The Legend of Sam Bennett

[butterfly]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

Scouts compared Sam’s style of game to Doug Gilmour and because he played for Doug Gilmour’s Kingston team and obviously helped the Flames win their Cup, so there was that angle.

Wow. Probably why he wore 93, I'm guessing.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

I'd be interested to hear which scouts had Bennett 1st on their list, hopefully it wasn’t unanimous. Sam may have looked great in Kingston, but to me, the type of game he wanted to play did not look like it would translate well at the NHL level. Constantly going one on one, putting pucks between defender’s legs, trying to dipsy doodle around them.

To me, Draisaitl was the clear #1 guy. Obviously, it's easy to say that now seeing what he has accomplished thus far in his career. But he definitely b gbbnhad the type of game that could translate well from league to league. Played big, impossible to move, used his frame to protect pucks, vision, awareness. The plays he made were very transferable to the big leagues whereas Bennett’s game was not IMO. The only thing that held him back was his lack of polish in his skating and mobility which he fixed in spades. Even without McDavid, I still think he'd be a franchise center.

I wonder if the Flames scouts fell in love with the whole Doug Gilmour schtick, instead of paying attention to his potential shortfalls. Maybe it was Brian Burke, who knows. But he was never going to be the type of player he wanted to be. He didn't have the speed of Connor, the agility of Gaudreau or the hands of a Patrick Kane to be that type of player. Instead, it’s his truculence, motor and jam that’s made him into a good NHL hockey player and impact playoff performer.

You're going to have to back that up.

It was a mixed bag, with some support for each of the top 3 at #1, between Ekblad, Reinhart and Bennett. Ekblad probably had the most support, and Reinhart and Bennett were a coin toss. Draisaitl was a clear 4th on virtually every list, with a couple pushing him up to 3rd.

But no doubt you had a better read on the 4 of them 10 years ago, than all the scouts did. No hindsight bias there.

[GioforPM]

IIRC Draisaitl was the one who was supposed to have poor skating.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

You're going to have to back that up.

It was a mixed bag, with some support for each of the top 3 at #1, between Ekblad, Reinhart and Bennett. Ekblad probably had the most support, and Reinhart and Bennett were a coin toss. Draisaitl was a clear 4th on virtually every list, with a couple pushing him up to 3rd.

But no doubt you had a better read on the 4 of them 10 years ago, than all the scouts did. No hindsight bias there.

What's hilarious to me is that all 3 are on the same team now anyway.

[ForeverFlameFan]

For me, IIRC the consensus top 4 was Ekblad, Reinhart, Draisaitl, and Bennett. Lots of lists were mixed, with Bennett listed as 1st on a couple of them but the majority still having Ekblad as 1st. I don't think there was a distinct #1 that year, just a top 4 and then a decent gap from Dal Colle at 5.

For me, Florida picked Ekblad because they needed a franchise D man after picking Barkov the year before. For Buffalo, they went with who they thought was the better player of the 3. For the Oilers, it was between Draisaitl and Bennett. If my memory serves, I think some Oilers fans were pretty pissed that Bennett was passed up too. My guess is they went with Draisaitl for the size factor. His skating was poor though, he had to really work on his skating after getting demoted from Edmonton back to junior. McDavid also played a huge factor in revitalizing his career. His coming out party was the 2017 playoffs.

Bennett was the obvious choice at 4. I remember we as Calgary fans were happy with whoever dropped to 4. I was just fine with Draisaitl, as I thought Bennett for sure was going to go 2 or 3. I was ecstatic when he dropped to us. Yes, dropped. He imo was the better player than Draisaitl at the time. He was everything you wanted in a player. Skilled, tenacious, gritty, can fight, the ultimate power forward. Also played center, something Calgary sorely needed. Lastly, the Gilmour comparison was warranted and a big reason why I think us Flames fans were excited to see if Bennett could amount to that caliber of player. Unfortunately, it was the incompetency of Calgary management, coaching, and Bennett's lack of ability to be a play driver that caused him to never reach his potential here.

