He certainly seems to have the most "tools", and has always been described as a "200 foot player". His stats have really started adding up as well, where you have to start talking about him as a potential for a "scoring role" player in the NHL (whenever he gets there). I had my doubts about him, as his stats weren't that impressive earlier in the year, but they are certainly piling up recently. 50 points in 56 games as a 20 year old rookie in the AHL is nothing to sneeze at. It's still yet to be determined whether its mostly "team effect", or whether Benson is one of the *reasons* for the team being good. I'm really starting to lean towards Benson being one of the reasons though.
I've seen some people compare Benson to Lander, as he could end up a "tweener" (too good for the AHL, and not good enough for big role in the NHL), so I looked up Lander's AHL stats. At the same age, Lander put up 5 points in 14 games, and then as a 21 year old, he did 20 points in 47 games. It wasn't until age 22 (same age as Marody is now) that Lander put up a big season in the AHL (52 points in 46 GP). So I think it's fairly safe to have Benson fairly far ahead of Lander at this stage of their careers.
Marody needs to be discussed as well, but he is 2 years older, so its a little less impressive than what Benso. Still putting up a great season, and you can't ask anything more of the guy really. But as with Lander from above, I wonder how he will translate to the NHL.
Be interesting to see what happens with these two next training camp? Do the Oilers keep them in bottom-6 roles, or do they put them back in the AHL to play big minutes and mature further?
