Official Sam Bennett Discussion Thread

[jjgallow]

Bennett will be head-to-head with Connor McDavid for Rookie of the Year next year.

 

I have no idea why anyone here would be dissapointed.

 

Normally, I believe in sheltering and protecting prospects.   Bennett is an exception.

 

He is our last exception of this rebuild (Monahan was the only other one).

 

He will be ready to be a core player next season.  Period.  And I would peg him as a strong candidate for captain in the near future.

 

 

We could have had Three exceptions.....it wasn't that long ago that we were tied neck and neck with Buffalo for Connor McDavid and Eichel...but we had to be "special" and make the playoffs....lol.    Time will tell if that was the right way to go.  But I digress.

 

 

With anyone, except Bennett and Monahan, yes.  Shelter them.  Give them time. AHL.  Junior.  limited minutes.  All that good stuff.

 

 

But Bennett?  Oh no.  He'll be ready.  He's already made that clear as daylight.

[travel_dude]

JJ, Drouin was the consensus Calder Trophy winner before the season started.  How did he do on a strong team?  Just OK.

 

Stone came out of nowhere this year. Johnny was a revelation.

 

McD will be playing on a very bad team, and will likely have to play top 6.  Draisaitl is huge compared to McD, and struggled with the pro game in his first season.

 

Bennett benefitted from being around the Flames for a year, and coming into the NHL on a well structured team.  He will do well in his first season.  McDavid will be coming into a tire fire, with every player adapting to a new coach and systems, while Chia (FF's nickname ) will be putting his stamp on the team in FA and trades.

[The_People1]

We could have had Three exceptions.....it wasn't that long ago that we were tied neck and neck with Buffalo for Connor McDavid and Eichel...but we had to be "special" and make the playoffs....lol.    Time will tell if that was the right way to go.  But I digress.

 

Time will tell.  If we win a Cup in a couple years, then this "special" year was worth it because it created a good foundation, built good habits, yada yada,.  We're probably the only two on the message boards who would easily trade this season for one of McDavid or Eichel because we didn't win a Cup this year.  This year was a chance to get a "special" prospect that would give the Flames a third/(fourth) super key piece moving forward.

 

Anyways, i digress as well.  Time will tell.  Win a Cup and its worth it.

 

Sam Bennett will be special but as I noted before, i can see why he won't reach his full potential and the reasons are mostly physical which requires only a committment in the gym and time to correct.  I still believe he has what it takes to become a superstar in this league.

 

I would've drafted Darnell Nurse over Sean Monahan back in 2013.  Then taken Bennett in 2014.  Without Monahan this season, we surely would've been a lock for at least Eichel.  We could've had Bennett, Eichel, and Nurse to give us C, C, D studs moving forward.  2015 could've been our "special" year and everything we accomplished this year could've just been delayed by one season.  Now we move forward needing to find that young future stud D leaving me less confident that we have all the personnel in place to make some serious runs at the Cup.

[AlbertaBoy12]

I would agree with you it would have been very nice to keep the positive attitude rolling from last season and have a chance at mcdavid or eichel, that would have been amazing for us. Actually even a chance to get hanifen(I think is how you spell his name) would have been great. We might not have that stud D, but who knows what brodie will be next season, or even Culkin, wotherspoon, kulak, Ramage, Morrison etc.

[MAC331]

Time will tell.  If we win a Cup in a couple years, then this "special" year was worth it because it created a good foundation, built good habits, yada yada,.  We're probably the only two on the message boards who would easily trade this season for one of McDavid or Eichel because we didn't win a Cup this year.  This year was a chance to get a "special" prospect that would give the Flames a third/(fourth) super key piece moving forward.

 

Anyways, i digress as well.  Time will tell.  Win a Cup and its worth it.

 

Sam Bennett will be special but as I noted before, i can see why he won't reach his full potential and the reasons are mostly physical which requires only a committment in the gym and time to correct.  I still believe he has what it takes to become a superstar in this league.

