The Edmonton Oilers signed Tyler Benson yesterday, and some were surprised. I think it’s a reflection of how general manager Ken Holland uses AHL talent. It’s new to Oilers fans, but the Red Wings have been using their minor league system aggressively for many years. Does Benson have an NHL chance with Edmonton?
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: Why did Oilers select Nikita Yevseyev at the 2022 NHL Draft?
- Lowetide: Jay Woodcroft is the right man at the right time in Edmonton
- Lowetide: Oilers’ expectations of Jack Campbell in his first Edmonton season
- Lowetide: Who will the Oilers trade for cap purposes?
- Lowetide: 5 Edmonton Oilers training camp surprises
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid and his Art Ross dominance
- Lowetide: Can Oilers’ Darnell Nurse live up to new contract?
- DNB: With Oilers roster intact, stars readying for next step
- Lowetide: 10 unsigned free agents who could help the Oilers in 2022-23
- Lowetide: What are reasonable expectations for the Oilers in 2022-23?
- Lowetide: Oilers’ Evan Bouchard is on the edge of stardom
- Lowetide: How many goals will Oilers winger Evander Kane score next season?
- Lowetide: Four Oilers defence prospects applying for one job. Who wins?
- DNB: Oilers depth chart: Where did they improve and where can they make more moves?
- Lowetide: For Oilers forward Dylan Holloway, the future may come early
- DNB: Oilers’ Brad Holland on AGM role, analytics, working with his dad: Q&A
- Lowetide: Oilers top-20 prospects, summer 2022
- DNB: First-round pick Reid Schaefer can bring ‘big-boy hockey’ to his hometown team
- DNB: What if Edmonton Oilers trade Jesse Puljujarvi? The case for and against
OILERS AHL-NHL OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS
This is the list of players who spent three or more seasons in the AHL and then exceeded 200 NHL games. There are six, plus Benson and Skinner who may get there someday. It’s not many and there are reasons. First, the Oilers didn’t sign everyone, losing players like Riley Nash and Tobias Rieder to other clubs. Anton Lander was rushed, Tyler Pitlick got hurt, and the pipeline envisioned by Steve Tambellini took more years than hoped to begin delivering quality recalls for the big club. If we’re looking for models that fit the Benson career progress, and we are, then Chris VandeVelde is a good example, Tyler Pitlick less so because much of his stall was about injury.
RED WINGS AHL-NHL OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS
As you can see, the Red Wings delivered more talent from the AHL to the NHL in these years. They also enjoyed the careers of men like Jimmy Howard, a far different result than The Devan Dubnyk Experience in Edmonton. As for Benson, Tomas Kopecky is a nice comp, and I think Chris VandeVelde from the Oilers side also fits.
Do players like Benson go on to NHL careers? Yes, of course. Chris VandeVelde was used heavily on the penalty kill, was better than average at takeaways and averaged 5-9-14 per 82 games. His career five-on-five goal differential (63-99, 38.9 percent) was below replacement level. However, he was 6.02, 190 and he found a coach (Craig Berube) who believed in him enough to run CVV out there 72 times (9-6-15) one season.
So, what happened? In his first full season in the NHL, VandeVelde averaged 1:41 per night on the penalty kill. That’s a PK regular. The Flyers allowed 4.92 goals-against per 60, that total ranked No. 1 on the Flyers (among forwards) and No. 39 across the NHL. Over his three seasons as a regular, the club allowed 5.83 goals-against-per-60 and VandeVelde was a big part of the team’s success in this area.
Tomas Kopecky was 6.03, 210, had a good shot, could play all three positions and was considered a “responsible” two-way player. He had some injury and scoring issues with Detroit, but caught on with the Chicago Blackhawks and had a couple of good years. In 2009-10, he averaged .86 goals-per-game at five-on-five in a support role as the ‘Hawks rolled to the Stanley. He was a bottom-six scorer (and in 2009-10 an outscorer) at five-on-five. He also had an impressive four-year run with Chicago and then the Florida Panthers as a power-play sniper (averaged 2.42 goals-per-60 for the Florida Panthers in 2013-14).
