Player Discussion #93 - Sam Bennett

[Johnny Hoxville]

I wish we would have moved Bennett for Domi in the off-season. It would have been worth adding.

 

[Anglesmith]

I'm not sure what the push is to move Bennett, though. Given what he is, there should be no trouble signing him to a cheap contract.

 

[Mobiandi]

Bennett's confidence in the offensive zone is shot. It's like he totally froze up and didn't know what to do on that penalty shot. Just feel bad for him

 

[CraigsList]

I'm not sure what the push is to move Bennett, though. Given what he is, there should be no trouble signing him to a cheap contract.

Pretty much the only silver lining to what is going on with Bennett.

 

[Janks]

So wait a minute, guys who have played parts of a season before making the jump full time are destined to be plugs? This is really interesting news, we should probably ditch Andersson at the end of this year considering he played parts of two NHL seasons before this one.

Fact is that Hathaway is in the lineup over Peluso, has as many points as Dube and Ryan while playing fewer games, and was a ppg forward in the AHL. There is a really good chance that he could make an average third-liner in a year or two, which is all Bennett has shown himself to be.

There’s something called a skill ceiling which you clearly aren’t understanding. Hathaway maxes out at a 4th liner, that’s why he’s up and down. Andersson and Bennett have top pairing and top line potential. Clearly this argument is over your head though, so I won’t continue.

 

[FerklundCGY]

So wait a minute, guys who have played parts of a season before making the jump full time are destined to be plugs? This is really interesting news, we should probably ditch Andersson at the end of this year considering he played parts of two NHL seasons before this one.

Fact is that Hathaway is in the lineup over Peluso, has as many points as Dube and Ryan while playing fewer games, and was a ppg forward in the AHL. There is a really good chance that he could make an average third-liner in a year or two, which is all Bennett has shown himself to be.

One is a 22 year old who has shown great offensive potential in the past, has great analytical stats, is as tough as they come and is still years away from his prime.

One is a 27 year old who has never showed the ability to put up offense, gets crushed in every analytical category, and is pretty tough but already in the prime of their career.

I wonder who people would choose to have on their team. Very tough for me to decide

 

[Mr Snrub]

There’s something called a skill ceiling which you clearly aren’t understanding. Hathaway maxes out at a 4th liner, that’s why he’s up and down. Andersson and Bennett have top pairing and top line potential. Clearly this argument is over your head though, so I won’t continue.

First of all, whatever you believe Sam Bennett's ceiling is has nothing to do with this argument. I'm not saying that Bennett and Hathaway are someday both going to be first-line forwards and that both have incredible scoring potential. I'm saying that the player that Sam Bennett is now - a pretty average third-line winger who plays the body - is a ceiling that is attainable for Hathaway. It has nothing to do with what I believe Bennett can or cannot be. You're trying to make it out like I believe Hathaway is going to be a 70-point forward in the NHL, either in an intentional attempt to build a straw man or because you've misunderstood my posts so far.

To go on, you have no justification for thinking that Hathaway has hit his ceiling, despite the fact that last year was his rookie season and players almost always tend to improve by leaps and bounds through their first few years in the NHL. I don't expect him to improve a lot, given that he's over 25 - but he and Bennett are not very far away as they stand right now and Hathaway does not have to improve that much to be as good as Sam Bennett. If they're so disparate in skill, why did they play on the same line last year? Why did they produce comparable point totals? Why did they have similar possession numbers?

One is a 22 year old who has shown great offensive potential in the past

(which has never translated to the boxscore)

has great analytical stats

Likely the single biggest reason he's so badly overrated by some CFHF members. Stats are only useful insofar as they can be used to support what you see on the ice. If the stats suggest something that is vastly different from what you see on the ice, the stats and the metrics you're deriving them are flawed.

is as tough as they come

I'll give you this one.

and is still years away from his prime.

This, however, is speculation at best.

One is a 27 year old who has never showed the ability to put up offense

Except in the AHL where he was a PPG forward.

gets crushed in every analytical category

You can pull up whatever QWYJIBO chart you want but his on-ice product at this point in time is very similar to Bennett's.

and is pretty tough but already in the prime of their career.

He won't improve a lot, but there's no reason to think that he can't be a 25-point forward with an average defensive game. That's not very far off from where he is right now.

 

[DFF]

Bennett's confidence in the offensive zone is shot. It's like he totally froze up and didn't know what to do on that penalty shot. Just feel bad for him

We need to use Bennett on shoot out

 

[Iggys Dome]

Eh just keep him and hopefully he can be a 15+15 player who comes up in big moments and throws the body and stands up for teammates.

I was so sure we had the next Ryan Kesler on our hands...

