Even if Bennett does become a 50 point player next year it wouldn't be worth it. He'd have to get around 65 to be an equivalent player
That's an absurd claim. It's rooted in nothing other than ignorance.
For an idea of Bennett's expected role, consider he played 1214 TOI last season. He killed penalties, played some second unit PP. and played less minutes at 5-on-5 than the top two lines (
naturally) You could give him on an extra 35-40 minutes of power play time next year but that'd be the extent of it.
Even if he is good, he isn't going to replace
1) Johnny Gaudreau on the power play. Duh. I shouldn't need to explain this.
2) Sean Monahan on the power play. He is one of the best triggers in the NHL from the slot, and last year potted four power play goals in four playoff games. He is tied for 15th among all NHL forwards in Power Play Goals over the last three seasons
3) Kris Versteeg on the power play. Versteeg shoots right. Versteeg was a power play dynamo last year outproducing Gaudreau. Someday Bennett should replace Versteeg, but right now Versteeg might be Calgary's best option on the PP.
4) Matthew Tkachuk on the power play. He is becoming one of the best PP screener/tippers in the entire league. He might already be top 10 as a kid who was 18/19 last year.
5) Michael Backlund on the power play. He
led the Flames in power play scoring last year.
That's five forwards Bennett is not replacing by no fault of his own. He's a very good offensive forward but nearly every team in the NHL would want one of the five guys above on their power play. That leaves two power play spots for Bennett. One of them is occupied by 4.5 million dollar Troy Brouwer, who is literally useless if you don't spoon feed him power play time. Diminishing his value further isn't in Calgary's best interest, since we want to dump him asap.
And we're down to one, on power play unit two with Tkachuk and Backlund. I expect Bennett to play there for much of the year, but that hasn't stopped the coach from randomly putting Michael Frolik there to maintain his 5-on-5 lines for when PPs end, and then you've got Micheal Ferland and Mark Jankowski who are also more than deserving.
At 5 on 5? Bennett's a center on a team with Sean Monahan and Mikael Backlund who are both solid centers in their prime. Monahan plays with Gaudreau on the already-strong scoring line and Backlund is the undisputed 28 year old 1C and was 4th in NHL Selke voting last year.
Bennett is being groomed to someday replace Backlund but Backlund hasn't had an injury of note in the last two calendar years (aside from a pre-season concussion that didn't stop him from missing a game). Monahan has never missed a game to injury since Bennett has been a Flame. It's common sense to keep the top six intact because it's a strong and stable top six.
If a 21 year old player with Bennett's complete game scored 50 points as a mere third center, he'll be commanding more trade value than nearly
any winger. Don't believe me? Here's a list of players who've done anything remotely comparable to that kind of accomplishment.
Under-23 players in the last decade to score 50 points while taking 650+ faceoffs and playing under 1275 minutes TOI:
Age 21 Aleksander Barkov - 52 points in 2016-17
Age 20 Jack Eichel - 57 points in 2016-17
Age 22 Steven Stamkos - 57 points in 2012-13
Age 19 Jonathan Toews - 54 points in 2007-08
Age 20 Sidney Crosby - 72 points in 2007-08
So you've got:
- A guy playing with Huberdeau and Jagr on his team's top line who was injured
- A PPG first line offensive monster, who was injured
- A franchise center playing on the first line with the Art Ross winner that year, in a lockout shortened season
- A franchise center in an era where power plays were handed out more liberally, playing on a first line with a future Art Ross winner, who was injured
- The best player of our generation, who was injured
That's how unrealistic it is for Sam Bennett to score 50+ points
in the role he plays. If he pulled it off, I'm not sure a team would accept Marchand + Pastrnak for him.
