The Legend of Sam Bennett

[Atodaso]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

the 2014-15 Flames were funner.



Though that was mostly Jay Feaster's teardown of the Flames

Yeah, that was all inherited. He hadn't made his mark quite yet. 4 years in and he managed to get career years out of a lot of the roster including a Norris win for Gio and finding the magic of purple Gatorade.

I'd really like to know what happened during that All Star break though.

[Calgary4LIfe]

This is great for Bennett. Hope he keeps it up and really starts building off of it. Hopefully by next season, he will be brimming with confidence and he will be much more 'skilled looking' like his first year's highlight package.



Confidence is the best drug. He can keep getting better from here and hopefully regain most of what he has lost. I always feel like when a kid's development stops prematurely, his ceiling is automatically lowered. Imagine what he could have been in Calgary if he was developed the right way from the get-go. If only Hartley was retained for just one more season - just enough to push Bennett to just that next step of centring a line for a season. Whomever came in after would have had "Bona fide 3rd line centre who is improving 20 year old Sam Bennett" pencilled-in, if not the 2nd line centre if things went swimmingly. I really do wonder what his ceiling is based on a number of years of little-to-no progression.

[tvp2003]

Oliver Kylington is going to win a Norris someday, isn’t he?

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Pro scouts yes
Amateur scouts are doing their job

But if player development is a concern I'm not sure Sutter fixes that as coach either.

This organization finds itself in a dilly of a pickle.

A coach hired to win now
A team nowhere near that

I have no idea what they are going to do.

its a difference of opinion I guess. Button's been head of scouting since 2001?

over the last 20 years, Calgary hasn't really been a great franchise by any stretch... who has Calgary drafted in that time period that has really done much? As an organization, the Flames have been middling at best. Lack of talent has been a big part of that failure.

its a tough situation for sure though. I don't have any answers, but personally, I would move on from Button as well (can't speak for all the individual scouts, but the buck stops at the GM and Button imo)

edit - was thinking the same thing about Kylington too lol

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by oldschoolcalgary

its a difference of opinion I guess. Button's been head of scouting since 2001?

over the last 20 years, Calgary hasn't really been a great franchise by any stretch... who has Calgary drafted in that time period that has really done much? As an organization, the Flames have been middling at best. Lack of talent has been a big part of that failure.

its a tough situation for sure though. I don't have any answers, but personally, I would move on from Button as well (can't speak for all the individual scouts, but the buck stops at the GM and Button imo)

The problem? The Flames haven't been terrible enough for a few years to pick top 3 and land some studs you can build around. Bennett is the highest pick, and he's no McDavid, or Kane, or MacKinnon, etc.

When you're middle of the pack for decades it's really tough to land those franchise players to lead your team to continued success. You either need to be really good or really terrible. The Flames have been in no-man's land for what seems like forever and it's killing them.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

The problem? The Flames haven't been terrible enough for a few years to pick top 3 and land some studs you can build around. Bennett is the highest pick, and he's no McDavid, or Kane, or MacKinnon, etc.

When you're middle of the pack for decades it's really tough to land those franchise players to lead your team to continued success. You either need to be really good or really terrible. The Flames have been in no-man's land for what seems like forever and it's killing them.

I put in my vote for a tank earlier in the season, based on the fact that in the last 20 years, only one team (STL) has won a Cup without a top 2 OA pick on the roster.

that doesn't mean Calgary should not be drafting better than they have however.

Calgary’s middling success as a drafting team is evident by looking at the 167 players the Flames selected over the 20-year period from 1997-2017. Players selected in the 2017 Draft and later can’t fairly be considered in this debate because they haven’t yet had a fair chance to make the Flames’ roster.

Only 72 of the 167 players chosen (43%) managed to play in an NHL game, but just 32, or about one in five, ever played more than 100 games in the league. This is below the figure for the NHL as a whole, where about 28% of players drafted manage to play at least 100 games. Of the 32, only 20 of them suited up in the Flaming C for 100 games. Keep in mind that 100 games is just a little more than one season in the league.

Of the 167 draftees, the number that made a significant impact in Calgary by playing more than 300 games in the Saddledome sporting a Flames’ sweater, stands at just nine (5%). Five of those nine players were Calgary first-round picks — Dion Phaneuf (ninth overall), Mikael Backlund (24th overall), Sean Monahan (sixth overall), Sam Bennett (fourth overall) and Matthew Tkachuk (sixth overall).

https://thehockeywriters.com/flames-...ent-struggles/

When an organization struggles on the ice for as long as the Flames have, its systemic. Scouting, development, coaching, GM'ing and players are responsible for it...

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Oh for sure........the drafting hasn't been fantastic, but I do like some of the middle/late round picks. I'm just saying a few top picks turns this franchise around. Look at the garbage team they played tonight: two highly drafted studs and a bunch of garbage and they're making the playoffs. Imagine if the Flames got a few top picks mixed in with later picks like Johnny and Eat Bread. And don't get me started on how good Fox would look on this team right now. All of a sudden the scouting staff looks pretty good.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

Oh for sure........the drafting hasn't been fantastic, but I do like some of the middle/late round picks. I'm just saying a few top picks turns this franchise around. Look at the garbage team they played tonight: two highly drafted studs and a bunch of garbage and they're making the playoffs. Imagine if the Flames got a few top picks mixed in with later picks like Johnny and Eat Bread. And don't get me started on how good Fox would look on this team right now. All of a sudden the scouting staff looks pretty good.

