Sam Bennett is not a bust.

[Muffin]

What a terrible draft that was. Night and day comparing 2014 to 2015.

 

[Keeben]

Buddy couldnt do a pull up. what you expect?

 

[LongWayDown37]

What a terrible draft that was. Night and day comparing 2014 to 2015.

Certainly not 2015 which may go down s the best ever, but I don’t think 2014 is a bad draft at all.

It’s got a solid haul of already excellent players...
Draisaitl
Ekblad
Reinhart
Nylander
Ehlers
Larkin
Sanheim
Pasta

 

[ImNeverWrong]

Certainly not 2015 which may go down s the best ever, but I don’t think 2014 is a bad draft at all.

It’s got a solid haul of already excellent players...
Draisaitl
Ekblad
Reinhart
Nylander
Ehlers
Larkin
Sanheim
Pasta
Fabbri

Point, Arvidsson, Schmaltz, Tuch, Vrana, Kase, Demko, Labanc and many more.

 

[LongWayDown37]

Point, Arvidsson, Schmaltz, Tuch, Vrana, Kase, Demko, Labanc and many more.

Yep

 

[MardyBum]

Solid third liner. Could use better linemates but that was supposed to be Jankowski and Neal.

Not a bust, just a disappointment for what you'd hope from a 4OA.

Just needs someone to drive the line and bring more offense. Dunno who that'd be for the Flames.

 

[CraigsList]

It’s great that he steps it up in the playoffs. Legit, I think it’s wonderful.

It would’ve been greater if he had been a dominant top 6 C like we’d hoped he’d become. He still is young and could very well become that top 6 player we’ve wanted him to be. But, he is also a big reason why the Flames haven’t been a contender for years.

 

[CraigsList]

Solid third liner. Could use better linemates but that was supposed to be Jankowski and Neal.

Not a bust, just a disappointment for what you'd hope from a 4OA.

Just needs someone to drive the line and bring more offense. Dunno who that'd be for the Flames.

Pretty much this. Needs a line driver on his line since he isn’t one.

 

[nhlfan9191]

It’s great that he steps it up in the playoffs. Legit, I think it’s wonderful.

It would’ve been greater if he had been a dominant top 6 C like we’d hoped he’d become. He still is young and could very well become that top 6 player we’ve wanted him to be. But, he is also a big reason why the Flames haven’t been a contender for years.

I’m not trying to insult your team. I really like the Flames. But Sam Bennett not reaching his potential isn’t the reason your team hasn’t hit true contender level. There’s holes in your roster that haven’t been addressed. And if you’re a 1st place team running into the playoffs with Mike Smith as your starter, you’re screwed from the start. Ever since Kipper left, goaltending has been such a void for Calgary. People always rip on us Habs fans for paying a lot for goaltending because of replacement value. And although there is truth to it, the Flames are an example of how hard it can be to find it and how important it really is.

 

[Deen]

I know people don't think so, but I still think Bennett has 2nd line potential.

 

[CraigsList]

I’m not trying to insult your team. I really like the Flames. But Sam Bennett not reaching his potential isn’t the reason your team hasn’t hit true contender level. There’s holes in your roster that haven’t been addressed. And if you’re a 1st place team running into the playoffs with Mike Smith as your starter, you’re screwed from the start. Ever since Kipper left, goaltending has been such a void for Calgary. People always rip on us Habs fans for paying a lot for goaltending because of replacement value. And although there is truth to it, the Flames are an example of how hard it can be to find it and how important it really is.

I half agree with you.

Goaltending wasn’t the issue. Anyone complaining about Smith should check themselves. We desperately need another top end player in the top 6, or at least someone who could shut down the top players of other teams. Backlund can’t do it all. If Bennett had panned out as our 1C/2C this team would’ve been in better shape.

 

[nhlfan9191]

I half agree with you.

Goaltending wasn’t the issue. Anyone complaining about Smith should check themselves. We desperately need another top end player in the top 6, or at least someone who could shut down the top players of other teams. Backlund can’t do it all. If Bennett had panned out as our 1C/2C this team would’ve been in better shape.

But you’re saying you desperately need atleast someone who can play a shutdown role and Bennett was never going to be that guy. And I agree you do need more shutdown players. His performance in the draft combine was publicly mocked for how bad he was physically before the draft even happened. You could’ve went with another player of course but you chose the skill upside. Even if he hit what was projected offensively, I don’t think it would’ve helped as much as you think it would. But that’s just my opinion.

 

[TOGuy14]

He has a generational duster, but a checking line forward isn't what you expect from a 4th OV

 

[Passchendaele]

Buddy couldnt do a pull up. what you expect?

Well, you could argue that to be a positive, because it would have meant at the time that there was a lot of room to improve his strength (and benefit from it on the ice).

On the other hand you have a guy like Ekblad would was already fully developed on draft day and hasn't really improved in five years.

 

[Hostile Offer]

Buddy couldnt do a pull up. what you expect?

IIRC he had a shoulder injury at the time which obviously has an effect on the performance.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

Certainly not 2015 which may go down s the best ever, but I don’t think 2014 is a bad draft at all.

It’s got a solid haul of already excellent players...
Draisaitl
Ekblad
Reinhart
Nylander
Ehlers
Larkin
Sanheim
Pasta

wow.