What can Tyler Benson do? He’s a terrific passer, and that could be useful in a bottom six role (he’s never going to play a top-six role, doesn’t get to the puck often enough) and might help the offense. He isn’t a big man (6.0, 190) but a smart one, and might be able to find a niche on the third line as an outscoring winger. Benson isn’t rugged per se, but he battles for pucks and doesn’t back down.
Now, I understand the depth chart looks daunting, but Benson’s $750,000 contract is an advantage for this player. He’s $100,000 less expensive than Devin Shore, doesn’t own a performance bonus like Dylan Holloway ($500,000), and is no longer a prospect in the truest sense of the word. What does that mean? He could make the team as an extra, inexpensive forward. Why did the Oilers sign Benson? Management and or coaching thought he might be useful in one or more areas, or that he showed enough last season to make them believe he could remake/remodel (that rarely works). I wish him well, hope he makes it, and will cheer for him no matter where he lands. I’ve always cheered for the Bensons, Maroons and sometimes they become a Brodziak. I’ve been cheering for this player-type since Larry Mavety, doubt I’ll stop now.
He’ll need some luck, they all do. If I knew him, I’d tell him to pursue that dream until he’s satisfied. The rest of his life is waiting for him, making your dream come true is worth the time invested even if the script doesn’t resemble the dream. You push young man, as far as you can go. Find your Craig Berube, and maybe it’s Jay Woodcroft after all.
You keep Benson around cause its low cost competition right at the margin. This year he should want to make the big club and he should be working his ass off in the AHL to make the big club. The better he performs, the better Bourgault or Holloway will need to perform. Buying some journeyman at a million bucks may accomplish the same thing but do the guys in the AHL then see a team looking to block them at every opportunity or do they see a club leaving the door open a crack? Competition, grinding it out, everyone needs to hustle to get to share the spotlight with CmD-Leon-Darnell.
This is a good thing IMO and when you combine it with the player verbal about Kenny wanting to do everyone a solid (remember he was mocked here when he quipped in this vein after the Keith deal), you’re building good foundations. Foundations that have been rickety over the history of the franchise so its not something to completely gloss over.
Wasn’t that a wonderful picture from the weekend? All three of em sharing a day, add in Ceci and Nuge and man it looks like a tight bunch. The thing about keeping the Boys on the Bus around is that there is someone to tell them all that there is a whole lotta life after your NHL career.
Crosby-Malkin-Letang = Connor-Leon-Darnell. Kenny keeps that window cracked open all three will call it a career wearing nothing but copper and blue. Maybe Matthews will want to come for a Cup or five after he is bored of the Analytics that can’t identify defense or goalering to save its Cup chances.
I’m going to look into, and research, emergency call ups and cap implications but is anyone in the know about how these work and the requirements and roster/cap effect (taking aside temporary provisions related to COVID and goalies).
I can’t imagine that players can be called up on an emergency basis if a team is short players due to a smaller roster because of cap issues and they’d get relief from the cap on the call-up.
I suspect these would apply more when a team has a number of injuries in short succession and maybe provide some relief but I really don’t know.
Research to be done fairly shortly!
https://dkpittsburghsports.com/2020/10/05/nhl-standard-emergency-recall-rules-differences-tlh
Tks – that piece doesn’t speak to cap implications of the called up players.
From my initial review of the CBA so far (and I need to sit down with a pen and paper to truly parse through given how convoluted it is):
1) emergency recalls can be made if, due to illness, injury or suspension a team doesn’t have 12F/6D//2G on the roster;
2) the cap hit of the emergency recall player DOES count unless the team played their prior game with less than 18 skaters and 2 goalies and the player is not more than league min plus $100K.
