The Legend of Sam Bennett

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by keenan87

Fair enough. All the best to him as I don't have anything personal against him.

I just really don't see what the Flames could have done differently. They weren't breaking up Gaudreau and Monahan. Maybe if he played with Tkachuk? Just not sure he was ever going to work out here.

The Flames should have had a good coach long ago that would have done almost everything different.

Monahan developed into a one-trick pony who is bad on 190 feet of the ice.

Tkachuk came into the league a bull, and is now a perimeter softy like the rest of the bunch.

The comment “Just not sure he was ever going to work out here.” can be applied to almost every player on this roster, because it hasn’t work out here for all of them. This team never should have bet on Gaudreau-Monahan and Tkachuk-Backlund as their tandems, and a competent NHL coach would have seen to that because those tandems never accomplished anything and consistently failed in all the same ways year in and year out.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Nothing wrong at all with being 2nd fiddle on a line. If it works it works. That's the thing about this topic for me. The Flames turned a blind eye to any chemistry Bennett found over and over again. In fact, they're doing it with Dube now. D7be is going to be the new Bennett. Instead of locking those two together and allowing the on ice chemistry to succeed, they broke it up because ..... well the Flames are stupid.

Wasn’t the problem the chemistry in the first place? As in the lack thereof. Sam didn’t have much chemistry with anyone, so he was moved around everywhere anywhere hoping to find some. With Florida, the chemistry with Huberdeau or Duclair or Barkov was there from day 1. We’re talking about a new city, new country, new coach, new linemates, new system and everything and yet it’s all worked out for him the day he got there.

I still think Bennett’s success is more of indictment on the management group for not building a strong enough team to support a player like Sam. They’ve got one dynamic play driver right now in Johnny Gaudreau who has proven he can elevate the play of his center (Sean Monahan, Elias Lindholm) whereas the Panthers have at minimum, 2 guys (Huberdeau, Barkov) who can do this.

It’s sad that Treliving and co fell in love with average, yet expensive complimentary forwards like Brouwer and Neal instead of finding actual play driving forwards. Now the Flames are capped out due to bad decisions and have only 1 year left of Johnny Gaudreau before he bolts. Maybe Matthew Tkachuk will get back to his old self again but, jeez this looks like a fast sinking ship right now.

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by dino7c

To be fair Neal was the NHL goal scoring leader after 10 games

Ya start off extremely hot then go back to the norm.

[djsFlames]

Should've got Barzal instead of ####ing Hamonic.

Patience/continuing to draft with top picks was the way. Cutting corners to try to create the elite blue line that never played elite kept the whole thing from working out.

[AustinL_NHL]

Love seeing Bennett haters just at a loss for words

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Meh...

I know you're a big fan, but I think this is a bit of a stretch.

Come back to me if he does it over a full season. I suspect his real level is somewhere between what he did in Calgary and what we're seeing right now. That's still pretty good.

I'd agree and IMO that level is exactly what he was in the playoffs. His career goal scoring pace in the playoffs would put him at 30 goals for a full season. That is very good.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Should've got Barzal instead of ####ing Hamonic.

Patience/continuing to draft with top picks was the way. Cutting corners to try to create the elite blue line that never played elite kept the whole thing from working out.

Hamonic would have been Dobson. Hamilton trade was Barzal.

[Wood]

Originally Posted by Bonded

Hamonic would have been Dobson. Hamilton trade was Barzal.

Funny enough Barzal was drafted with the 1st the Oilers traded to the Islanders for Griffin Reinhart

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Wood

Funny enough Barzal was drafted with the 1st the Oilers traded to the Islanders for Griffin Reinhart

Boston blew that draft so hard

[kootenayguy9]

Sam Bennett has the most points by any #FlaPanthers# player in team history in 10 games with the team...goal and assist tonight.
He passes Pavel Bure.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Bonded

Boston blew that draft so hard

It is kind of crazy when you think about it. The Bruins hit on some major picks around the 14-16 drafts getting Pasternak, McAvoy, and Carlo but complete missing on the Zbroil, Debrusk, Senshyn picks when the next 3 were Barzal, Connor, and Chabot (with Konecny, Boeser, Aho still on the board).

