I think with the development of monahan and backlund, Bennett should be able to develop with less scrutiny, just give him the time and see what happens
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I'm not going to lie, deep down I'm starting to worry about Sam Bennett's overall development as an offensive forward. His scoring totals have steadily declined this season and I think he has something like 10 points in his last 50 games. That's a bewildering total for a 4th overall pick who's playing against the opposition's bottom lines. I'm really hoping he can go into the summer and really work hard on improving his acceleration and speed like Draisaitl did; the way this kid wants to play, he'll need that little extra boost.
What gives you cause for concern re Bennett's skating?
He's a player with 60 points in 154 NHL games. That's already an average 30-point pace.
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If he doesn't progress, he will be a 30 point guy.
Barring catastrophic injury, he'll progress. He's 20 years old, for crying out loud.
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He won't get better linemates if he doesn't progress
He'll get better linemates when the team has better wingers. Brouwer and Versteeg have been pretty disappointing, but he won't be stuck on a line with them forever.
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I don't think he is a 30 point guy, but the history of drafts is filled with top 5 busts.
The history of the NHL draft is not filled with players who had already busted after two years.
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What gives you cause for concern re Bennett's skating?
Just Sam Bennett's style of play could use an uptick in speed. He likes to carry the puck out of the defensive zone in transition, but from what I've seen, he can't seem to out skate the back checker quick enough to make the plays that he wants to make. That's part of the reason why I think he's struggled so mightily offensively in the last half of the season is because right now, he doesn't carry the puck with enough speed to gain separation to make creative plays nor does he have the strength to out muscle the opposition and drive the puck to the net. It'll probably come with time once he develops and matures into his body.
Just Sam Bennett's style of play could use an uptick in speed. He likes to carry the puck out of the defensive zone in transition, but from what I've seen, he can't seem to out skate the back checker quick enough to make the plays that he wants to make. That's part of the reason why I think he's struggled so mightily offensively in the last half of the season is because right now, he doesn't carry the puck with enough speed to gain separation to make creative plays nor does he have the strength to out muscle the opposition and drive the puck to the net. It'll probably come with time once he develops and matures into his body.
To be fair, the only players that comes to mind that does it with consistency is McDavid and Grabner on a good year. You generally only see world class speed take advantage of NHL defenders
Realistically Bennett's game just need more rounding out in the offensive end since it's very high speed, north/south, 1v1 dependent which just doesn't pan out most of the time even against 3rd pairing guys.
To be fair, the only players that comes to mind that does it with consistency is McDavid and Grabner on a good year. You generally only see world class speed take advantage of NHL defenders
Realistically Bennett's game just need more rounding out in the offensive end since it's very high speed, north/south, 1v1 dependent which just doesn't pan out most of the time even against 3rd pairing guys.
I was actually thinking of someone on our team like Backlund. Backlund can skate the puck out of his own zone efficiently and can distribute the puck to his wingers effectively too. Obviously Backlund thinks the game at a higher level right now, but I think Sam Bennett has a higher end ceiling offensively. Not sure how long it'll take Bennett to mature physically. But hopefully it's quick or else I fear he will continue to struggle at center and lose the confidence of the coaching staff and management.
Bennett has been great tonight. Very impressed his play.
More of that is needed. For whatever reason he looked faster and more assertive out there tonight. If he can continue to play like that into the playoffs, we might have a chance to make it deep into the playoffs. If the saying is true that the top 2 lines cancel each other out, then a motivated and effective Sam Bennett will help out big time.
More of that is needed. For whatever reason he looked faster and more assertive out there tonight. If he can continue to play like that into the playoffs, we might have a chance to make it deep into the playoffs. If the saying is true that the top 2 lines cancel each other out, then a motivated and effective Sam Bennett will help out big time.
Versteeg and Chiasson are definitely more suitable linemates than Brouwer and Bouma. They can skate with him, just a better fit. Brouwer looks ok with Stajan and Bouma - someone mentioned he slots in like David Jones did, which seemed to work well two years ago.
It would be nice to see him gain some confidence going into the playoffs. It's been a bit of a cold stretch here. Hopefully he can build on tonights game going forward.
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Versteeg and Chiasson are definitely more suitable linemates than Brouwer and Bouma. They can skate with him, just a better fit. Brouwer looks ok with Stajan and Bouma - someone mentioned he slots in like David Jones did, which seemed to work well two years ago.
Things is, until tonight the lines were Bouma-Bennett-Chiasson & Versteeg-Stajan-Brouwer, and there were big flaws with those line combos.
The problem with that BBC line is that it was too much crash & dash and not enough skill. Meanwhile the problem with that 'veteran's line' is that there wasn't enough grind, plus nobody on that line can really skate and generate any effective forecheck, so they were often chasing the game way too much to do anything meaningful.
Now that the lines are Versteeg-Bennett-Chiasson & Bouma-Stajan-Brouwer, there is now the right amount of skill for the 3rd line, and the right amount of dash & grind for the 4th line.
Last edited by Karl; 03-31-2017 at 11:07 PM.
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The new line combo last night with Versteeg and Bennett was great.
Wow though what a game by Sammy.....he was flying and what a pass to Johnny was pure Gilmour V.02
He was hitting as well .....pretty impressive how fast he was out of that penalty box to seal the deal last night.
No April's fools we made it .....playoffs
It sure does seem like lines look instantly better when Brouwer is removed off the line. The Chiasson, Versteeg, Bennett line looked quick and dangerous. It would be nice to see Brouwer stay on the 4th line for the remainder of the season as he only has one gear and it's kind of plodding.