 

I would've drafted Darnell Nurse over Sean Monahan back in 2013.  Then taken Bennett in 2014.  Without Monahan this season, we surely would've been a lock for at least Eichel.  We could've had Bennett, Eichel, and Nurse to give us C, C, D studs moving forward.  2015 could've been our "special" year and everything we accomplished this year could've just been delayed by one season.  Now we move forward needing to find that young future stud D leaving me less confident that we have all the personnel in place to make some serious runs at the Cup.

None of us have a crystal ball but obviously with the recent moves for additional quality defensemen, the upcoming draft and a few trades we can over come drafting Monahan over Nurse. Having Giordano,Brodie, Wideman and Russell now is a good core to start adding to with players in the pipe.

[phoenix66]

Time will tell.  If we win a Cup in a couple years, then this "special" year was worth it because it created a good foundation, built good habits, yada yada,.  We're probably the only two on the message boards who would easily trade this season for one of McDavid or Eichel because we didn't win a Cup this year.  This year was a chance to get a "special" prospect that would give the Flames a third/(fourth) super key piece moving forward.

 

Anyways, i digress as well.  Time will tell.  Win a Cup and its worth it.

 

Sam Bennett will be special but as I noted before, i can see why he won't reach his full potential and the reasons are mostly physical which requires only a committment in the gym and time to correct.  I still believe he has what it takes to become a superstar in this league.

 

I would've drafted Darnell Nurse over Sean Monahan back in 2013.  Then taken Bennett in 2014.  Without Monahan this season, we surely would've been a lock for at least Eichel.  We could've had Bennett, Eichel, and Nurse to give us C, C, D studs moving forward.  2015 could've been our "special" year and everything we accomplished this year could've just been delayed by one season.  Now we move forward needing to find that young future stud D leaving me less confident that we have all the personnel in place to make some serious runs at the Cup.

Not gonna lie, nurse and/or McEichel would look good in a flames uniform..but I also wouldnt choose it in a do over.Monahan will be a future captain and a big piece of a cup team, I would still take him over Nurse.

If Edmonton has a resurgence next season, it wont be because of Mcdavid, it will be because management got the other pieces right too. If all they do is add Connor, they will still continue to suck. One player does not turn you around....Gretzky never won a cup after edmonton, but edmonton won one without him. Pittsburgh has arguably 2 generational players but yet barely made the playoffs this year and got bounced very fast.

Yes, we are still missing pieces, but the pieces we have we were missing before, had we taken Nurse wed be talking again about needing a bug #1 center. Im buoyed by the fact BT has now identified defense as the focus.the next step is clear

[tachaudh]

Time will tell.  If we win a Cup in a couple years, then this "special" year was worth it because it created a good foundation, built good habits, yada yada,.  We're probably the only two on the message boards who would easily trade this season for one of McDavid or Eichel because we didn't win a Cup this year.  This year was a chance to get a "special" prospect that would give the Flames a third/(fourth) super key piece moving forward.

 

Anyways, i digress as well.  Time will tell.  Win a Cup and its worth it.

 

Sam Bennett will be special but as I noted before, i can see why he won't reach his full potential and the reasons are mostly physical which requires only a committment in the gym and time to correct.  I still believe he has what it takes to become a superstar in this league.

 

I would've drafted Darnell Nurse over Sean Monahan back in 2013.  Then taken Bennett in 2014.  Without Monahan this season, we surely would've been a lock for at least Eichel.  We could've had Bennett, Eichel, and Nurse to give us C, C, D studs moving forward.  2015 could've been our "special" year and everything we accomplished this year could've just been delayed by one season.  Now we move forward needing to find that young future stud D leaving me less confident that we have all the personnel in place to make some serious runs at the Cup.

 

Who would you rather build your team around today? Jonathan Toews or Sidney Crosby? Between Ovechkin and Crosby - the two supposed preeminent superstars of the past decade, there is one Stanley Cup.