Anyone that thinks Draisaitl was the "clear #1" is wrong. He wasn't even the top prospect from anyone's list IIRC (someone can correct me if wrong). It's even possible that Calgary would have passed on him and went for someone like Nylander if Bennett was selected by Buffalo or Edmonton. I think I remember Toronto wanting to aggressively trade up for Bennett but we declined knowing that the drop off from 4 to 8 at the time was significant.

[dino7c]

The zero pull-ups thing hurt Bennett IMO

Oilers probably would have picked him... apparently they had a heated debate according to Eakins. Oilers had a reputation for picking soft players and couldn't deal with the zero pull-ups PR.

[Erick Estrada]

I remember how slow Draisaitl looked in his first stint with the Oilers but his skating improved a lot. I think he's a great player but you have to take his and McDavid's point totals with a grain of salt as neither has had to play within the confines of a system as they are allowed to freelance and cheat and then there's the sheer amount of powerplay points they generate together. I think McDavid will be a 100+ point player no matter where he plays but Draisaitl will likely see a slight decrease in production on his next team.

[mile]

Originally Posted by butterfly

Wow. Probably why he wore 93, I'm guessing.

Gilmour was also his dad's favourite player IIRC. Also used the wrap around to score quite a bit in junior, another reason why scouts made th comparison

[The Yen Man]

I'll give Draisaitl credit, during the draft year, I was ecstatic Oilers picked him and Bennett fell to us. Draisaitl looked pretty bad skating wise, and his first year with the Oilers was terrible.

I think he should be super thankful McDavid fell into the Oilers lap. Had McDavid not been there, I'm not sure Pissy would have blossomed into the player he currently is.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

You're going to have to back that up.

It was a mixed bag, with some support for each of the top 3 at #1, between Ekblad, Reinhart and Bennett. Ekblad probably had the most support, and Reinhart and Bennett were a coin toss. Draisaitl was a clear 4th on virtually every list, with a couple pushing him up to 3rd.

But no doubt you had a better read on the 4 of them 10 years ago, than all the scouts did. No hindsight bias there.

Well I don't know why I would need to back it up, wasn't trying to show off here. If I really wanted to show off, I would have said previously that I had Robert Thomas ranked ahead of Nolan Patrick back in 2017.

So not sure what to say other than I watched the Ice vs the Raiders play and thought that Reinhart looked pretty listless compared to Draisaitl. Leon just had that big #1 center type of quality in him whereas Reinhart didn't. Sam was clearly a quality prospect at the time, but I don't remember any attributes that really stood out that could set him apart at the NHL level. Draisaitl on the other hand, played like a power forward, but still had soft hands for a big guy and that elite backhand pass never went away.

As for Sam Bennett, I remember liking the piss and vinegar he played with, he was a total ball of energy out there, almost too rambunctious though. He tried to do too much, forced a lot of plays, overzealous in a lot of other instances, just a very high risk/high probability not to meet expectations and not the type of style that lends itself to success against big league defenders and we saw it all throughout his career as a Flame. How many times did we see him try to go one on one against the opposition only to turn the puck over and take a bad penalty. That's why I think he's more effective in the playoffs, because the game becomes more simple. Straight lines, north-south, dump and chase, hit, separate player from puck and get greasy in front of the net.

Lastly, In terms of Aaron Ekblad's game, truthfully, I never saw him play as a Barrie Colt, so I don't have an opinion or recollection of his game one way or another.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I'll give Draisaitl credit, during the draft year, I was ecstatic Oilers picked him and Bennett fell to us. Draisaitl looked pretty bad skating wise, and his first year with the Oilers was terrible.

I think he should be super thankful McDavid fell into the Oilers lap. Had McDavid not been there, I'm not sure Pissy would have blossomed into the player he currently is.

I remember not being a big Draisaitl fan either.

But I remember talking to somebody who was in the Raiders organization at the time, and who was around Draisaitl every day (actually works for Vegas now) around the draft.

He said Draisaitl was the most talented player he had ever seen, and that if he figured out his motivation issues he could be a superstar.

I remember scoffing at that idea a bit...but appears he was correct.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by dino7c

The zero pull-ups thing hurt Bennett IMO

Oilers probably would have picked him... apparently they had a heated debate according to Eakins. Oilers had a reputation for picking soft players and couldn't deal with the zero pull-ups PR.

