im sorry but bennett has been given every possible chance in the last 6 years, he has played pretty much every line combo and every position and he just isnt able to elevate. why would we handicapp lindholm and tkachuk by making them play with a centre who isnt and has never been a top 6 guy. if you move lindholm to wing then backlund becomes our second best centre not bennett.

the pin should have been pulled on this guy 2 years ago but since we waited we will just have to take whatever we can get for him and move on

He’s barely top 9

Backlund for sure deserves the 2C spot over Bennett. Bennett has had plenty of opportunities over the years and it really makes me sad to say it but it's true.

Please explain to me how he has been given "every possible chance." Because let's be honest, the man has been played at 4th line RW, 4th line LW and alongside guys like Jankowski and Brouwer more often than not. He has not been given a chance at his position (Centre) and he has not been given complementary line mates. When did he ever play with Gaudreau? When did he ever play with Lindholm? Heck, when was the last time he played with Backlund before this year?

Sam Bennett has been a trooper and done everything that was asked of him. Unfortunately, every time he does something good (like last year in the bubble or like in his rookie season), manage seems to decide that they've seen enough and set him up to fail instead.

100% Agree, coaching/management have done a very poor job with Bennett. I can't fault him for wanting out.
His playoff performance speaks volumes. Even when he's the best player on the team, they still didn't let him center a couple good line mates... He was still on the 3rd line with Lucic...
Give this guy some line mates, some motivation, and he'll be a stud.

You are delusional.

IUn the past three seasons all of the below has occured:

He was tried on monahan and Gaudreaus RW and he was awful.
He played plenty of time next to backlund and tkachuk and he was awful to the point that Frolik and now mangiapane were better in that position
the kid takes the stupidest most moronic penalties in the league and has absolutely no control of his stick
he has been given opportunities in these roles for multiple games at a time and he never rises up and seizes them.

This bull**** opinion that management has mismanaged him is braindead. The only thing they did wrong is not recognize what a huge bum he was when they drafted him and once they had made that mistake they perpetuated it by keeping him for so long that he literally has no value left.

IF you refuse to accept what i said above then please explain to me who he is better than in our current top 7. He is at best the 8th best player on this team
Monahan, Gaudreau, Dube, Mangiapane, Lindholm, Tkachuk, Backlund.

Finally after putting up 9 points in 7 games in the bubble where the **** is that Sam bennet to start this season. He has looked like a steaming pile of **** for the first 7 games this year despite playing with "better players" in backlund and levio/simon.

Literlly no sam bennett stat backs any of the opinions you have

Well I don't think he was given a big enough sample size to accurately determine whether he would have been a good fit with either of Gaudreau, or Tkachuk. You'll probably disagree with me on that so agree to disagree.

But let's leave that aside for a second, and move to the bigger point that I'm trying to make here. I'm not saying that Bennett is the best forward on the team. In fact, I agree with your suggestion that he is probably the 8th best forward on the team. My issue is that it's wasteful to give him 10 minutes of ice time per night with players who don't complement his playing style (many of whom were the 12th and 13th best forwards on the team). Fine, maybe Bennett's not as talented as Gaudreau and not as good as Tkachuk. And I think we've seen enough to say that he's never gonna carry a line by himself. But that doesn't mean he should never play with the team's best forwards. Crafting a roster/lineup is about more than just sticking the team's best 6 forwards on the top two lines. It's about determining who brings out the best in each other. That's why Pittsburgh and Chicago and LA and Detroit were such good teams in the last 15-20 years. They figured out how to use their depth and how to get their role players to complement one another.

As I've said before elsewhere, Sam Bennett is not the player we thought/hoped for at #4 overall. Whether that's because of poor management or simply because he's not a good player is up for debate (I think I've made it clear where I stand on that, but it's my personal opinion). Regardless, the point is he's still a useful player so instead of giving him scraps, give him a legitimate opportunity. Not just a game or two, but a month. I very much believe that the Flames (or any other team for that matter) could be a really deep team if they did that.

https://frozenpool.dobbersports.com/players/sam-bennett
go to this site and go through the years. you can see in every year he has been given opportunities with monahan and gaudreau.

in every year he was given opportunities with tkachuk and backlund

and in every year he was awful in those positions. so as the years progress he is given less and less chances because he doesn't deserve or earn them.

if you agree that hes our 8th best player then why would we punish someone higher on the depth chart so that bennet can play with better players. he has proven he has no chemistry with gaudreau or monahan and hes proven to have no chemistry with backlund and tkachuk.

the only time in the 6 years hes been a flame where he seemed to develop some chemistry is with dube and lucic last season.

Bennett is an anchor and the faster we can get rid of him the better off the flames will be

The issue with the website you have quoted is that it does not show how many minutes are spent with each combination, it shows only the combinations that were tried at some point. So while you're correct that Bennett has been given SOME opportunities alongside better players, if you looked at the actual time on ice, I'm confident you would find that about 5-10% of his time has been spent with the Gaudreaus/Monahans/Tkachuks/Lindholms of the world, while the other 90-95% has been spent with the Brouwers/Rinaldos/Reiders/Jankowskis/etc. of the world. And while I'm not trying to say that these players were awful (they are better than I'll ever be and they played an important role for the Flames), they are not the ones who are most complementary to Bennett.

And that's where my issue lies. It's about finding the right players and combinations. The organization has (rightly) spent a lot of time and resources trying to find the right situations and linemates for Gaudreau and Backlund and Tkachuk and others. But that same service was not afforded to Bennett. Instead, they just stuck him in the bottom 6, usually out of position, and hoped that he would somehow figure it out. And when he didn't, they just blamed him and further reduced his ice time.

Again, I'm not saying that Bennett doesn't have his own issues, but it's a two-way street: As much as Bennett needs to play a more consistent game, I would have liked the team to give him a bit more to work with. It's not about punishing one of the other 7 players above him, it's about finding the right situation to bring out the best in everyone. And that's doubly important for a team that has said they want to role 4 lines (like the Flames this year). By not doing so, it hurts Bennett but it also hurts the rest of the team because we become easier to match up against.

Anyway, all this probably doesn't matter anymore, as I think the ship has sailed and Bennett's days as a Flame are numbered. So you'll get your wish of getting him off the team. But wherever he goes, if he plays in the top 6 at centre ice, I think we will all see what he could have been in Calgary. And I'm comfortable in saying that the Flames will regret losing him.

we fundementally disagree with the amount of time hes spent on the top two lines in the past 3-4 years. i gave you stats on it its your choice to ignore them. the first column shows percent of time on the line

As for bennett yes his time with the flames is limited. whether we trade him or he finds a new home in free agency. and honestly I hope he succeeds because there has been times in his tenure here where he really was one of the few on this team with any heart and soul. however heart and soul by itself doesn't win you championships and he just is not able to elevate the rest of his game to be a difference maker