 

Toews is a more complete player in my mind, and thus much more impactful. If Monahan continues on his developmental path, he's looking like he could very well be that type of a player. The numbers over the first two years, both regular season and playoffs, are very similar as is playing style.

 

 

It's easier, I think, to draft and develop a stud D-man later on in the draft. It's a lot tougher to find players like Monahan and Toews outside the top 10 of the first round. Also keep in mind that we could very well bottom out next year and have a 25-30 finish. Anaheim was there a couple years ago as was Tampa Bay and Colorado is there this year. Also, we have 6 picks in the first three rounds this year. The opportunity to get that stud D-man will present itself, provided management plays its cards the right way.

[kehatch]

Who would you rather build your team around today? Jonathan Toews or Sidney Crosby? Between Ovechkin and Crosby - the two supposed preeminent superstars of the past decade, there is one Stanley Cup.

 

Toews is a more complete player in my mind, and thus much more impactful. If Monahan continues on his developmental path, he's looking like he could very well be that type of a player. The numbers over the first two years, both regular season and playoffs, are very similar as is playing style..

 

I agree.  And frankly I am tired of this myth that you need a first overall to win a cup.  Ignoring the last two drafts (not enough time to make a difference).  

• The last 10 first overall picks: Yakupov, RNH, Hall, Taveres, Stamkos, Kane, Johnson, Crosby, Ovechkin, and Fleury
• Top 10 players on TSN top 50 that are not 1st overalls: Toews, Getzlaf, Kopitar, Malkin, Doughty, Weber, Giroux, Bergeron, Perry, Benn

Compare those two lists.  I can honestly say I would rather have the second list over the first.  Now look at this.  

• Con Smythe winners the last 10 seasons: Williams, Kane, Quick, Thomas, Toews, Malkin, Zetterberg, Niedermayer, Ward, Richards 
• The most impact full player in the playoffs relative to cup wins in the last five: Kopitar, Carter, Williams, Doughty, Quick,  Kane, Toews, Keith, Brown, Thomas, Kreci, Bergeron, Chara, Seidenberg

The only first overall in the bunch is Kane.

[conundrumed]

I would've drafted Darnell Nurse over Sean Monahan back in 2013.  Then taken Bennett in 2014.  Without Monahan this season, we surely would've been a lock for at least Eichel.  We could've had Bennett, Eichel, and Nurse to give us C, C, D studs moving forward.  2015 could've been our "special" year and everything we accomplished this year could've just been delayed by one season.  Now we move forward needing to find that young future stud D leaving me less confident that we have all the personnel in place to make some serious runs at the Cup.

Not on your life!

We took 2 leader-quality Cmen from the O that play a different game from 1 another.

All you're doing is crowning Nurse a stud dman when he hasn't actually proven anything.

Maybe we should have gotten Eichel when Gio went down? You can't sell me that no Mony would have put us at #2 pick, at worst.

We could have solved the D issue the year before, but no, we took a different route.

Would you trade Janxy and Sieloff today for Ceci?

Had we have taken Nurse over Mony, I'd have been equally on fire as the year before.

Those are reactive drafts. Need a C, need a C ahhhh Jankowski, need a D need a D ahhhh Nurse.

Don't forget how hyped 18yos get at draft time, let's see where Eichel's at when he actually gets here.

You definitely would'nt have delayed this year until next year. Eichel and Nurse are definitely not coming into the league next year as dominant.

The sophomore slump hit Mony last year with 30 goals. Nurse is still in the O.

Back-to-back years of 2 mature C 18yos came gift-wrapped as top OHL Captains.

Why-oh-why on earth would you change that?

Can't wait to see Bennett next year, you're delusional if you think our 1-2 punch at C is not going to be devastating in a couple of years.

They are mature young players, and likely in the gym already.

D can be fixed easier when you have that kinda talent up front.

[cccsberg]

Not on your life!

We took 2 leader-quality Cmen from the O that play a different game from 1 another.

