Man this feels so much like Kyle Turris all over again, except this time Bennett is even better player - and Calgary got even less of a return than the Yotes did (Rundblad was still a star prospect at the time at least).
If I were Calgary's owner, this would be the green light I need to go ahead and clean house entirely. How insane/incompetent do you have to be to first identify and draft a player with an ultra valuable pick. Then proceed to nearly ruin him, trade him for scraps (comparatively), and watch him immediately go on to produce and play at the level of a star player...
Like this is no Zibanejad that took another 2 or 3 seasons to emerging as a star player after being traded. Bennett literally was ready to be a top 6 center the second he was put in the right spot. And quite obviously they didnt hold out for a better trade (because they knew what they had and he just didnt jive for whatever reason). They were ready to move on from a player that they were convinced wasn't ever going to be good enough to be a top 6 player for them.
The only possible conclusion you can draw is that they have no freaking clue what they're doing. Period. This is a player that should have been given an extremely long leash by the flames, and every opportunity in the world to blossom. This was the player they should have spent a lot of resources on trying to help him get to where they needed to be. It was a 4OV pick, he didnt come out of left field....I'd think most teams would like to be damn sure hes a lost cause before squandering that kind of asset so carelessly...