Vasilevskiy
The cat will be back
Those guys were ultimately not good enough to make it, especially the latter two. Sillinger is still young.
Benson is different, you will see.
W/C Zachary Benson - (2023, 13th, BUF)
- Thread starter Artorius Horus T
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Benson is different, you will see.
Mattilaus
Registered User
OR those players simply weren't good enough and would have failed regardless of when they tried to join the NHL. How many prospects get drafted and never play a game in the NHL despite cooking seemingly for their entire careers in lower leagues? Slow cooking isn't a guarantee of success just as putting an 18 year old in the NHL immediately isn't a guarantee of failure.
Breakfast of Champs
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- Apr 15, 2007
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The thing with the draft is that some players become busts, while others become stars, and everything in between. Its easy to say that Pulujarvi was a bust because he was rushed, but what about Draisaitl? Why was he not "ruined"? from being rushed? Why did Michael Dal Colle bust,? He was not rushed. One could argue (with no merit) that he might have became a better player if the Isles took him in his 19 year old year instead of leaving him to "spoil" in junior. Its the same logic but in reverse, there is no way of telling how guys would have turned out. Pulujarvi likely would have been a bust no matter how long they kept him in lower levels, same for Grigorenko. Every player has their own development curve and none of them have anything to do with Benson's.
Raistlin
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BUT they were good enough to impress in preseason and their subsequent first 9 games. Every fanbase is gung-ho when their 18 year old impresses enough to stick around for their 10th game. You got to really zoom out and evaluate where you are as a franchise to keep him up though. Most that are drafted after 10 has some reason(s) that a third of the league passed on him as highly touted he was leading up to the draft. Sure enough, slow cooking isn't a guarantee of success but it's a better guarantee than rushing prospects, esp undersized prospects. I think worst case, Adams can afford to mess up his development, having already so many bullets drafting high. But taking the prospect's point of view, I wonder if he's better served getting a WJC gold and leading his team than fighting for PP1 time for a bubble team.
Mattilaus
Registered User
And every player who is drafted was good enough for a team to think they were worth using a draft pick on, but still most of them don't work out. You can't just use all the examples of players coming in right away and busting as your justification while simultaneously ignoring all the times slow cooking has also failed. That's text book confirmation bias.
I wonder if he's better served helping a young dynamic team make the playoffs and gaining NHL experience than playing in a league where he will not be challenged and not have to grow and develop his game. We can throw stuff like this back and forth all day.
For the record, i don't know if Benson should stay. He needs a larger sample size, hence the 9 games. If he is playing productive hockey and contributing to winning after 9 games, you keep him, period. If he needs to go back down after 30 games, you send him back down and worry about the burnt ELC year later.
DatDude44
Hmmmm?
- Feb 23, 2012
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Did he seriously compare benson to sillinger, grigorenko and puljujarvi?
Mental processing ability mattters..... that's the difference... on top of many other things
MOGlLNY
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Just so we are clear in this thread: Sabres have a plethora of guys who could be playing forward for this team who are in Rochester. This is not a desperation move.
They are not rushing Benson; he has earned this roster spot by being one of the best players in preseason. Whether that continues through to when the games start to count, we'll see. But he has shown so far that the Sabres are better off when he's in the lineup.
They are not rushing Benson; he has earned this roster spot by being one of the best players in preseason. Whether that continues through to when the games start to count, we'll see. But he has shown so far that the Sabres are better off when he's in the lineup.
Benson is a savant. He will be a top tier player. Probably the smartest player in the draft, even ahead of Bedard and Michkov who have superior skill sets.
Half Clapper
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Unbelievable that Buffalo got this guy where they did.
Shroud of Orrin
Come on, Bob
Dubi Doo
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- Aug 27, 2008
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rt
Clean Hits on Substack
Never, ever underestimate the ability of NHL scouts and GMs to pass on skill/talent for "intangibles" and size.
PK16
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My favorite player in this last draft. I'm rooting for this kid.
rt
Clean Hits on Substack
MOGlLNY
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Not official but this is the roster for tonight’s final preseason game and seems like it’ll be what we see for Sabres opening night. Benson will start the season on the team.
Nico Cauzuki
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nickdawg95
scoutdawg
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You can wheel it back to my comments predraft saying the same exact thing.
Petes2424
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100%. Every kid is different. One huge factor we rarely discuss on this site, which is crazy as it’s about prospects…. is how players “think the game.” How well they “process” what’s going on at different levels.
Sometimes a player almost has to excel at every level, before he can “think the game” at the NHL level. It has to be programmed into their mind over a period of time. How to react, where to anticipate, etc.
Other players “process” things so quickly, they’re NHL ready the day they’re drafted, as long as they can physically handle it.
Just look at this year’s 2023 draft picks who’ve excelled in the preseason. Danielson, Carlsson and Benson “Think” the game at a very high level. You see it in how the anticipate the play. Some people confuse it with hockey IQ but it’s much more than that. You can be a really smart hockey player, and not process things fast enough to react against NHL players.
The reason Benson and Danielson are having the camps they are, is because they can “think the game” with NHL players. Watch them when they don’t have the puck. Watch Danielson kill a penalty. Watch them in transition. They go to the spots the play is coming two passes later.
It’s the major reason you have so many players in the NHL, with such a wide range of physical abilities, who are able to play in the league…. and why we have so many, very skilled players who just never make it.
“Thinking the game” as much as anything else, determines when a player is ready.
Doug Prishpreed
Registered User
One of the draft videos called him a winger version of Hishier, which I'm liking more and more as I see him in the preseason games. Winger version of Point was another common comparison, but that seemed more to do with size.
Doug Prishpreed
Registered User
I agree but he only weighs 6 pounds less than Marchand (176 lbs) and 10 pounds less than Point (180 lbs), so he may be pretty dang effective even before he gains the 15 lbs.
- Sep 28, 2014
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Benson is who I wanted the Flyers to take if Michkov was off the board. Such an exciting player. It will be comical to look back on some of the prospects taken ahead of him.
Benson plays with very high pace, that combined with his IQ and passing, is a great combination. The shift that he had in which he scored 2-1 goal for BUF tonight against PIT was a great example of what makes him an exciting player. He is constantly engaged in the play with or without the puck, which makes him hard to defend, and easy to play with, and he always arrives on time to make a useful touch on the puck.
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