On June 27, 2014, the Calgary Flames selected Sam Bennett at fourth overall, making Bennett their highest-ever draft pick since moving to Alberta in 1980.

On Tuesday night, Bennett won his second consecutive Stanley Cup and was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP. Unfortunately for the Flames, he did so with a different team, the Florida Panthers.

After a rough go of it with the Flames early in his career, Bennett really emerged as a top-flight player in Florida after a 2021 trade from Calgary. Speaking with Ryan Pinder and Dean “Boomer” Molberg on Barn Burner this week, Flames general manager Craig Conroy – an assistant general manager during Bennett’s time with the organization – spoke about what the club has learned from Bennett’s experiences as a Flame.

“I mean, the one thing is we drafted Sam as a centre,” said Conroy. “We drafted him as exactly what he’s doing right now. And we never put him a position to do that that and that was on us. Except in the playoffs, right when he was excellent for us also, and we gave him a few chances.”

“The one probably coach that probably believed or felt like, ‘Okay we’re going to do this’ with Sam was Bob Hartley, that that first year. I think he had 18 goals, on [Mikael] Backlund’s line. I think there was going to be a progression and then we make a coaching change and then everything changes. Everybody sees everybody a little differently, you know. And that’s that’s the thing, we can’t afford to do that. We have to find out exactly what our players are and what we believe they’re going to be.”

After debuting late in the 2014-15 season – including an impressive performance in the 2015 playoffs that earned him the nickname “18-year-old Sam Bennett” – Bennett was an NHL regular for another six seasons with the Flames before his trade to Florida prior to the 2021 trade deadline. Over those six seasons, he had five different head coaches – Hartley, Glen Gulutzan, Bill Peters, Geoff Ward and Darryl Sutter. Heck, it’s six if you count the two games with Ryan Huska as interim coach before Sutter’s arrival in 2020-21.

Bennett showed flashes of brilliance, but he also had to deal with frequently changing roles – playing intermittently at centre and the wing – and getting moved up and down the lineup, usually down, with regularity.

Here’s a snapshot of his usage by season (and coach) [ATOI=average time on ice; rank are among regular forwards]

Conroy noted that the Flames never quite figured out Bennett as a player.

“You always want a do over, but we didn’t figure out exactly what he was,”said Conroy. “So I think that’s important moving forward, to make sure we know exactly what our players are and and be right a heck of a lot more than we want to be wrong.”

Conroy became Flames general manager in 2023 and, due to several expiring contracts to key veterans, has embarked upon a roster overhaul since being moved into the big chair. As a consequence of acquiring many draft picks, the Flames have a pretty deep prospect base – one that could get even deeper given they own multiple first-round selections in each of the next two NHL Drafts. If the Flames are going to get where they want to go, they’ll need to see a lot of progression from several of their prospects to do it.

So while watching familiar faces like Bennett (and fellow former Flame Matthew Tkachuk) slam the door on a potential Edmonton Oilers’ Stanley Cup victory probably provided a bit of a silver lining, Bennett failing to meet his potential as a Flame only to do so as a Panther serves as an important reminder of the importance of player development. And patience.

“I mean, those are those are good things for us to learn and take from above,” said Conroy. “Especially when we believed in Sam when he was here and we just hadn’t seen it. And then you make the trade and it felt like overnight when he went to that second line, he got to play with Jonathan [Huberdeau]… he was excellent, so those are those are good learning things for us.”

“You know we can’t afford to make those mistakes with with young kids.”