem this organization has been trying to solve for the last couple decades.

I'm surprised as to how many people feel like the jury's out on Bennett already, given that this is his 2nd full NHL season. He's set to improve on his offensive output from last season by maybe a handful of points, while improving leaps & bounds defensively.

Right now if Sam developed into a 60-70pt center playing important defensive minutes and key situations, I'd be pretty happy. His offense has been dry of late. But he's also being put on the PK and actually developing at C. As a 20 year old in the NHL that's a huge vote of confidence. Remember, whoever plays C has to support the offense on the boards and in front of the net as well as getting back to help out the D low. So if that part of the game is slowly being brought along already, that's a big positive for me.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

Seguin wasn't given much of an opportunity to produce huge numbers. That all changed when he got to play with Benn in Dallas.

I think a better comparison would be the Sedin Twins. Their offense really exploded rather late in their careers.

115 NHL games is a pretty decent sample size IMO. Bennett hasn't improved on in points per game, but of course he's still very young.

At this point, there's almost nothing that suggests he can be a 90 point player.

I don't think anyone on the Flames has the potential to be over a point per game except Gaudreau.

115 games is really not all that great of a sample size when you consider the way the Flames develop players. A significant portion of those games were spent with limited minutes on lower lines with lower end linemates. The Flames, unlike other teams, don't gift a star prospect automatic premium ice time.

Bennett average 15:37 of TOI this year with 2:00 PP/TOI and 1:08 SH/TOI.

Last year it was 15:08 of TOI with 1:57 of PP/TOI and almost no SH/TOI.

Until the club decides Bennett is ready for that heavier role, we won't be able to gauge his potential in that role. You can even see from the above stats that Bennett is being used fairly extensively on the PK this year to groom him properly to be a better all around player. Given his age and PPG, I'm not sure how anyone can look at the role he's been in and state that he's capped out offensively.

We have no idea what his true potential is yet, but overall he looks to be a solid choice.

[Jay Random]

In his second full NHL season, Joe Thornton scored 16 goals and 41 points in 81 games. Was it ridiculous to think he might have a 90-point season one day?

Now, before somebody makes the obvious but idiotic rejoinder: No, I am not comparing Bennett to Thornton. I am merely pointing out that the first 115 games of an NHL player's career are not enough to set an arbitrary limit on his future development.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

Seguin wasn't given much of an opportunity to produce huge numbers. That all changed when he got to play with Benn in Dallas.

If anything it's Bennett not getting the opportunity to put up points.

Sequin played 17 minutes a game in his second season, Bennett plays less than 15 1/2. Sequin was also 2nd on Boston with PP time whereas Bennett is 5th for the forwards on the PP.

[Erick Estrada]

Why does everything have to be this player vs this player? Can't we be happy that both players are Flames? Same with the goaltending. Can someone be happy for say Johnson playing well without having to hate on Elliott?