Initial review is that, if they play a game short, then they can get free recalls of players at $850K, or less.
Please note, the 12F/6D vs. 18 skaters distinction above is intentional and provided for.
Kenny gave him a big raise on his AHL salary, which to me says a couple things. 1) it’s likely where he’ll play most of the year and the org values his leadership for the young crop of rookies wingers in the Bake this year. 2) KH takes care of his players – Keith referenced this and it was his MO with older vets in Detroit. That has currency around the league when looking for an older(ish) guy who is considering between a few teams. TO has the local boy thing, the Oilers “seem” to be building that “good place to play” reputation. Contrast that with Vegas and they way they are churning and casting aside players.
Every little bit helps
Contrast that with Vegas and they way they are churning and casting aside players.
==================
Or just contrast it with the reputation Edmonton had prior to Holland’s arrival. 😉
To be fair Lowe+MacT were Sather undergraduates;
Slats ran a team with a minimum of 5 Hall of Famers, where AHL player development was not needed.
Lowe+MacT went with the assumption there was no need to worry about player development.
Kind of like how in the Neil Simon play “The Odd Couple” Oscar tells Felix that gravy makes itself, and that there is no need to even think about making it.
I just don’t see an NHL regular in Benson. He’ll probably play out his career in Europe after this season. Would love to be wrong. Maybe Woodcroft can develop him more or maybe he’s a late bottom 6 bloomer.
The point is you need good veteran players on your AHL team to show the young guys up from junior how to be a pro. The majority of this is by example? Hence Benson has value even at the AHL level!
This.
Benson could be a younger Brad Malone, with a higher chance of potentially being a 14th forward.
Sometimes a vet presence under 25yrs old may relate to the younger 19-20 year olds then a 30+ vet.
Two coaches in the organization that get next to no coverage on is Pelletier and Schwartz.
I’d like to see more interviews with them on how they work with players and prospects in the off season as everyone is preparing for the year ahead.
Who are they working with, what kind of drills are they recommending, what frequency, who are the players that they have to work to motivate vs the self-starters, and so on.
They tend to fly under the radar, but they occupy important positions. Seems like a big miss by the local scribes, unless it’s due to organizational access limitations.
How many teams skating coaches are in the spotlight though?
Seems like pretty standard for skills coaches to be under the radar
im sure the skills coaches like working behind the scenes without publicly discussing what they are working with each player.
What could go wrong with thousands of rabid fans telling you how to do your job
I like your idea at least the first part as schedule of drills etc. In no way should or would a coach name players they have to motivate as it would cost them their credibility as a coach! There are some things that as fans we are not and should not be privy too!
Many players talk about who their skating and skills coaches are.
Its hardly a dirty little secret.
It was the expectation that the coach would tell things about the player that would break coach player professional confidentiality!
One thing that means is that Dylan Holloway is almost locked in to the “opening roster”. Lets remember, for players with performance bonuses, if they aren’t on the opening roster and are called up mid-season, their bonuses hit the cap (in some circumstances averaged) when called up. If they are on the opening roster, there is no cap implication, even if sent down and called back up.
Even if Holland decides to send Holloway to the AHL to start the season, he’ll almost assuredly be on the the initial submitted list for cap structuring purposes.
I imagine Broberg and Holloway are locks for at least a paper transaction opening night roster.
I’d hope they are on the team on merit, if this team really is a contender it needs big contributions from both young studs.
Kepecky would never make it in the NHL today – the game has changed too much and is too fast.
I don’t think the down-voters read yesterday’s discussion on Kopecky.
A truly “sublime” assessment!
I understand why they are spoken of together for this piece but I would suggest there is a fairly material delta between Skinner and Benson and its related to position.
I think we can all agree that, except for the uber uber elite, goalies generally take much longer to develop in to NHL players and can even arrive as they approach 30 and, at the other end of the spectrum, wingers generally arrive the quickest and, often, quite quick.
