Confirmed with Link: Bennett signs 2x2.55

[Kranix]

He'll break out 19/20. *chomping on onion and crying like costanza You'll see I'm right

 

[Mobiandi]

He's so bad defensively that he was a fixture on the Flames impressive penalty kill from two seasons ago and will probably return there now that Hathaway has departed from the team

 

[Ace Rimmer]

The Gary Roberts comparison is apt. He didn't really "arrive" until he was 24/25 years old.

I look forward to seeing what 24 year old Sam Bennett can do.

 

[Kranix]

I honestly would love to see him centering Johnny to start the year for 5 games, just see how it goes. I'm not OKG.

 

[Volica]

He's so bad defensively that he was a fixture on the Flames impressive penalty kill from two seasons ago and will probably return there now that Hathaway has departed from the team

I've really only ever seen a single poster call him a defensive liability. It's mostly because he isn't.

 

[Volica]

I honestly would love to see him centering Johnny to start the year for 5 games, just see how it goes. I'm not OKG.

Depending on what Calgary's plans are in terms of using centre depth, really think he should be the 1RW or 2RW this entire season.

 

[SKRusty]

I'm not saying he isn't. But he's clearly not as good as people claim he is. He's not great offensively and pretty close to a liability defensively.

I disagree about the defensive liability aspect. Sam is a pretty exceptional player in most ways. Elite speed, grit, compete level and puck handling.

Where Sam is most often over-rated is offensive hockey IQ, shooting, and playmaking. The game just moves too fast when Sam is attacking. You can see on almost every scoring chance he is a half, to a second and a half behind on deciding the best way top attack. Bennett will never likely never become an offensive star but the kid has heart.

 

[Flames Fanatic]

I disagree about the defensive liability aspect. Sam is a pretty exceptional player in most ways. Elite speed, grit, compete level and puck handling.

Where Sam is most often over-rated is offensive hockey IQ, shooting, and playmaking. The game just moves too fast when Sam is attacking. You can see on almost every scoring chance he is a half, to a second and a half behind on deciding the best way top attack. Bennett will never likely never become an offensive star but the kid has heart.

Sam's not slow, but he's not elite by NHL standards for speed, or puck handling. If he had elite puck handling when he was still trying to be a one man show he still could have done something. He may have had elite puck handling and speed in junior, but definitely not "elite" as in top in the NHL level.

Even compete level and grit I'd argue pretty heavily. He has spurts where he competes at a high level, but it's inconsistent at best. If was truly Elite he'd be more on the Tom Wilson, Gallagher, tier of compete level forwards, and he's not.

Elite Speed is McDavid, MacKinnon, or even guys like Cogliano and Larkin, hell even Paul Byron. Elite puckhandling would Gaudreau, Kane, Datsyuk, etc. Bennett doesn't even sniff their level.

 

[Dack]

Bennett's puck handling is what hold him back the most IMO, its beyond just not elite its plain bad.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Fwiw, when Bennett the following training camp was drafted Gio said Bennett was the fastest player on the team.

 

[InfinityIggy]

It's weird how Bennett is elite at most everything yet isn't elite at hockey. Weird.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

It's weird how Bennett is elite at most everything yet isn't elite at hockey. Weird.

 

[crackdown44]

Bennett has an elite mustache. That’s about it

Very useful middle 6 winger though so let’s just embrace that

 

[Fig]

Fwiw, when Bennett the following training camp was drafted Gio said Bennett was the fastest player on the team.

"Some players are really fast at going to the wrong places."
~ Jagr, paraphrased.

Bennett isn't completely in the wrong place though. He's always whacking things into the post or his feet are always in better position to his stick.

 

[FLAMESFAN]

Bennett's going to hit 40 for sure, possibly 50 points this year. Next year steal of a deal.

 

[Khrox]

Bennett's puck handling is what hold him back the most IMO, its beyond just not elite its plain bad.