All you're doing is crowning Nurse a stud dman when he hasn't actually proven anything.

Maybe we should have gotten Eichel when Gio went down? You can't sell me that no Mony would have put us at #2 pick, at worst.

We could have solved the D issue the year before, but no, we took a different route.

Would you trade Janxy and Sieloff today for Ceci?

Had we have taken Nurse over Mony, I'd have been equally on fire as the year before.

Those are reactive drafts. Need a C, need a C ahhhh Jankowski, need a D need a D ahhhh Nurse.

Don't forget how hyped 18yos get at draft time, let's see where Eichel's at when he actually gets here.

You definitely would'nt have delayed this year until next year. Eichel and Nurse are definitely not coming into the league next year as dominant.

The sophomore slump hit Mony last year with 30 goals. Nurse is still in the O.

Back-to-back years of 2 mature C 18yos came gift-wrapped as top OHL Captains.

Why-oh-why on earth would you change that?

Can't wait to see Bennett next year, you're delusional if you think our 1-2 punch at C is not going to be devastating in a couple of years.

They are mature young players, and likely in the gym already.

D can be fixed easier when you have that kinda talent up front.

Agree I'd always take the F over D at the top if the draft given similar talent.  Perhaps last year was an exception.  Nurse hasn't proven anything yet, whereas Calgary already had two top end D and no top end Centres when Monahan was drafted.  Bennett not a no-brainer because there were a couple of options, but clearly he was the best/most proven of them all.

 

I'm interested to see if either of our recent signings on D (i.e. Morrison and Nakladal) can come in and play a strong 2-way game, which I think is a good possibility....  and help fill that thinness we have at D.

[DirtyDeeds]

Agree I'd always take the F over D at the top if the draft given similar talent.  Perhaps last year was an exception.  Nurse hasn't proven anything yet, whereas Calgary already had two top end D and no top end Centres when Monahan was drafted.  Bennett not a no-brainer because there were a couple of options, but clearly he was the best/most proven of them all.

 

I'm interested to see if either of our recent signings on D (i.e. Morrison and Nakladal) can come in and play a strong 2-way game, which I think is a good possibility....  and help fill that thinness we have at D.

If that Forward is a Center then yes I would often chose the Center when equal with a D however...

 

Top D prospects are also a premium and hard to find so with all things being equal I likely would chose the D prospect over a LW prospect and probably a RW too.

 

We really do not have depth at the top 4 D position. No prospects  coming through the farm yet. We have filled in lots of depth the past year and a bit with 5-7 D and are more looking for upgrades through competition in those slots.

[kehatch]

I would've drafted Darnell Nurse over Sean Monahan back in 2013.  Then taken Bennett in 2014.  Without Monahan this season, we surely would've been a lock for at least Eichel.  We could've had Bennett, Eichel, and Nurse to give us C, C, D studs moving forward.  2015 could've been our "special" year and everything we accomplished this year could've just been delayed by one season.  Now we move forward needing to find that young future stud D leaving me less confident that we have all the personnel in place to make some serious runs at the Cup.

 

Are you speaking at the time?  Or retrospectively.  Because if it is the latter I don't understand your desire to lose so darn badly.  We got a great player in Monahan.  You might be the only Flames fan on the entire planet that is second guessing that pick.  With your justification being it would have made us lose.  It seems very pint half empty.  And your sitting there with a full pint.  

[The_People1]

Are you speaking at the time?  Or retrospectively.  Because if it is the latter I don't understand your desire to lose so darn badly.  We got a great player in Monahan.  You might be the only Flames fan on the entire planet that is second guessing that pick.  With your justification being it would have made us lose.  It seems very pint half empty.  And your sitting there with a full pint.  

 

We will only know if Monahan was the right pick if we win the Cup.  So, without having won the Cup with Monahan and judging by talent alone, Nurse may eventually be the better of the two players.  It's too early to tell.