While both Skinner and Benson have 3 AHL seasons, I think most of us would agree this is Last Chance Texaco for Benson (and, for some, there shouldn’t even be this chance) and Skinner is developing essentially right on schedule and there is runway there even if his next arrow isn’t straight.
Benson is an NHL player with the puck on his stick, but not an NHL player when the puck is not on his stick.
He doesn’t seem to understand this after all these years, and doesn’t seem to have done much to fix the problem over that period of time.
Once it was obvious that he was not going to be an above average playmaker, he should have begun concentrating on his game without the puck on his stick.
A bottom six player is going to get lost if he is only a passer, because the guys you are passing too are not going to finish enough. It becomes a lot of pretty passes to nowhere.
Benson, to my eye, has developed a “shiite” disturber attribute, he has also begun to play PK – so he is broadening game.
Did he kill penalties when he got sent back to Bakersfield? He logged no time on ice killing penalties for the Oilers.
I don’t get this narrative, which seems to be coming up more often lately.
He was a gritty player who’d get under the skin of the opposition in juniour, it’s not a new trait.
Yes, as we discussed yesterday, the re-signing of Tyler Benson was absolutely logical – there was absolutely zero reason not to do it and, after he was qualified, it was simply a formality with the only real question being the AHL salary and guaranteed min.
I’m confident Tyler is in the process of fully getting ready for camp and preheated to battle his butt off for an NHL spot.
Unlike last season, he’s not pencilled in to the opening night roster (I wouldn’t think) but there will be competition and there are also many different roles to play within the org.
I would see more value in having Benson on the opening night roster than Shore, and utilizing that salary to go toward Holloway and avoiding the bonus penalties.
Even if it was more of a paper transaction than anything, the cap allocation/savings could prove beneficial.
Holloway on the opening roster is a no-brainer for season cap structuring.
Benson vs. Shore (or either) could somewhat be dependant on where they are vis-a-vis the cap at the time of the Smith/Klef LTIR placements – it may even be beneficial a higher cap tweener to maximize LTIR overage room (of course, presuming that doesn’t put them over in aggregate).
JB
@JackieBee_16
Imagine having Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in your wedding party…
Congrats to the Nurses!
https://twitter.com/JackieBee_16/status/1556307989014818816?s=20&t=n1800aOB_BUSDNd0thiNhw
(click for photo)
More photos and video.
https://dailyhive.com/edmonton/darnell-nurse-wedding-oilers-teammates
Connor looks ready to drop ‘em in that one
Imagine being Darnell Nurse! Congrats to the young man..have come to appreciate what he means to this team….kinda like having Rod Langway on the ice for 25mins a night….
Ahh..Tyler Benson….It’s so close he can taste it….
Love letter to Tyler:
“And when we look out
And see you there
You seem much closer and you
Feel so near
Yeah, you feel so near”
My advice:…
Play the game till you’re satisfied
Leave the “mourning” to the other side
I need help/advice:
I need to take my father to seniors home. He needs a place with nurse for his meds and daily insulin (memory loss/mobility issues) he lives within 40 minutes W of Edmonton, so looking for a small town facility. Any recommendations?
I had a rude awakening this morning… my alcoholic brother, who is my father’s primary care provider needs help now. He went on a bender and I got a call from his wife of 30 years before 6am this morning, she has left him. We don’t have money, does anyone know if there is any form of provincial funding for rehab programs?
This is all so damn stressful/overwhelming, all feedback is welcome.
Thank you
I wish I could help you, but have little experience in this area.
Recommend you call Alcoholics Anonymous for advice on how to help your brother.
I can’t offer advice as everyone situation is different. Here in BC it’s almost impossible to get into rehab as the wait list is so long. But our situation with a family member which has been going for 16 years now is you can offer , force or recommend help but until they reach a day when they truly want the help and ask for it and reach out nothing works. I hope the best for your brother and one day he gets the help he needs.