Not true. Bennett's puck handling is elite. It takes skill to be that bad at it.


Okay, maybe not that bad, but man, if he could work on that, he'd be in far better shape than he is now (in regards to points).

 

[Dack]

Not true. Bennett's puck handling is elite. It takes skill to be that bad at it.


Okay, maybe not that bad, but man, if he could work on that, he'd be in far better shape than he is now (in regards to points).

Lol you had me at first. He's had some shining moments where it looks he's got Gaudreau esque hands but he bobbles the puck far too often.

One example I remember is his 2nd goal of his 4 goal game where he looked to have a beauty but actually lost the puck right before pulling it to his backhand and got lucky that it trickled in.

 

[Khrox]

One example I remember is his 2nd goal of his 4 goal game where he looked to have a beauty but actually lost the puck right before pulling it to his backhand and got lucky that it trickled in.

I think that's what keeps peoples expectations high. Despite how he'll regularly disappear for stretches (points wise), he'll just sporadically have these games where he just does nothing but score, or create chance after chance after chance (that weren't just low quality, but legit high quality chances that the other goalie was making 10-bell saves on). It's just enough to leave everyone thinking "He's about to put it all together" but it just never seems to materialize

 

[SKRusty]

Sam's not slow, but he's not elite by NHL standards for speed.

I don't think you watched the Av's series at all. Bennett was the ONLY Flame that was able to stay stride for stride with MacKinnon. Now whether he made the right decision on the play was another matter.

If he had elite puck handling when he was still trying to be a one man show he still could have done something. He may have had elite puck handling and speed in junior, but definitely not "elite" as in top in the NHL level.

The only player than might be able to challenge Sam for stickhandling in Calgary is Backlund ... Now if Sam makes the right read or right play is a completely different story. Everyone here has seen Sam take the puck end to end and then make the completely wrong decision in regards to play-making but that is not puck handling skills.

Even compete level and grit I'd argue pretty heavily. He has spurts where he competes at a high level, but it's inconsistent at best. If was truly Elite he'd be more on the Tom Wilson, Gallagher, tier of compete level forwards, and he's not.

Sam answered the bell all season defending teammates and was the only player on the Flames that was effective at grinding and winning puck battles against the Avs.

Elite Speed is McDavid, MacKinnon, or even guys like Cogliano and Larkin, hell even Paul Byron. Elite puckhandling would Gaudreau, Kane, Datsyuk, etc. Bennett doesn't even sniff their level.

Gaudreau is a worse player for protecting the puck than Sam by far. Sam ended last year at minus 13 on giveaways/takeaways Gaudreau was minus 66. Johnny has been the WORST forward for giveaway/takeaway ratio since he entered the league. Considering the nearest players to Johnny were goal scorers that stat is particularly scathing for Johnny. Crosby, Barzal, Tavares and Larkin are all below half Johnny's Net turnover.

Patrick Kane FYI has a net GA/TA of +9 over the last 3 years. Sam was +27 over the same time frame. The best Flame is Backlund at +64, Monahan + 23, and Chucky -3

 

[crackdown44]

Luckily with the departure of Hathaway and Prout Gaudreau should be able to creep up into the 3rd spot for best stick handlers on the team after Bennett and Backlund

 

[Lunatik]

The whole giveaway/takeaway scoring system in the NHL is so flawed that looking at the +/- for giveaways and takeaways is fairly pointless and when talking about who protects the puck, it is completely irrelevant as a giveaway is when a players own action results in a turnover (ie. an intercepted pass) and a takeaway is when you pressuring the puck carrier causes the turnover (ie. a steal), each turnover only counts as either a giveaway or a takeaway. So a player like Gaudreau who passes the puck as much as anyone in the NHL will naturally have more giveaways than someone like Bennett who doesn't utilize his linemates the best. Until the NHL starts tracking turnovers as both a giveaway and a takeaway, it's really not a very good stat, for example, the NHL recorded almost 5300 (27%) more giveaways than takeaways in 2018-19

 

[Flames Fanatic]

I don't think you watched the Av's series at all. Bennett was the ONLY Flame that was able to stay stride for stride with MacKinnon. Now whether he made the right decision on the play was another matter.