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Should've got Barzal instead of ####ing Hamonic.

Patience/continuing to draft with top picks was the way. Cutting corners to try to create the elite blue line that never played elite kept the whole thing from working out.

Hamilton.

You have your years mixed up.

[powderjunkie]

Spoiler!

A lot of people still stuck on the denial and bargaining stages I see.

Originally Posted by keenan87

Fair enough. All the best to him as I don't have anything personal against him.

I just really don't see what the Flames could have done differently. They weren't breaking up Gaudreau and Monahan. Maybe if he played with Tkachuk? Just not sure he was ever going to work out here.

Why not? FLA broke up Barkov and Huberdeau, and it worked.

The Flames finally broke up 13 and 23 and it worked.

[K1LLswitch]

I am happy for Bennett. I hope he gets a good contract this offseason and continues to light it up in FLA with good line mates.

I wish that success could have been here.

Edit: I am fully in the depression stage

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by AustinL_NHL

Love seeing Bennett haters just at a loss for words

Whatever bakes your cake Cindy.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Spoiler!

A lot of people still stuck on the denial and bargaining stages I see.



Why not? FLA broke up Barkov and Huberdeau, and it worked.

The Flames finally broke up 13 and 23 and it worked.

It's a little frustrating that when Lindholm was being floated as top line center, Treliving didn't really find a way to convert Monahan into an asset we sorely needed (a speedy, expansion-exempt rhs top six winger... someone like Owen Tippett...). The trickle-down of such a trade would have been an opportunity for Bennett at center along with a much better talent distribution on the wing. Visualize something like

Tkachuk-Lindholm-Mangiapane
Gaudreau-Bennett-Tippett
Dube-Backlund-(random waiver wire claim who is better than Nordstrom... like Nikita Gusev)
Lucic-Ryan-Leivo

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like that roster would be playing a much faster style.

[dino7c]

Could have gone to Seattle and done this for a division rival and no two 2nds

I think 40-45 points next year is realistic and still really solid

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by AustinL_NHL

Holy f****** huge W

Well done, Tre

Originally Posted by AustinL_NHL

Love seeing Bennett haters just at a loss for words

lol...easy with the I told you so's

[DeluxeMoustache]

It’s funny how some people are still hanging on to the bizarre hope that Sam still won’t succeed in Florida.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

It's a little frustrating that when Lindholm was being floated as top line center, Treliving didn't really find a way to convert Monahan into an asset we sorely needed (a speedy rhs top sixwinger... someone like Owen Tippett...). The trickle-down of such a trade would have been an opportunity for Bennett at center along with a much better talent distribution on the wing. Visualize something like

Tkachuk-Lindholm-Mangiapane
Gaudreau-Bennett-Tippett
Dube-Backlund-(random waiver wire claim who is better than Nordstrom... like Nikita Gusev)
Lucic-Ryan-Leivo

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like that roster would be playing a much faster style.

It’s very true, this organization definitely chose Monahan over Bennett, there’s no doubt about that. But at the time, I don’t really blame them as there was clear chemistry between the Gaudreau and Monahan. But with that said, there were also obvious signs of worry when the 2 struggled so mightily in tight checking regular season games and playoff matchups. But management didn’t really think about why that was occurring or how to fix it, it became more about how to hide them by getting them addition help. They’ve been infatuated with that duo since almost day 1 and ironically, it’s probably going to be their down fall.

Now with Monahan and Gaudreau separated, I think almost everyone can finally agree that Monahan isn’t much of a play driver himself which could explain why Bennett-Monahan-Gaudreau never worked or why Neal didn’t work on the top line either. So at the end of the day, the decision to choose Monahan over Bennett kind of has blown up in management’s face.

Now, Bennett may still have not worked out here. But based on what we’ve seen from Sam Bennett in the playoffs, coupled with his physicality and his much smaller cap hit. I think the value and extra elements he brings far exceeds just a the regular season sniping by Sean Monahan. So chalk that up aa another bungle by management. They now have to sit in their boardroom and watch Sam Bennett continually make them look bad while wondering what they heck went wrong and why Bennett didn’t work out. It’s gonna be a long month of May for those guys.