Sam Bennett Value: Have the Flames held on TOO long? OR is he awesome?

[Flash Walken]

Last night, just 9 minutes of icetime for bennett who took 2 minors, was a -1 and had only one shot on goal.

In his last 15 games, just 2 goals, 0 assists, 19 mins in penalties. Just 21 shots in his last 15 games.

Last night's 9 minutes is the lowest amount of ice he's seen this season, but it's also the lowest amount of time he's played in his pro career. His average icetime per game has declined since he came into the league. His icetime has been cut in every situation, down about a minute of PP time per game from his first season, but also down slightly this year in Even Strength and shorthanded icetime as well.

Bennett has now played 212 games in the NHL, is a -35 and has scored just 81 points. To put this in perspective, over the same time period, Joe Colborne played 137 games for Calgary scoring 72 points. Matthew Tkachuk has played just 127 games for the flames and produced 84 points. Tkachuk has been a +13 over those 127 games whereas Bennett is a -34.

While i agree plus/minus is a flawed statistic, Over the last 3 seasons Bennett is far and away the worst Calgary Flame by that category, a -34 with his next closest competition being TJ Brodie at -19.

Bennett's shooting percentage has declined roughly 3% per year he's been in the league down to just over 7% this year.

Things have only gotten mildly better for Bennett since his move to the wing, but here's a segment from an article in November:

The Flames have also improved, with their average forward being involved in only 4.6 scoring chances per 20 minutes in 2015-16, to 5.1 last season, to 6.4 this season. When you look at the context, this makes Bennett an above-team-average offensive forward as a rookie, but below average the last two seasons.

Getting in tighter to the net isn’t the only area Bennett needs to work on though, he’s also not aggressive enough without the puck, as only Matt Stajan and Johnny Gaudreau on the Flames remove the puck from opponents less per minute than he does, and he has the highest offensive-turnover rate on the Flames, with 33.8 per cent of his plays in the offensive zone leading to puck possession for his opponents.

Bennett is also tied for the lowest success rate for his offensive-zone plays at just 50 per cent, meaning half of what he’s trying to do with the puck fails.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/w...d-sam-bennett/

I'd appreciate if someone wants to contribute some more advanced statistics, hero charts and whatnot.

Have the Flames held on too long to a quickly depreciating asset?

What could one reasonably assume might be the starting point for Bennett's trade value? A 2nd round pick?

[The Fonz]

How bad is that 2014 draft shaping up? Imagine if on that day, someone were to tell you that only 2 of picks #1-#7 would be impact players 4 years down the road.

[IgiTang]

Unfortunately if he is traded anytime soon the return is going to be severely underwhelming.

If it’s a trade to a team that is loooing to build around some young Centers then he would be a good add, but he isn’t going to get a solid return in his own merit. May be the clincher in a multi-player deal? But I don’t think teams are lined up to pry Bennett away from the flames like fans would like to think.

[Cheese]

I think the best we could get is someone elses reclamation project, as far as draft picks go maybe a 2nd and a mid tier prospect.

[Toonage]

What did Yakupov bring back?

(ducks knives)

[Strange Brew]

To gauge his value in terms of a draft pick, I believe a 2nd is about right. No one would give you a 1st IMO as teams would prefer to pick and develop their own guy.

Could he get you a similar underperforming player with potential? That would be a possibility.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

To gauge his value in terms of a draft pick, I believe a 2nd is about right. No one would give you a 1st IMO as teams would prefer to pick and develop their own guy.

Could he get you a similar underperforming player with potential? That would be a possibility.

Like who - Strome, Virtanen or someone like that?

[jlh2640]

He is still so young, I am not getting rid of him yet

[jayswin]

What an unfortunate year to have our franchise's highest ever draft pick. Thank god for getting Tkachuk at 6th.

[Travis Munroe]

They haven't held on nearly long enough and when he has been moved around within the lineup to find chemistry, he has found some spots where he shows improvement. Then Brouwer finds himself on the end of a promotion and the lines get mixed up as Brouwer seems to be the 1 guy who coaches will move up and down the lineup on a regular basis.

Should never be given up on until he has been put in a position to succeed and still fails... this involves more than a few shifts or a game.

I think it would be interesting to see Ferland, Hathaway and Bennett on a line with Tkachuk receiving a promition to the first line and Janksowski put with Frolik and Backlund to try and respark Janko.

Ferland has done better than anyone expected on the top line but if you can spark Janko and Bennett with some confidence, this team looks real deep.

[oldschoolcalgary]

at this point Bennett's trade value isn't much... maybe a high 2nd at most?

not worth trading; just gotta try putting him in a position to succeed... thought it was there with Janko, but both have fallen back a little of late.

[burn_this_city]

Wish we could send him to Stockton for the balance of the season to regain his confidence.

[SeanCharles]

Good call, we don't have enough threads talking about trading Bennett.

On a serious note, don't trade him as he is too young and should improve with age. Just look at his two playoff performances.. They were outstanding!

I did really like Ehlers heading into that draft but knew we picked too high to reach for him.

[FlamesAddiction]

Not too late for him yet, but I think he needs a fresh start.

If you play a player long enough on the 3rd/4th line, you end up developing a 3rd/4th liner. Probably should have spent a season or two in the AHL.

Send him to a rebuilding team that can take a gamble and insert him into the top 6 for while.

[DJones]

He's 21, why would we trade him? Jankowski hit a wall and Brouwer is back on his line.

I don't expect him to do anything for the rest of the year. Seems like the lines are set in stone so hopefully next year Brouwer gets shipped off into the sun and Jankowski becomes a regular difference maker.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Like who - Strome, Virtanen or someone like that?

Virtanen is probably the exact kind of guy you could get. Interesting, I looked at his numbers and he didn't produce much in the AHL either.

I don't know if that kind of trade interests the Flames very much. Maybe Bennett is more of a piece you could add in a trade to get something better.

BT has yet to tarde roster player that wasn't a player who would be leaving anyway. If/when such a trade happens, will be interesting to see the result and the reaction.

[Murph]

Until he is given an opportunity on Gaudreau/Monahan’s Wing or on Backlund/Frolik’s wing he should not be going anywhere. And by opportunity I mean several games, not several minutes.

[Flash Walken]

where is CorsiHockeyLeague when you actually need him?

[nik-]

Please don't trade anyone before a new coach is here.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Virtanen is probably the exact kind of guy you could get. Interesting, I looked at his numbers and he didn't produce much in the AHL either.

I don't know if that kind of trade interests the Flames very much. Maybe Bennett is more of a piece you could add in a trade to get something better.

BT has yet to tarde roster player that wasn't a player who would be leaving anyway. If/when such a trade happens, will be interesting to see the result and the reaction.

Virtanen is pretty much not a well regarded asset here. He’s not a possession player. He’s not a high IQ player. However, he has some wheels and a laser of a RH shot.