If you haven’t already checked, maybe start with “Alberta Health Services”.
For senior’s care, look under “Information For” then “Continuing Care/Seniors”; Edmonton includes areas around. I believe the first step for most places is getting a AHS Case Manager for your family to help you get into the right home. Be prepared, it may be a long waiting list. They should also be able to help you find financial assistance.
For rehab programs, under “Find Healthcare” then “Addictions and Mental Health” then “Programs and Services”.
Best of Luck to you and yours.
As far as your father goes, I know a few people at “Touchmark at Wedgewood” off Lessard Rd. They speak really positively of it, but I think it’s a bit pricey.
With your brother, one of my best friends is a part of AA and it’s saved his life. He still goes after a few years of being sober.
Best of luck on both accounts.
€√¥£€^$
Wishing for all the best for You and your family
I’m at home taking care of my elderly Dad, it’s a hard road to hoe some days.
Sorry you are going through this.
No idea if you are religious but people I know who have had similar situations found their local church a place to start. They will have phone numbers and contact info.
Best of luck.
I can’t offer any help or advice but best of luck with things.
With regard to your father, you can call 811 to get the number for Alberta Seniors Services and they should be able to help evaluate and place your father. You might not get your first place of choices initially, but one can always go on a waiting list for you prefered assisted or continuing care facility.
There is the SAGE guide, which comes out yearly, which is a compendium of all types of services available for seniors.
https://www.mysage.ca/
It gives a list and contact numbers of all the assisted and continuing care facilities in the Edmonton and surrounding area.
i.e. You might want to get someone from Alberta Seniors to advise you, and make appointments to visit the assisted and continuing care facilities in your area.
Sage advice!
My grandfather-in law is in a care facility near Entwistle. Care has been pretty good. Its also cheaper than equivalent facilities in Edmonton.
Good luck.
Very sorry to hear of your family illnesses….the best posted advice comes from WhenConnerSmiles…My only add to that would be to involve your Dad`s family Dr.
AA program has saved my life and others on this site, however the patient has to be ready for this step…one of 12 to follow. Good luck and keep us posted.
Don’t have much to add to the well wishes and solid advice already posted, but I do have an anecdote I’ve never forgotten.
My uncle had to put his mom into care. After hearing myriad horror stories of neglect, I asked him what he looked at when touring facilities.
I don’t recall the entire list, but what stuck with me was “you look under the fingernails of the patients.” He had listed several other factors, but the gist of his reasoning spoke to assessing the details to ascertain the level of consistent care.
Best of luck.
Feel free to DM me. I have some intricate knowledge of a few rehab centres/treatment centres in Western Canada.
Wow, thank you everyone, I was hoping for just one response, but this outpouring of support is amazing. Thank you everyone for the responses, it means more than I can reasonably express.
My brother did reach out to me this morning when he realized what he had done and he was very open and honest about his addiction and is open to help. It is a good first step, but they are just words at this stage. Fortunately my sister had already planned a visit in couple of days and that will help.
I will provide updates as things progress.
Cheers!
No advice for you but I offer my empathy
I hope it works out for your family with the straightest and best path
Just been through a number of years of same with my father in law in B.C,. It is draining physically, mentally and emotionally. Stay strong and know that there is no shame in reaching out for help. Getting started as you are is very frustrating but know it will get easier.
AA, make the call.
Late to see this, just logged in. if you or your brother want to call me free feel. I have been blessed with several years of sobriety as well. The fact that he has reached is a positive step. There is hope.
what stuck with me was “you look under the fingernails of the patients.”
Even better, if you can, look at their toenails. If people in care homes don’t have well-cared-for toenails, they’re more likely to fall, and if they fall, that often brings a host of other problems.
Best of luck €√¥£€^$.
Mason Appleton and WIN avoid arbitration with a 3 year deal. $2M, then two seasons of $2.25M
Elliotte Friedman
@FriedgeHNIC
·
59m
A fee things work for Benson to start in the bigs.