I suppose its simply a question of confidence on whether Calgary is an organization that can identify non-top 5 talent and develop them w/o tanking...

At this point, I just don't have confidence they can do that... who knows; maybe the guys post 2017 will be good... the article didn't factor in Pelletier, Valimaki, Wolfe, Pettersen, Zary, Dube, Mangi et al as they are post 2017... so they could change the calculus a little.

True elite talent, you have be lucky, or really, really bad....and after 20 years, I don't see a lot of luck outside of that first round beyond Gaudreau, Andersson, Brodie, *cough*Fox*cough"... Ferly maybe as guys that are top 6 or top 3 D?

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Oliver Kylington is going to win a Norris someday, isn’t he?

And Tyler Parsons is going to win a Vezina or Conn Smythe as soon as another team picks him up

[ComixZone]

NHL.com with some quotes from The Chirp With Darren Millard

"I've always known that I want to take on a bigger role and play a bigger role," Bennett said. "Now that I'm getting that opportunity, I feel like I've been taking advantage of it a little bit. Just proves that I could have been doing this all along. I'm happy. I'm not going to get comfortable. I'm not going to get complacent. I know it's only been a couple games. I have a lot more to prove and a lot more to give. I'm going to keep going out there and playing my game every chance I get."

"One of the first things [Sutter] said to me (after he was traded) was I wish I had you longer," Bennett said. "Me and him had a really good relationship. I really liked playing for him. I believe he liked me as a player. Didn't really have him for too long but we had a good relationship.

"It was no secret that my time in Calgary had not gone the way that I expected or everyone else probably expected. It was a little frustrating this year with my opportunity and my role and where it looked like my career was going in Calgary. Once Darryl came in, I felt like a new player again. It was refreshing. I was happy there. I was happy playing. That's how it went. You don't really have any control over if you get traded or not. It's completely up to the team. I'm grateful now that I got picked up by Florida."

Team flat out shouldn't have traded him. They should have kept Darryl and Benny together. Now we traded our highest pick ever for spare parts and he's blossoming elsewhere.

What a cluster!@#$ of an organization.

I'm fully on the Fire Brad Treliving Bandwagon at this stage.

[Mattman]

I have a question here regarding Bennett's utilization and "mismanagement" of his time on the Flames. Since it is clear he has the tools of a top 9 center (top 6 if we want to be generous), when and why was he never able to secure a spot over Backlund?

Yes these are two different players and have different roles on the team, but why was Bennett never really given a fair shake at a stable line in the top 6?

And don't say playing wing, because I want to know why he never was able to center a line in the top 6 for maybe more than 50 games in the 400 games he played for the Flames.

[DeluxeMoustache]

^ lol. @ComixZone post

Wizardry at work.

Brad wasn’t going to stop until he had finally truly ####ed this up for good

[RM14]

Bennet always starts good. Ends bad.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Mattman

I have a question here regarding Bennett's utilization and "mismanagement" of his time on the Flames. Since it is clear he has the tools of a top 9 center (top 6 if we want to be generous), when and why was he never able to secure a spot over Backlund?

Yes these are two different players and have different roles on the team, but why was Bennett never really given a fair shake at a stable line in the top 6?

And don't say playing wing, because I want to know why he never was able to center a line in the top 6 for maybe more than 50 games in the 400 games he played for the Flames.

He did have occasional opportunities and never did anything with them. That, and his knack for taking bad penalties. I don't think anyone was too thrilled to be on a line with Bennett as the center. If there was ever an example of a player that needed a fresh start somewhere else, he is it. I also don't see him lighting it up more with Backlund's line mates as none of them have the skill level as Huberdeau. It was Monahan he had to beat out if he was going to be productive. Florida on the other hand, has better top 6 talent that can elevate Bennett.

I still think it's too early to think Bennett has turned a corner. There were times he looked great as a Flame only to eventually fizzle out once the excitement wears off.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by RM14

Bennet always starts good. Ends bad.

Considering he was known for having mediocre regular seasons and excellent playoffs that’s literally the opposite of what you said, but go on.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Mattman

I have a question here regarding Bennett's utilization and "mismanagement" of his time on the Flames. Since it is clear he has the tools of a top 9 center (top 6 if we want to be generous), when and why was he never able to secure a spot over Backlund?

Yes these are two different players and have different roles on the team, but why was Bennett never really given a fair shake at a stable line in the top 6?

I think there are two very basic factors

1) The Flames thought they had a legitimate number one center in Sean Monahan based on the counting stats he put up.

2) The Flames thought they had a legitimate number one-B center in Mikael Backlund, based on the documented dominance of the 3M line(s)

I don't think it's any more complicated than that. The Flames thought Monahan-Backlund was a good enough 1-2 punch and unless Bennett showed McDavid/MacKinnon levels of out-of-this-world ability, he couldn't possibly be an upgrade.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

I think this might be one of the most embarrassing threads in CP history and there have been many.

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

https://twitter.com/user/status/1387959996344852482

[FlamesAddiction]

What the hell? So their coach didn't tell him to miss the net?

I guess it was coaching.

[DoubleK]

The confirmation bias in this thread is real.

[Sandman]

Sometimes a change of scenery can make you see every little thing in a different light, and that's all it takes. He needed this, one way or another.