2017/2018 Trade Speculation and Rumors

[Geeoff]

Originally Posted by savardandjokinen

Bennett for Lindholm?

I would take this swap. Lindholm is better than Bennett now and they have similar potential. Lindholm was taken before Sean Monahan after all.


Plus, it helps Brad fill out his 2013 draft bingo card.

[RichKlit]

What do people even mean by Bennett is going to break out? Is he suddenly going to be a ppg player? Or a dominant 2 way forward? I’m not sure what people mean break out. He has looked awful since his second season. I guess he’s held he’s own in fights but I’m not seeing anything that says he’s going to be anything other than just another 3rd-4th line player.

I don’t claim to be an expert and maybe I’m wrong but I see bust all over this guy relative to his draft spot.

[theslymonkey]

Originally Posted by RichKlit

What do people even mean by Bennett is going to break out? Is he suddenly going to be a ppg player? Or a dominant 2 way forward? I’m not sure what people mean break out. He has looked awful since his second season. I guess he’s held he’s own in fights but I’m not seeing anything that says he’s going to be anything other than just another 3rd-4th line player.

I don’t claim to be an expert and maybe I’m wrong but I see bust all over this guy relative to his draft spot.

This is me totally cherry picking, but Marchand didn't start in the league until he was 22. In his "22 year" he put up 41 points, then 23/55, 24/36, 25/53, 26/42, 27/61. Then he hit 80s when he was 28. Why can't we let Bennett be a 40 point player and be happy with it until he makes it to 28. I realize having Gaudreau, Monahan, Tkachuk... makes it hard, but Sam has a high ceiling and the Flames have the time to let him be what he is for now.

[Poe969]

If a team was willing to give up a lot for Bennett, or give a player that the Flames really want/need, I could see them trading him but they won't trade him for the sake of trading him. If he turns out to be a 3rd or 4th line player that's ok because the team needs them too. It would suck that the highest draft pick the Flames have ever had doesn't turn into the player they thought he would but as long as he's still contributing in some capacity then he'll stay on the team. If he's an energy guy who puts up some points here or there or he turns into a late bloomer like Marchand(among others) I can see him staying on the Flames unless someone over pays for him.

[RichKlit]

I get it and you acknowledge it’s cherry picking, I’m sure there a far more examples of players on his trajectory that never get better or regress. I guess I’m asking what about Bennett has people thinking break out? Not Marchand or any other player he may or may not be similar to because I think that’s a fools game there are to many individual factors at play. What are people seeing that make them think breakout and what does breakout mean to them?

[RichKlit]

I’m not saying trade him, but it’s the breakout part I’m not seeing. If he stays a serviceable 3-4 line player fine. I would love for him to breakout absolutely but I see nothing at all in his play from last year to suggest a dramatic improvement.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Even if they keep Staal they need a number one center. There is not a playoff team in the league that Staal is a number one center on. A decent second line center and a dynamite 3rd line center, but a 1st line center he is not.

Agreed. Just pointing out that the Hurricanes need a centre, which makes RNH attractive to them.

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by theslymonkey

This is me totally cherry picking, but Marchand didn't start in the league until he was 22. In his "22 year" he put up 41 points, then 23/55, 24/36, 25/53, 26/42, 27/61. Then he hit 80s when he was 28. Why can't we let Bennett be a 40 point player and be happy with it until he makes it to 28. I realize having Gaudreau, Monahan, Tkachuk... makes it hard, but Sam has a high ceiling and the Flames have the time to let him be what he is for now.

The problem is he isn't even a 40 point player. He's had 26 points each of the last two years. He'd need to improve his production by more than 50% to be a 40 point player.

[Beninho]

Flames 2014 draft might go down as the worst in team history if Bennett makes little improvements. Just a horrid draft right now. Luckily the last couple have been much better

[locsofblu]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I would pass, I still think Bennett will break out

In hives maybe.

[yourbestfriend]

Originally Posted by theslymonkey

This is me totally cherry picking, but Marchand didn't start in the league until he was 22. In his "22 year" he put up 41 points, then 23/55, 24/36, 25/53, 26/42, 27/61. Then he hit 80s when he was 28. Why can't we let Bennett be a 40 point player and be happy with it until he makes it to 28. I realize having Gaudreau, Monahan, Tkachuk... makes it hard, but Sam has a high ceiling and the Flames have the time to let him be what he is for now.