1. Unless Holloway blows doors off, he starts in the minors until an injury.
2. It does save money and we are super tight cap wise, especially if they have to run with 1 or 2 less on active roster.
3. Coach knows him completely. Good and bad. So easy to insert him without fear for the staff. Easier then Holloway or anyone else.
4. Easier to slip through waivers after 9-10 games as most rosters are set .
Shore was Tippett’s guy and Benson is Woody’s guy. Benson should spend more half the year in Edmonton.
Did Woodie play benson more once he arrived in the scene?
Yeah it was almost identical.
On the year Benson played 29 games, averaging 8:32/game.
He played 19 under Tippett (in Tippett’s 44 games as coach). Played 8:37 per game.
Under Woodcroft Benson only played 10 of 38 games, but it’s really 10 of 20 games from when Woodcroft was called up until the trade deadline adds when Benson was demoted. He played 8:22 per game in those 10 games under Woodcroft.
So he played very similar TOI, and about half the games under both coaches (though I guess Woodcroft also had Kane for his whole tenure, in addition to Brassard after the deadline.
After Kane signed, Sceviour was sent to the minors but Benson was kept on the roster, though for Tippett, Kane took Benson’s spot in the line up and Benson sat in the press box for the rest of Tippett’s games as coach. When Woodcroft took over, Benson was immediately back in the line up and dressed for 10 of the next 13 games for the Oilers. March 7 was his last game in the line up, then he was placed on waivers March 16 and sent to Bakersfield where he remained for the rest of the regular season. That waiver timing was within a few days after Archibald had been finally reactivated after having been on LTIR all season and the day that Jesse was reactivated as well.
Unfortunately, its Malone that is Woody’s guy over Shore, not Benson……
After Woodcroft’s hiring, Shore played 214 minutes of ice time in 22 games for the remainder of the regular season. Malone played 66 minutes in 8 games.
Yes Malone got into 2 playoff games to Shore’s none, but he played a total of 15 minutes. Woodcroft often speaks of chess pieces and moving them around to accomplish different things. Just because he used Malone over Shore in that one circumstance, is not evidence that he generally prefers Malone to Shore.
Please consider the context of the my response (which was that Benson was Woody’s guy over Shore – of course, given last season, Malone was Woody’s guy over Benson for the depth forward insertion).
What’s his popcorn/60
because that’s his upside
Lead drop!
While some prospects eventually bloom into a Brodziak, sometimes Maroons also develop into a Maroon. 😀
Here’s hoping that sometime in the future we can point to a prospect that struggled for a while before we can say that he developed into a Benson.
Remember when Evander Kane had priced himself out of Edmonton and we were “hoping” to sign Kuzmenko to replace him?
When asked about further roster development or additions, didn’t Holland repeatedly say “depends if we do anything else with the roster” Sounded like he had something in mind and was waiting to see if it came together.
I wonder if something breaks after Carolina signs Necas in the next week.
Isn’t that just canned GM speak? Answering no to that question is pretty restrictive.
Sure it is.
But is also the dog days of August speculation.
I think he’s kicking tires on the likes of Milano, Rodrigues, etc., maybe even the likes of Kessel, etc.
A trade will happen, I just hope we can get a trade that is fair value for both teams. We can’t lose a stupid trade right now while we have a very good roster and are finally in contending range.
I don’t think trading Pool will ever result in a fair value trade for us until at least the trade deadline. A 2nd round draft pick for Pool is insulting, it makes us so much worse instantly. If that’s what’s being offered then he can enjoy playing time in Oiler silks this year.
Foegele is another option, but again he will yield a negative result for us based off the returns this off-season. Which then again, makes us worse instantly. I say keep him and hope for a solid 10-15 goals out of him.
Then there’s Barrie. I think he’s still valuable to us, but I also think other teams might value him. He may be the only guy to get fair value at this point in a trade.
