The overall body of work for the Calgary Flames has been just average through their 5-5-0 start to the season. Head coach Glen Gulutzan continues to tinker with his lineup, and for good reason: the team’s bottom six isn’t contributing as much as it needs to.
But at least one of those lineup tweaks needs to turn into a permanent thing.
This week saw the Flames move Sam Bennett to left wing from centre, and it should stay that way. As it stands right now, Bennett isn’t effective down the middle, even sitting at No. 3 on the depth chart. With the extra responsibilities a centre has at both ends of the ice, Bennett has struggled creating anything offensively and thus has spent too much time defending.
A quick look at Bennett’s five-on-five outputs this season helps tell that story. His first eight games were spent down the middle, but Calgary flipped Bennett to the wing for their games against Nashville and St. Louis this week. While it’s a very small sample size, the results are still telling.
| Pos | GP | S | CF% | OZS% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | 8 | 5 | 42.7 | 50.9 |
| LW | 2 | 4 | 65.9 | 88.9 |
By the eye, Bennett has been significantly more creative and dynamic coming off the wing in the team’s last two games than at any other point this season. He’s been aided by a steady dose of offensive starts, but that doesn’t change the fact Bennett has played with more pace and has created far more offensively.
If this season’s small sample size doesn’t sway you, though, perhaps a look back over the last two seasons might make more of an impact. Bennett spent virtually the entire 2015-16 season on the wing but was shifted to the middle for the vast majority of last year.
| Season | P60 | G60 | CF% | OZS% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-2016 | 0.87 | 1.61 | 48.7 | 54 |
| 2016-2017 | 0.49 | 1.22 | 48.7 | 56 |
Scoring rates courtesy Corsica.
So, while Bennett was slightly better on the possession side of things as a winger, it’s the disparity in scoring rates that jump off the page. There’s no coincidence here. Bennett is a more productive and effective player when the responsibilities of playing centre are removed.
There’s no saying Bennett can’t be shifted back down the road either. We’ve seen plenty of players start their NHL careers on the wing despite playing centre at lower levels. But for now, the Flames need to get the most out of Bennett, and the best way to do that is to keep him on the wing.
[snippet id=3637277]
Flames’ penalty kill sputters on road trip
Head coach Glen Gulutzan isn’t thrilled with his penalty kill right now, and not just because his team allowed four powerplay goals against this week. “Our penalty kill, quite frankly, hasn’t looked anywhere near what it should be,” Gulutzan said following Wednesday’s 5-2 loss in St. Louis. Calgary boasted a top ten penalty kill for the second half of last season, but even with statistics aside, it hasn’t been up to snuff.
Jankowski finding legs in limited NHL action
Mark Jankowski looks like the NHL is where he belongs through his first two games with the Flames. Thanks to a 75.0 per cent offensive zone start ratio, Jankowski has been put in a situation to succeed thus far, and he’s leading the team with a 59.5 per cent shot rate, albeit through two games. Just as impressive, Jankowski has been on the ice for six high danger scoring chances compared to just two against, per NaturalStatTrick.com. Nothing I’ve seen leads me to believe he should be heading back to the AHL anytime soon.
[relatedlinks]
