We have seen multiple goals against in the past week because Benson made poor decisions with the puck, turned it over, it goes the other way, and ends up in the back of the Sabres net.
One of them was Benson trying to stickhandle through three guys as opposed to just chipping it deep and chasing it.
The funk with this team runs deep and rushing Benson to the NHL is just one example of it, IMO.
Sure, but we remember them because they aren't as frequent, and he's 19 years old.
Some players make poor decisions more in a game than he does in a week.
> I’ve seen all those guys play tons of times.
If this was true you'd never include those players in your suggestion. They have the same issues.
> It’s not just “he made a bad pass.” It’s positioning for puck support and knowing how to
anticipate where to be in puck support. That’s literally the single most important trait a center can have. It’s why Ruff said what he did.
> It’s also the hockey IQ to know what to do with the puck. Thompson and Peterka constantly make poor puck choices that derail opportunities. It’s maddening, and it’s happened under two coaches now. It’s the player.
The entire team is playing bad right now. There is plenty of film showing the opposite. These guys are some of the lone bright spots on the team.
> Conversely, you almost never see Benson just give the puck away, or over handle, or move the puck in a way that screws up a scoring chance. It’s because he’s a smart, smart player.
You definitely do lol. Seems like you just see what you want to see.
You're just going to have your opinion, and I'll have mine. Here's why I think what I do:
My kids play hockey in the south. Which means we travel a minimum of 4 hours to play any games. It's not like Buffalo, where the Regals can head across town in 15 minutes to play the Jr. Sabres or Nichols.
Why does that matter? I spend almost every weekend in a hotel. Tampa, Miami, Buffalo, Chicago, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Boston, Ann Arbor, etc. And I spend hours upon hours watching college football and hockey. Mostly hockey games that a lot of people don't watch.
I knew when Ristolainen, Bogosian, and Kane were low hockey IQ players because I watched games on TV, and in Raleigh.... and in Dallas.... and in Nashville.
When I pounded the table for Fabbro for years, there was a reason. I watched him a ton, and when we played in Nashville and went to home games, I watched the Preds in person. I watched him successfully ride shotgun for Josi.
When I pounded the table for Lundell at the draft, I'd watched his Liiga games while sitting in a hotel. And then watched him in person in Sunrise, wishing Adams didn't overthink the pick and knowing that Lundell was going to become a stalwart 3C for a decade.
When I pounded the table for Beniers over Power, I watched both at Michigan in person, at Jost Arena, more than once. The guy that trained the Michigan trainers on Power Edge Pro, and spent time on the ice with both Power and Beniers, trains my son. So I knew a little about what I was talking about.
When I'm writing about hockey IQ, some of what shapes my thoughts was talking to a Bruins scout who comes to PEP training events in Toronto. He wasn't there as a scout, just an on-ice coach. I had dinner with him two years ago and he explained to me what the Bruins thought about Savoie and Benson. That's also how I know what the Bruins look for.
------
I throw crazy trade proposals on this board a lot.... part of it is to see what people think. Brainstorming in a digital and distributed fashion. But sometimes, I pound the table. Fabbro, Beniers, Lundell, centers with hockey IQ. This isn't a pissed off poster with loud mouthed opinion. I watch, talked to people who know a lot about hockey, and then make opinions.
I'll be off the Cozens and Byram for Pettersson idea in a bit. Same with Power to Anaheim. I'm not tied to any of that. I've got no favorites on the team. Don't even own a jersey and haven't for years. I was the big Olofsson guy when he was a prospect and then advocated for Adams to trade him for Fabbro when Olofsson was coming off a 28-goal season, and Nashville was simultaneously down on Fabbro and needed a power play shooter. So I'm not going to stay tied to any player.
But I can tell you for sure that I'm tied to the idea of improving the team's hockey IQ. It sucks. It's not just bad play. It's players in key positions playing key minutes doing dumb things and being out of position. If you don't think that's true, why did Ruff call his centers out for not reading the plays properly?
I can tell you with 100% certainty that the Bruins are not ever worried about the Sabres because no matter how talented the Sabres are, the Bruins will always be loaded up with a roster which won't beat itself. Every sweet play by Eichel or O'Reilly or Reinhart or Dahlin is always equalized out by some stupid play by Ristolainen or Kane or Bogosian or Skinner or Thompson or Peterka.
I have hope with players like Ostlund and Helenius coming up in the system, and they'll probably get another high pick. But until the team can build a center spine with the IQ to actually play the position (puck support, transition support), teams like Boston are just going to keep winning games like we saw this weekend.