 

[CraigsList]

Bennett can play like **** all he wants in the season.

He turns it on when it matters most (ploffs).

 

[Janks]

One is a 22 year old who has shown great offensive potential in the past, has great analytical stats, is as tough as they come and is still years away from his prime.

One is a 27 year old who has never showed the ability to put up offense, gets crushed in every analytical category, and is pretty tough but already in the prime of their career.

I wonder who people would choose to have on their team. Very tough for me to decide

Don’t even bother dude, he’s not getting it. Hathaway and Bennett in the same tier of player is moronic at best.

 

[Body Checker]

Bennett needs elite offensive linemates plain and simple. And I don't think he was ever a good fit with Johnny and Mony. The answers are already on the roster. Neal needs to get going so move him up with JG/SM. Then play Sam on the 2nd line with Lindholm and Tkachuk. Backlund/Frolik are 3rd line pairing; Jankowski/Ryan 4th line pairing. Czarnik moves through all the lines. Anyone else is a plug in (Hathaway, etc.) Send Dube to AHL for seasoning.

Just give Bennett top 6 minutes for an entire season. See what he does.

 

[DFF]

Bennett needs elite offensive linemates plain and simple. And I don't think he was ever a good fit with Johnny and Mony. The answers are already on the roster. Neal needs to get going so move him up with JG/SM. Then play Sam on the 2nd line with Lindholm and Tkachuk. Backlund/Frolik are 3rd line pairing; Jankowski/Ryan 4th line pairing. Czarnik moves through all the lines. Anyone else is a plug in (Hathaway, etc.) Send Dube to AHL for seasoning.

Just give Bennett top 6 minutes for an entire season. See what he does.

Bennett and elite offense should not be used together. People should just stop giving hope to that. He has proven he is not capable of elite scoring. Putting him with elite offensive players is a waste unless there is no other option


He remains an elite bottom line player though

 

[CraigsList]

Bennett will be given his top 6 time if he continues to play his a** off and one of the LW’s get injured (Gaudreau/Tkachuk). I would have said Monahan and Backlund too, but Bennett hasn’t played center in a while and Lindholm would probably take draws if one of Monahan/Backlund went down.

 

[Nanuuk]

I've been perusing Advanced Stats today. Benny's CF% is 54.7 and his FO% is 62.5. He's been averaging 12:42 minutes of ice. I always take advanced stats with a grain of salt, but they appear to be confirming what I've been seeing out of the kid at any rate. Oh and he leads the team with 39 hits. Hathaway has 38.

So I feel Benny has earned top 6 minutes and even if he isn't scoring somebody else is sure to.

 

[FerklundCGY]

Tkachuk-Backlund-Bennett the 2nd line today at practice is complete BS.

Tkachuk-Backlund-Hathaway would be so much better

 

[Nanuuk]

Not sure if you're serious, but Haths is going to be a career 4 liner. I'd be tempted with this line though for our second.

Tkachuk/Bennett/Dube

 

[Mr Snrub]

Not sure if you're serious, but Haths is going to be a career 4 liner. I'd be tempted with this line though for our second.

Tkachuk/Bennett/Dube

At least Dube has the potential to be something more than he is now. Bennett is what he is.

 

[Rubi]

At this point I think Bennett will be a career 3rd liner. Hope I'm wrong but the eye test says otherwise. Tries hard but just can't get it done.

 

[Rubi]

Tkachuk-Backlund-Bennett the 2nd line today at practice is complete BS.

Tkachuk-Backlund-Hathaway would be so much better

I agree. Bennett should be centering the first line.

 

[Janks]

At least Dube has the potential to be something more than he is now. Bennett is what he is.

Dude... he’s 2 years younger than Benny and is on pace for 12 points this season.. you can’t be this ignorant. You’re telling me that at 20, Dube has potential - but at 22, Benny has topped out?

 

[Mr Snrub]

Dude... he’s 2 years younger than Benny and is on pace for 12 points this season.. you can’t be this ignorant. You’re telling me that at 20, Dube has potential - but at 22, Benny has topped out?

Bennett's spent a lot of time in the NHL, Dube is about 15 games into his career. By a forward's fourth year in the league it's generally pretty clear what they are. Bennett's a grinder and probably at some point a PK specialist, and that's about it.

 

[FerklundCGY]

At least Dube has the potential to be something more than he is now. Bennett is what he is.

Lmao

 

[Mobiandi]

Even if he's not putting up numbers, Bennett's indispensible to this team. If we wanna talk intangibles and desire to win, he's got them in spades, moreso than anyone else on the team

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Imagine combining Bennett’s #Intangibles with Gaudreau’s skill, what a player that would be. Oh wait, that player is Tkachuk.