The only player than might be able to challenge Sam for stickhandling in Calgary is Backlund ... Now if Sam makes the right read or right play is a completely different story. Everyone here has seen Sam take the puck end to end and then make the completely wrong decision in regards to play-making but that is not puck handling skills.


Sam answered the bell all season defending teammates and was the only player on the Flames that was effective at grinding and winning puck battles against the Avs.



Gaudreau is a worse player for protecting the puck than Sam by far. Sam ended last year at minus 13 on giveaways/takeaways Gaudreau was minus 66. Johnny has been the WORST forward for giveaway/takeaway ratio since he entered the league. Considering the nearest players to Johnny were goal scorers that stat is particularly scathing for Johnny. Crosby, Barzal, Tavares and Larkin are all below half Johnny's Net turnover.

Patrick Kane FYI has a net GA/TA of +9 over the last 3 years. Sam was +27 over the same time frame. The best Flame is Backlund at +64, Monahan + 23, and Chucky -3

You seem obsessed with one 5 game series being a better sample size than their entire careers, or even the full season. I'm referring at minimum to the full season. So get on the same page or you're arguing with the wind. Then again, you seem to be doing a lot of that lately.

And yes. I clearly didn't watch the Avs series at all, despite even being at one of the games. Okay though.

You seem to be confusing stick handling and protecting the puck to me. Sam whenever he tries to make a move with the puck it usually slides of his stick or he bobbles it.

Again, one series vs where I was talking about the entire season.

Giveaways/takeaways is completely useless stat in this scenario when you are comparing the guy we literally depend on for our offense and a third line grinder. Our offense literally requires Johnny to carry the puck at nearly all times.

 

[SKRusty]

You seem obsessed with one 5 game series being a better sample size than their entire careers, or even the full season. I'm referring at minimum to the full season. So get on the same page or you're arguing with the wind. Then again, you seem to be doing a lot of that lately.

And yes. I clearly didn't watch the Avs series at all, despite even being at one of the games. Okay though.

You seem to be confusing stick handling and protecting the puck to me. Sam whenever he tries to make a move with the puck it usually slides of his stick or he bobbles it.

Again, one series vs where I was talking about the entire season.

Giveaways/takeaways is completely useless stat in this scenario when you are comparing the guy we literally depend on for our offense and a third line grinder. Our offense literally requires Johnny to carry the puck at nearly all times.

Respectfully, you are valuing regular season performances rather than when it matters most, in the playoffs. Sam is far from a perfect player and his hockey IQ and play-making abilities are really suspect but there is one thing that happens when the playoffs start. The game actually slows down because there is a completely different standard of officiating. The clutching, grabbing, questionable hits, hacking and slashing are allowed. This slows down the game enough where Sam's inability to think fast enough at high speed during the regular season is mitigated in the playoffs.

These bobbles that you speak of are more often when Sam is making a finishing move or trying to make a play.

The playoff performances are WAY more important than the regular season. Once you are in the playoffs the regular season means nothing and the last time I checked the league champion was the one who carried Lord Stanley's Cup off the ice. But hey what do I know ask the players whether they want to be President's trophy winners or Stanley Cup winners.

That Giveaway/takeaway stat says the Flames really need to evaluate if the player they are relying on is adding more than than he is giving up. As a play-maker Johnny can not be giving up over double the number of giveaways as other premiere play-makers such as Sid, Tavares and Barzal.

Sam is one of the few players in Calgary that has been consistently good in the playoffs and the team needs to do more the build off Sam's success.

 

[Flames Fanatic]

Just deleted it. Legitimately not worth arguing over at this point.

 

[Fig]

Bennett is often more "lite" than "elite".

I am still rooting for him to put it all together though.