[kehatch]

We will only know if Monahan was the right pick if we win the Cup.  So, without having won the Cup with Monahan and judging by talent alone, Nurse may eventually be the better of the two players.  It's too early to tell.

 

You work with some really strange logic to come to some of your conclusions.  I agree we don't know who is the better player yet.  But saying that you wish we picked Nurse so we would lose more so we would get a better pick is crazy.  Suggesting that in light of what Monahan accomplished as a 19 and 20 year old is nuts.

[conundrumed]

I would've drafted Darnell Nurse over Sean Monahan back in 2013. 

I'm all for devil's advocate stuff to stir discussion, but I wonder if that's actually what you're doing, as most of us would assume.

But I remember from that draft, you were huge on Nurse.

He isn't Ekblad and he isn't Seth Jones.

Nurse is big, but he's a bit of a project and I believe he still is.

Monahan is an asset, already.

What I don't get in this statement, is how good do you think Nurse can be? And do you foresee Mony taking 2 steps back at some point soon for Nurse to catch up??

Next yr we can take James Greenway, there's your Nurse. A project with uncertainties.

[conundrumed]

But back to Bennett, he's got mony's advice being a year ahead, keeping the mind frame clear.

I couldn't have asked for a better setup...the cerebral one first, then the wild one.

 

The scenario of Bennett, with a Nurse, and then Eichel I'd say is a far worse scenario, all thing's being equal.

[DirtyDeeds]

Monahan - 2 years in NHL and much improved. No doubt in my mind he is a franchise player and likely a future
Captain for us. The fact he is a big center is a huge bonus and he will only get better. He is closing in as an elite 1st line center and most here were saying he would be lucky to be a good 2nd line center. No sophomore jinx and he was playing against the other teams best most nights.

 

Nurse - Has not even made the NHL yet on a team that has one of the worst D in the league if not the worst. Is he good? sure but he has not realized this yet, partly because he is a D prospect and partly because he isn't ready. I think he will definately be a NHL player and maybe be a top 2-3 D man but I don't see him a franchise player yet. Can he be? maybe but he has a long way to progress to become that. 

 

So far we win this choice of picks hands down even in hindsight...

[The_People1]

Keep in mind, in 2006, Dion Phaneuf was arguably the consensus #1 or #2 overall in a redo of the 2003 draft (with only Eric Staal who won a Cup and would be ranked higher).  Some of those 2003 picks hardly even play a single game by 2006.  Fast forward a dozen years and Phaneuf would only barely make it into the first round in a 2003 re-draft.

 

Just saying.

 

And i'm not even saying Monahan sucks.  My point has less to do with Monahan than it does with the concept of a C, C, D stud foundation.  It's a solid base to move forward with.  It just so happens we could've been looking at Eichel, Bennett, and Nurse as a core moving forward (and having Gaudreau in the mix of course).  That's all.

 

I'm not hell bent on losing like kehatch is trying to make me sound like.  It's just there's a time to rebuild and tank and that time needs to be maxed out properly.  For whatever it's worth, our time to rebuild/tank has passed.  All we can do now is cheer and hope that what we've done in the last two seasons is enough to pave the way for a Championship down the line.  I'm just wondering what if we drafted Nurse over Monahan.

[conundrumed]

Keep in mind, in 2006, Dion Phaneuf was arguably the consensus #1 or #2 overall in a redo of the 2003 draft (with only Eric Staal who won a Cup and would be ranked higher).  Some of those 2003 picks hardly even play a single game by 2006.  Fast forward a dozen years and Phaneuf would only barely make it into the first round in a 2003 re-draft.

 

Just saying.

 

And i'm not even saying Monahan sucks.  My point has less to do with Monahan than it does with the concept of a C, C, D stud foundation.  It's a solid base to move forward with.  It just so happens we could've been looking at Eichel, Bennett, and Nurse as a core moving forward (and having Gaudreau in the mix of course).  That's all.