The thing with Marchand is that he didn't over night turn into an 80pt player. Since entering the league he got better every single year and has now established himself as a premier LWer in the game.

Bennett on the other hand had a great rookie season but has since gotten worse and worse, which is why it's difficult to see him turn it around and play to his draft potential all of a sudden. Players don't generally go from 26pt playes in their 3rd season to consistent 60pt+ players later in their careers.
Even if he manages to turn it around to be a 40pt player it'll still be a tough pill to swallow as he was our highest ever draft pick. I think most fans are willing to give more rope to a #71 pick than a #4 pick.

[Drunk Uncle]

Originally Posted by RichKlit

I get it and you acknowledge it’s cherry picking, I’m sure there a far more examples of players on his trajectory that never get better or regress. I guess I’m asking what about Bennett has people thinking break out? Not Marchand or any other player he may or may not be similar to because I think that’s a fools game there are to many individual factors at play. What are people seeing that make them think breakout and what does breakout mean to them?

For me it's that the last 2 times we were in the playoffs he was one of our best players that truly impacted the games. If he can bring what he brings in playoffs to the regular season, which I think he can with maturity, you have an extremely useful player regardless of whether he is playing on the 1st 2nd or 3rd line.

Maybe not the player that you hoped for with the 4th overall pick but definitely a player you want on your team.

[theslymonkey]

Originally Posted by RichKlit

I get it and you acknowledge it’s cherry picking, I’m sure there a far more examples of players on his trajectory that never get better or regress. I guess I’m asking what about Bennett has people thinking break out? Not Marchand or any other player he may or may not be similar to because I think that’s a fools game there are to many individual factors at play. What are people seeing that make them think breakout and what does breakout mean to them?

I think what a lot of people forget is that most players don't even get into the league until they are 20/21. So when they break out in their 3rd or 4th season, it seems about right. The difference is that Bennett is just entering his 22 year and his 20 and 21 years were stuck on the third line with small amounts of PP time and Brouwer tied to his ass.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Beninho

Flames 2014 draft might go down as the worst in team history if Bennett makes little improvements. Just a horrid draft right now. Luckily the last couple have been much better

You can really see the influence of Burke and the severe drop off from Feaster and even BT

In the 2014 draft, 64 players have played a game in the NHL and the Flames have one of them, despite having 4 picks in the first 64 in that draft.

In 2011, we had 5 players drafted and all 5 played in the NHL whereas the NHL average was 58.8 percent

In 2012 we have 4 out 7 play in the NHL (57%) and the league average was 48%

Even in 2013, which was also a bad draft for the Flames 50% of Flames picks played in the league and the average so far has been 44%

2014 was a real missed opportunity, outside the 1st round there were some pretty good players (Point, Arvidsson, Dvorak, Lebanc, Kase, Heinen, Montour, Donato) but they are all pretty small guys and big=good, so we passed on them.

[I_H8_Crawford]

Originally Posted by yourbestfriend

The thing with Marchand is that he didn't over night turn into an 80pt player. Since entering the league he got better every single year and has now established himself as a premier LWer in the game.

Bennett on the other hand had a great rookie season but has since gotten worse and worse, which is why it's difficult to see him turn it around and play to his draft potential all of a sudden. Players don't generally go from 26pt playes in their 3rd season to consistent 60pt+ players later in their careers.
Even if he manages to turn it around to be a 40pt player it'll still be a tough pill to swallow as he was our highest ever draft pick. I think most fans are willing to give more rope to a #71 pick than a #4 pick.

IMO I wait and see what a different coach can get out of him before I move him.

He looked great his first year with Backlund under Hartley. Then he looks like garbage under a garbage NHL Head Coach for 2 years.

Which one is the real Bennett? I give him another shot based on the fact that GG was an awful motivator/adjustment coach. This year should tell a lot (assuming that Peters is a better HC than GG, which isn't setting the bar very high).

