The Legend of Sam Bennett

[Aarongavey]

That really was a nice goal by Sam. Another good game from Sam, real nice one-two punch down the middle for the Panthers.

[bluejays]

I don't know if anyone would have realistically posted that he'd do this well, but it was pretty evident the Flames mismanaged the guy. Frankly, I'm beginning to wonder about the Flames development for players as a whole? We've seen guys come in, do very well, then drop off at an early age, and that seems to be pretty consistent across the board with many players. What is it about their approach or culture that's wrong?

[DazzlinDino]

And the Flames didn't have room for this guy!

Some people think he will regress, probably not! If he keeps this up the Flames will have traded away what coach Q is now calling a home run!

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by fleury

I don't know if anyone would have realistically posted that he'd do this well, but it was pretty evident the Flames mismanaged the guy. Frankly, I'm beginning to wonder about the Flames development for players as a whole? We've seen guys come in, do very well, then drop off at an early age, and that seems to be pretty consistent across the board with many players. What is it about their approach or culture that's wrong?

Look at what Monahan has developed into. Listen to Sutter talk about the changes he’s trying to bring in.

The Flames absolutely had (have?) a problem. Hopefully Sutter can fix it.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by fleury

I don't know if anyone would have realistically posted that he'd do this well,

Honestly, saying as much made you a target for bullying by timbit, t99, new era etc but I think at least a few people believed in him t0 the end.

[Gaskal]

It's bittersweet because we knew he always had it in him, but the Flames seem to think he's some sort of 4th line grinder.


That's just so.... Flames.

[tvp2003]

Confidence is a helluva drug.

Watched Sam for six seasons and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him snipe one like that. For his sake, I hope it doesn’t take another six seasons for him to do it again.

Go Panthers?!?

[KootenayFlamesFan]

That OT winner deflected off the d-man's stick, no? They all count the same, but I don't think he actually purely sniped that.

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by fleury

I don't know if anyone would have realistically posted that he'd do this well, but it was pretty evident the Flames mismanaged the guy. Frankly, I'm beginning to wonder about the Flames development for players as a whole? We've seen guys come in, do very well, then drop off at an early age, and that seems to be pretty consistent across the board with many players. What is it about their approach or culture that's wrong?

Hartley said, you have to play your stars often when they are young even when they make mistakes.... He did just that with Johnny and Monahan. The Flames sheltered Bennett and didn't play him for what he was drafted for. I have wondered myself a few times who is in charge of development. Someone on the inside must have insisted coaches keep playing Sam down the line. Same thing through several average coaches! No-one seemed to know how to develop a star player like Sam.

[FiveSeven]

Maybe it's not luck. This has got me thinking sers...

Maybe some players such as Bennett, High skill coming out of minors, need to be played with good players early-ish in their transition to the NHL. Sometimes starting a certain kind of player low on the lineup and making them 'earn' their way up by producing doesn't work.

Sometimes you need to make a flourishing environment happen for more then 2-10 games at a time.

The Flames did more to mold him into an effective 3rd/4th liner then they did trying to create a 1st or 2nd liner. Regardless of if he regresses back from this pace to more of a 30-40 point player, it still makes the Flames look horrible.

'Earned never given' isn't a great model when it comes to development 100% of the time.

It also doesn't help that our best players are either not that good or are perimeter style soft players. tkachuk - bennett - lindholm or something in a different universe could of been dreamy.

[Icon]

Originally Posted by Icon

Hot take - Bennett will be the Flames Hall. Wins the Hart next year.

This is looking like a potential Hart win this year the way he's going....

[SeanCharles]

It’s never made sense to me why he was always an afterthought for the coaches here.

Whether or not this keeps up I’ve always had faith in him.

Even if we didn’t see him as a center I really don’t get why we couldn’t play him with good players on the wing?

Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk
Bennett-Monahan-Mangiapane
Lucic-Backlund-Dube

One thing I’ve noticed over the years, until just recently, is how stubborn coaches are about maintaining forward “pairs” even when things were clearly stale.

Gaudreau-Monahan, Backlund-Tkachuk are some examples.

Coaching staffs have been too rigid and not willing to try new things. It’s pissed me off a lot over the years and the most shocking part of it is even when the Bennett-Dube pairing show some chemistry and looked like it could be one of those “pairings” the coaches would abandon it in short order.

It’s very hard to be a fan of this team.

[soulchoice]

The Sam Bennett excellence in Florida is my current favourite story of the year for hockey. Love it. I hope he continues and gets better with every game.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

That OT winner deflected off the d-man's stick, no? They all count the same, but I don't think he actually purely sniped that.

Hard to tell from the replay, thought it looked pretty clean.

For Sam’s benefit I’ll say it was a pure snipe

[soulchoice]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

It's bittersweet because we knew he always had it in him, but the Flames seem to think he's some sort of 4th line grinder.


That's just so.... Flames.

Flame gonna Flame.

[oldschoolcalgary]

i mean I am happy that Sam is doing well...Florida is simply a better team.

Currently Florida has the 3rd most goals for in the NHL and the Flames 24th in GF... He's playing with Huberdeau (3rd OA) and Tippett (10 OA) on the second line...

Calgary doesn't have the same caliber of talent that Florida has.

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by oldschoolcalgary

i mean I am happy that Sam is doing well...Florida is simply a better team.

Currently Florida has the 3rd most goals for in the NHL and the Flames 24th in GF... He's playing with Huberdeau (3rd OA) and Tippett (10 OA) on the second line...

Calgary doesn't have the same caliber of talent that Florida has.

Flames still should have played him in all situations to see what we had, he scored that snipe on a 3 on 3!

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

Honestly, saying as much made you a target for bullying by timbit, t99, new era etc but I think at least a few people believed in him t0 the end.

I think most of his supporters thought he could be a top 6 forward with the right opportunity. Nobody expected him to start putting up over 1.3 PPG.

I do have to say that he’s getting a lot of luck right now. Luck and confidence are a real funny thing.

That goal he scored tonight didn’t go in for him in any of his 6 seasons in Calgary, not once.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by DazzlinDino

Flames still should have played him in all situations to see what we had, he scored that snipe on a 3 on 3!

I agree...Sam's play, if sustained, is a major indictment of the organization frankly...

Reminds me of St.Louis and how they let him walk away, even through the coaches and management saw him every day in practice and still kept him in the bottom six.

I think there's lots of blame to go around for sure and the coaches and management own a big chunk of it.

I didn't like the Ward hire, and I think Treliving and the scouts should be replaced this offseason

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I think most of his supporters thought he could be a top 6 forward with the right opportunity. Nobody expected him to start putting up over 1.3 PPG.

I do have to say that he’s getting a lot of luck right now. Luck and confidence are a real funny thing.

That goal he scored tonight didn’t go in for him in any of his 6 seasons in Calgary, not once.

He had 8 shots on net tonight. It’s not really luck at that stage, it’s just a strong game and something finally went in.

His strong underlying numbers almost his entire time here told us this was a risk. He deserved better here, but garbage coaches gonna be garbage.