 

I'm not hell bent on losing like kehatch is trying to make me sound like.  It's just there's a time to rebuild and tank and that time needs to be maxed out properly.  For whatever it's worth, our time to rebuild/tank has passed.  All we can do now is cheer and hope that what we've done in the last two seasons is enough to pave the way for a Championship down the line.  I'm just wondering what if we drafted Nurse over Monahan.

No, it's all open season. If we hadn't have traded down for Jankowski, thinking Sieloff is close to the dmen in the top 20, it would have helped a lot.

We were a bad team that should have just made our pick and moved along. I believe it would have been Ceci.

We're behind because of this, imho.

Ceci wouldn't have changed our future pix, we'd have a stud dman ready to break out.

[MrKnowIt]

Seriously guys, Monahan is a great player and Bennett will become a good player in the near future. Sure we can redo some drafts in the past but would that help us or would it hinder our success that we've had with the players we draft. We still have tons of pick in this draft to hit a solid dman or two. I'm not too worried about the D right now as we have a pretty solid d core for now. Of course it needs to improve, but thinking that Nurse is gonna be better than Monahan is a little absurd.

[kehatch]

Sorry Peeps. Your a smart dude. But your eating a ham sandwich on this one and it's well past one. ;p

We shouldn't have drafted the prospect that is blowing away expectations so we could have drafted a prospect that isn't even in the NHL so we would have lost more so we could have drafted another player this past draft?!?

I don't think there is a single person in the hockey world that sees drafting Monahan as a mistake.

[cross16]

Just to jump in and defend Peeps a bit, I remember him being very high on Nurse before the draft ad wanting the flames to draft him.

[DirtyDeeds]

Sorry Peeps. Your a smart dude. But your eating a ham sandwich on this one and it's well past one. ;p

We shouldn't have drafted the prospect that is blowing away expectations so we could have drafted a prospect that isn't even in the NHL so we would have lost more so we could have drafted another player this past draft?!?

I don't think there is a single person in the hockey world that sees drafting Monahan as a mistake.

[Flyerfan52]

I would have been happy with either Monahan or Nurse. Monahan surprised by being ready that soon (ready, not handed the spot) but I still expect Nurse to be a dang good D (about the only 1st rounder the Oilers didn't force into a top spot).

 

Landing Bennett was a stroke of luck as he fell from 1st OA the summer before. Much was made of the lack of a pullup but soon after surgery makes me think that he was playing injured the year before. Prior to the draft I still expected Buffalo to take the 1 with more name recognition due to being across the lake from the OHL but they took Reinhart.

I saw Bennett as the best of the rest & luckily Oiler management was lambasted for always taking the small forward so went for size over substance. Draisaitl will always have the bigger body mass but Bennett the bigger heart/sense of compete.

 

What we got was the luck of the draw but remember we're talking about what they were @ 18 when rankings came out for the likely order.

 

Flames seemed focused on character while Oilers management seemed to bend to the media (too many small farwards so go for D, get a big center).

 

For now we got the best in both years but the truer picture of any draft is a few years later.

[jjgallow]

JJ, Drouin was the consensus Calder Trophy winner before the season started.  How did he do on a strong team?  Just OK.

 

Stone came out of nowhere this year. Johnny was a revelation.

 

McD will be playing on a very bad team, and will likely have to play top 6.  Draisaitl is huge compared to McD, and struggled with the pro game in his first season.

 

Bennett benefitted from being around the Flames for a year, and coming into the NHL on a well structured team.  He will do well in his first season.  McDavid will be coming into a tire fire, with every player adapting to a new coach and systems, while Chia (FF's nickname ) will be putting his stamp on the team in FA and trades.

 

All good points, except I don't agree with Drouin being the consensus calder candidate, at All.  

 

I thought Brett Slawson's article was a sham from start to finish, actually.

http://thehockeywriters.com/the-top-5-calder-trophy-candidates-2014-15/

 

That being said, I agree it's a crapshoot.  Although we've seen Bennett at the NHL level, and seen that he holds up his own, whereas that was always an unknown with Drouin.