Flames handling Bennett the right way: patiently and quietly

Give the Calgary Flames some credit. They’ve somewhat silently and painlessly accomplished something that could have become a giant player development problem.

By summoning Mark Jankowski from the AHL to replace the injured Jaromir Jagr, GM Brad Treliving and head coach Glen Gulutzan were able to bump Sam Bennett to the wing without telling him exactly how much he sucks as a centre. At least so far.

Not that Bennett is oblivious. His continued struggles this season have been the talk of the town after high expectations were heaped upon him in training camp.

Fans have been frothing at the mouth waiting for a move that would put him back on the flanks beside more skilled linemates in order to kickstart the kind of production he had as an NHL rookie. Much of his offensive output came as a winger on the second line with Mikael Backlund and Michael Frolik before he was moved to his natural centre position on a more regular basis last year — saddled with Troy Brouwer, Micheal Ferland and Kris Versteeg as frequent linemates.

Calling his dip from 18 goals and 36 points as a rookie to 13 goals and 26 points in four more games as a sophomore growing pains would be an understatement. And his pointless-through-eight-games start this year has been abysmal. Everyone else who has played every game has at least a point. Everyone.

Yes, even the guy that just popped into your head.

Bennett’s confidence is at an all-time low right now, and the Flames’ highest-ever draft pick puts more pressure on himself than anyone else ever could.

We’ve seen that materialize in bad penalties and poor possession numbers. He’s in his own head, unable to let his natural hockey instincts guide him on the ice as he did in junior and during a rookie NHL season during which everything he produced was considered gravy for a young Flames team coming off a surprise playoff performance.

You could almost hear the relief in his voice and see pounds of stress slipping off his shoulders as he talked to reporters about moving to the wing on Monday before the team flew to Nashville for Tuesday’s game.

“I’m excited. I think it’s a good opportunity,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a challenge at all. My first year, I played the whole year on the left side. I’m very comfortable there. I think it’s nice to have another centre.”

Translation: “I’m glad I’m not playing centre.”

But what Treliving and Gulutzan can’t do, despite the obvious statistical suggestions at their disposal, is declare the 21-year-old Bennett a non-starter at centre.

That’s essentially what the Montreal Canadiens have done with a similarly talented and still young Alex Galchenyuk, and there is little doubt now the long and drawn-out narrative there will at some point end with a one-way ticket out of town. It’s unlikely the return will be anywhere near the value the former third overall draft pick might actually have been worth to the Habs if he was handled a little better by the front office and coaching staff over the past couple of years.

It might be too late to salvage a functional relationship with the 23-year-old Galchenyuk playing wing on the top line one night and the fourth line the next, forced to listen daily to speculation about his role on the team and where his future lies.

And this is a player who actually had some success as a top line centre in the second half of the 2015-16 season before an injury last year seemed to sidetrack his ascent.

The Flames need to avoid that same path with Bennett, who has yet to have any success at the pivot position, but whose long-term future may still be at centre.

The team has decent depth at the moment with Sean Monahan, Backlund, Jankowski, Stajan, and both Bennett and Lazar having at least some working knowledge of the requirements there. But Backlund is in need of a new contract at the end of the year that will pay him significantly more than the $3.575 million per season he currently cashes, Jankowski has yet to prove he can be more than a preseason performer in the NHL, and Stajan — well, he’s likely to retire this summer.

So you can bet the Flames would love for the feisty player they drafted as a centre in 2014 to become a reliable option there, as early as next season.

That position does require patience for most young players. Aside from the elite over the last decade (see Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, Jack Eichel and Connor McDavid), the majority of first-round centres either get seasoning in the AHL (Ryan Johanssen, Logan Couture, Nazem Kadri), start on the wing (Tyler Seguin, Brayden Schenn), or forever fail to fulfil their potential (Cody Hodgson, Colin Wilson).

The Winnipeg Jets’ Mark Scheifele was considered a bust when he was sent back to junior twice after being drafted seventh overall, and he’s now one of the league’s best. Sam Reinhart of the Buffalo Sabres — drafted two spots ahead of Bennett — continues to struggle unless he’s playing the wing in a top six role, and he’s recently been rumoured to be on the trade market, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

There is a steep learning curve for young centres, especially for those who focused primarily on offence in junior before coming face to face with the harsh reality that there is much stiffer competition for pucks on the draw in the NHL, and that the smallest of mistakes in your own end so often dishearteningly wind up in the back of your net.

Less than a month ago in training camp, Treliving talked about the difficulties of playing centre for a youngster, and the benefit (perhaps more to development than immediate dividends) Bennett got from his less-than-stellar 2016-17 season.

“It’s such a hard position to play, centre, it was a learning year for Sam,” Treliving told Sportsnet in September as the regular season drew near. “The coaches stuck him in a lot of situations (last year). You see a lot of times with those young guys that came up playing centre, they’ll break into the league on the wing. I think we put a lot in the bank last year in terms of getting Sam experience at centre ice.”

Eventually, it might pay off. There is nothing stopping the team from moving him back to centre once he’s got his mojo back.

For now, though, the patient approach to Bennett’s development as a centre is the right one. The last thing they need is for their once fearless prospect to be paralyzed by the fear of failure.