Logically every draft has his fair share of great players, 2014 as well but I am not thrilled.

 

[bigbabybuda]

You're evaluating a player on an email extremely small sample size instead of the much larger sample size of a few hundred games. Some of the players you're comparing him too have played only a handful of games in the playoffs . Every single one of them has shown themselves to be much more valuable than Bennett. It is absurd and makes all of us dumber for having read it.

Is he a complete bust? Probably not but for a player drafted where he was with his pedigree entering the NFL he has been extremely disappointing so far

 

[WingsMJN2965]

Lol. Imagine trying to put Reinhart in the same group as Larkin, by comparing playoff performance from when Larkin was 19.

 

[Coffey]

IIRC he had a shoulder injury at the time which obviously has an effect on the performance.

It was a pull up not a shoulder press.

 

[Coffey]

You're evaluating a player on an email extremely small sample size instead of the much larger sample size of a few hundred games. Some of the players you're comparing him too have played only a handful of games in the playoffs . Every single one of them has shown themselves to be much more valuable than Bennett. It is absurd and makes all of us dumber for having read it.

Is he a complete bust? Probably not but for a player drafted where he was with his pedigree entering the NFL he has been extremely disappointing so far

Bennett is a very poor running back.

 

[Sjsharks5]

It was a pull up not a shoulder press.

Not to start a ‘bro’ discussion, and I also know next to nothing about Sam Bennett other than that I didn’t like his borderline hit against the Sharks this year, but there is absolutely no arguing that a shoulder injury has the potentially to completely eliminate someone’s ability to perform a pull-up.

 

[KevinRedkey]

McDavid would have been a disappointment if he had 'only' been as good as say... Sean Monahan. That wouldn't have made him a bust though. Monahan is still a hell of a player, and Bennett is a solid role player.

A disappointment? Sure
A bust? No way

 

[GeeoffBrown]

I think Bennett is slowly getting better, even though the stats don't reflect it. His shot is pretty bad but I like the rest of his game a lot. I think his point totals will be better next year.

If you could fuse Sam Bennett and Mark Jankowski into one player, you'd have one heck of a top 6 centre

 

[Volica]

I’m not trying to insult your team. I really like the Flames. But Sam Bennett not reaching his potential isn’t the reason your team hasn’t hit true contender level. There’s holes in your roster that haven’t been addressed. And if you’re a 1st place team running into the playoffs with Mike Smith as your starter, you’re screwed from the start. Ever since Kipper left, goaltending has been such a void for Calgary. People always rip on us Habs fans for paying a lot for goaltending because of replacement value. And although there is truth to it, the Flames are an example of how hard it can be to find it and how important it really is.

The holes on the Flames is currently a legit top line centre.
While running with a Mike Smith/DSD tandem is not optimal, average goaltending was enough to make this an excellent regular season team... and the reason for the faltering in the playoffs was the big offensive players not showing up at all, in addition to just not having another A+ chess piece up front; rather than goaltending, Mike Smith was a standout for Calgary.

Let's be honest, goaltending is a crapshoot in the playoffs. For every series that has a Rask V Bob, there's a series that has a Jones V Grubauer and Mrazek V Lehner; none of those 4 guys are top league goaltenders on any given year.

Anyone who follows the Flames, will say Sam Bennett not projecting to being a big top 6 centre for us a big reason why this rebuild took an extra couple years longer and why we still have a hole on this team up front. When drafted, we were hoping for a 1C from Sam; someone who would push Monahan or would be pushed by Monahan; instead Monahan was given the 1C to run with, irregardless of his effectiveness, because he scores a tonne of goals with Johnny; and Mikael Backlund, for as dynamic and useful of a player he is, is a top end 2C, and just that... He's not pushing anyone down the lineup as your 1C.

But you’re saying you desperately need atleast someone who can play a shutdown role and Bennett was never going to be that guy. And I agree you do need more shutdown players. His performance in the draft combine was publicly mocked for how bad he was physically before the draft even happened. You could’ve went with another player of course but you chose the skill upside. Even if he hit what was projected offensively, I don’t think it would’ve helped as much as you think it would. But that’s just my opinion.

We're fine with our shutdown players, the problem is that the shutdown players should be playing down a line. The issue is not having that 1A/1B centre if you want to run with Monahan as your 1C.

In terms of his physicality at the draft combine. The dude was working with one shoulder, and still competed in drills. That's a tough for a 17/18 year old. Let's be real about that draft too. Calgary picked the player that projected to be the best in terms of physicality/skill. The next big physical player available was Jake Virtanen and Nick Ritchie... neither of which would be much more help than Sam at this time. Sam looked to be more skilled than Nylander and Ehlers at the time... it just didn't come together alas (that being said, I still prefer Sam over someone like Nylander). If the dude hit his offensive projection, you're talking about a Doug Gilmour type player... That'd help everyone, irregardless of the team.

You, as a Habs fan, should be more than aware that centre depth wins in this league.

 

[DFF]

The playoff was a small sample but that is not the reason I still have some hope for Bennett. He has been good for most of the season. There were games he was the top player on the team.

I just feel he is almost there. But some people are always almost there and never really get there......maybe he finally finds what is missing or maybe not lol