Seems to me like the zero pull-ups helped him, if the alternative was the Oilers

And of course he did have shoulder surgery prior to the season after the draft

[Sandman]

As a big draft-watcher, and a guy who watches a fair bit of junior hockey, I can say that were huge concerns about Draisaitl's skating (he's still no speedster), and I didn't think he would amount to much more than a 60-point player. There was many outlets that had Drai, Bennett, and Reinhart taking turns as the #1, with Ekblad taking over the spot later in the season IIRC. In their Draft Preview Issue, The Hockey News had Bennett 1st, then Ekblad, then Reinhart, then Drai.

Bennett was my favorite, but even back then I knew that he was going to have to learn to stop trying to grandstand, and do everything by himself. He was a one-man show in those days, but I liked his grit and I thought he would get it together enough to be a top-2 C for us.

I liked Reinhart, but not his softness.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Seems to me like the zero pull-ups helped him, if the alternative was the Oilers

And of course he did have shoulder surgery prior to the season after the draft

hurt his draft position...obviously dodging the Oilers was a win for Bennett

I wasn't mocking the no pull-ups either, he hid the injury if I recall. Seemed like it was a factor though.

[GranteedEV]

lol as if dodging a chance to center taylor hall immediately as a rookie instead of lance bouma was "fortunate"

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Sandman

As a big draft-watcher, and a guy who watches a fair bit of junior hockey, I can say that were huge concerns about Draisaitl's skating (he's still no speedster), and I didn't think he would amount to much more than a 60-point player. There was many outlets that had Drai, Bennett, and Reinhart taking turns as the #1, with Ekblad taking over the spot later in the season IIRC. In their Draft Preview Issue, The Hockey News had Bennett 1st, then Ekblad, then Reinhart, then Drai.

Bennett was my favorite, but even back then I knew that he was going to have to learn to stop trying to grandstand, and do everything by himself. He was a one-man show in those days, but I liked his grit and I thought he would get it together enough to be a top-2 C for us.

I liked Reinhart, but not his softness.

This was a complaint in his early time here - that he had tunnel vision and wouldn’t use linemates. Tkachuk is actually a perfect match for him because (a) Tkachuk won’t be ignored and (b) Tkachuk looks for him more anyway. I suppose (b) is why he worked with Huberdeau also.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Sandman

As a big draft-watcher, and a guy who watches a fair bit of junior hockey, I can say that were huge concerns about Draisaitl's skating (he's still no speedster), and I didn't think he would amount to much more than a 60-point player. There was many outlets that had Drai, Bennett, and Reinhart taking turns as the #1, with Ekblad taking over the spot later in the season IIRC. In their Draft Preview Issue, The Hockey News had Bennett 1st, then Ekblad, then Reinhart, then Drai.

Bennett was my favorite, but even back then I knew that he was going to have to learn to stop trying to grandstand, and do everything by himself. He was a one-man show in those days, but I liked his grit and I thought he would get it together enough to be a top-2 C for us.

I liked Reinhart, but not his softness.

Yeah going into the draft I think a lot of fans and people wished Bennett dropped to 4 over Draisaitl based on his skating being a pretty big weak point, being that big and unable to skate would have caused him a lot of issues and it did when he was up in his first stint when it looked like he was going to be a bust.

To come back 10 years later and say yeah I just knew he was the best in the draft and was #1 on my list after watching 1 game is like saying I knew Alex Daigle was going to be a big bust.

Also I knew someone ranked in mid teens and 20's was going to be the best player in the draft.

[musth]

https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=129067

https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=137229

https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=137940

https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=136993

[blankall]

Originally Posted by musth

https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=129067

https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=137229

https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=137940

https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=136993

Lol....this struck me in the first few posts in the draft prediction thread:

"Flames first pick (5 pts): Nick Ritchie"

Well that poster wasn't wrong, the Flames organization loves Nick Ritchie. There's was probably at least one exec who had to be talked down from picking Nick Ritchie with the Flames highest draft pick ever.

[dino7c]

He was very highly rated... obviously not 4