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by RichKlit

I’m not saying trade him, but it’s the breakout part I’m not seeing. If he stays a serviceable 3-4 line player fine. I would love for him to breakout absolutely but I see nothing at all in his play from last year to suggest a dramatic improvement.

To be fair Bennett looked very promising as a 19 year old rookie and as an 18 year old in the playoffs. He struggled under Gulutzan so I think it is reasonable to hope he will perform better under a different coach. Similar story with Brodie

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by yourbestfriend

The thing with Marchand is that he didn't over night turn into an 80pt player. Since entering the league he got better every single year and has now established himself as a premier LWer in the game.

Bennett on the other hand had a great rookie season but has since gotten worse and worse, which is why it's difficult to see him turn it around and play to his draft potential all of a sudden. Players don't generally go from 26pt playes in their 3rd season to consistent 60pt+ players later in their careers.
Even if he manages to turn it around to be a 40pt player it'll still be a tough pill to swallow as he was our highest ever draft pick. I think most fans are willing to give more rope to a #71 pick than a #4 pick.

Bennett was put into a position to develop correctly and succeed in his rookie year.

In his 2nd year, he got absolutely screwed by playing with a player so bad that he's actually capable of neutering Gaudreau and Monahan, as well as 4th line players who aren't terribly effective 5v5 players - and oh, he was also playing as a centre for the 1st time.

In his 3rd year, his first 10 games were a wash as he played under the same circumstances as he did in year 2. Then Jankowski arrived and Sam Bennett got his first decent linemate in over a year and that linemate was rookie who suffered through a great deal of growing pains himself. When that's the best linemate Bennett has had since Tkachuk moved onto Backlund's line...well I think it's exactly why this team has had no success. You know how you fix bad depth? It's not by subtracting the best player you have in your bottom 6, it's by adding players around him. I think Tree will do just that. If you actually believe that Bennett has been set up for success during the 2 years under Gulutzan, I ask why you believe that? If you look around the league can you find a comparable young, promising, developing player like Bennett that has played centre with wingers worse than Brouwer? I'm not saying Bennett is outstanding - the dude is young and needs development time, but to develop players at the NHL level you need patience and be able to provide them with half decent linemates.

The fans "giving more rope to a #71 pick than a #4 pick." is just the stupidity of fandom, which hey - people love to be negative, some love to be positive.

A little bit of consistency and a better team system will provide Bennett with the chance to break out this year. I really do think Bennett has been the victim of a bad coach, a bad team system, and bad team depth.

[sketchyt]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

To be fair Bennett looked very promising as a 19 year old rookie and as an 18 year old in the playoffs. He struggled under Gulutzan so I think it is reasonable to hope he will perform better under a different coach. Similar story with Brodie

I generally agree with you, but Bennett looks like a fairly low IQ player. I haven't seen much improvement in regards to decision making and discipline. I still think there's enough skill, size and speed there for him to become a top-6 forward though.

As for Brodie, I don't think he was nearly as bad as many seem to think.

[yourbestfriend]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

In his 2nd year, he got absolutely screwed by playing with a player so bad that he's actually capable of neutering Gaudreau and Monahan, as well as 4th line players who aren't terribly effective 5v5 players - and oh, he was also playing as a centre for the 1st time.

"Always earned never given"
Why would we gift linemates to certain players when they haven't earned it?
The cream rises to the top, good players make their line mates better... something Bennett has shown he cannot do at this point in his career.

This was the projected lineup I pulled from a GDT from Oct 2016.

13 Gaudreau - 23 Monahan - 39 Chiasson
79 Ferland - 93 Bennett - 36 Brouwer
17 Bouma - 11 Backlund - 67 Frolik
19 Tkachuk - 18 Stajan - 10 Versteeg

Who was put into a better position to succeed from the get go... Bennett or Tkachuk? No doubt it was Bennett.
The difference is that Tkachuk forced GG to move him up the lineup, while Bennett has done the exact opposite.

[Beninho]

If the Rangers are really eyeing Fox I would be thrilled if the Flames somehow could land Zibanejad. He’s looked amazing for Sweden in the WC. Would be a huge coup if they could land him. Would give up Fox+ for him.

The plus would be another good prospect or decent roster player.