I’d love Gudas for Barrie…but Florida is over the cap too so that won’t happen.
I’d love Mayfield from the Islanders, but he’s valued by NYI and rightfully so. He would require too much of a sweetener to pry loose.
I’d be good with Zub from OTT, if we added a decent enough sqeetener we might get them to bite. (He would be my target right now.)
And I think the only other option is Hakanpaa from Dallas, but they have to sign 2 big RFAs still so I doubt they’ll take on more salary.
If the whole point is to lose salary to sign McLeod and maybe another cheap forward…there are very limited options out there to at least make out with fair value in a trade. I think Barrie is our best option to shed salary AND get a warm body that can play 3RD.
But KH is no trade savant either, he tends to lose them too often. I really hope the rest of this offseason is as good as the start! We need a trade win! Go Kenny Go!
Considering the Oilers have to move cap out, it would be quite tough to make a trade that doesn’t make the current roster worse. While they may be able to get good value for the roster piece out, that would likely be due to futures being added (picks and prospects back) as they have to take less (or no) cap back and its tough to improve the roster while reducing cap.
I’m not sure any of the listed trades make the team better – even just player for player – perhaps the Mayfield trade and, to be honest, I’m not positive that would be one where the Oilers would need to add a sweetener.
While we don’t know that Lou L. would be interested in Barrie specifically, we know he would like to an offensive minded d-man as he’s told us that more than once. One can surmise that he could have interest. It seems like Barrie and his skill-set is valued through the league generally and, taking away contracts, Barrie likely have more value than Mayfield. Of course, cap is such a material factor that the delta in cap hits might even it up. Then again, Mayfield is one year until UFA and will be more expensive whereas Barrie is locked for 2 years at a reasonable price.
That’s one trade that sounds reasonable but, of course, cap space is so sparse among 2/3 of the teams, its really hard to consummate a trade like that.
It is my belief that Barrie will be moved for a prospect and draft choice. This will allow Holland to sign McLeod get cap compliant and possibly pick up an experienced defensive right D.
Folks, we had another example of throwing a name of a player out there and then asking “maybe he’s part of the 2018 scandal” and it has to stop . PLEASE refrain from connecting these things, unless you wish to start your own blog and do it there. Thanks.
Well LT I do love that you back up developing players and point out all the best about them in hockey and in life. Thus i feel a little sheepish in my comments this morning.
Any young player who can score a point per game in the AHL should be going on to the NHL. If they don’t there is something holding them back and in Bensons case it is obvious.
He has a lot of components to his game and he does not need luck, more physicality, or changing up his game. He needs a skating coach.
Benson skates usually in a series of short choppy strides, glides, then continues. He lacks power and length of stride which guarantees he’s stuck in third gear. Crossovers similar, not fluid, choppy. How bad is it? Maybe the worst skater i seen on the ice in 2021/2022. To harsh?
This is the only thing holding him back in my opinion and I do believe Oilers coaching can see this as well. I was hoping to hear about him working with a skating coach all summer, every day, as all his other skills cannot overcome his skating. He can play hockey anyplace; all over the world, but to make the last jump to NHL as an outscoring winger, or set up man, he needs to get to the puck.
Normally its not fair to point out one flaw and hold it against a player, as other skills can compensate.
Yes. I think we could have said the same thing about Patrick Maroon at the same age, though. We don’t know what we don’t know.
You do hear he’s working hard each summer and he has mentioned in the past he is working on his stride .. so I’m sure he’s been working with someone in it, but it would be fun to learn a little more about his summer, as many of us want to see him succeed and are pulling for him . Does anybody have/ heard any updates on his training or plans this summer ?
With respect, for me, this post implies that Benson hasn’t identified the need to improve his skating, hasn’t really been focussing on that over the years and isn’t working with a skating coach and working every day to improve.
Just because we aren’t hearing about Benson’s off-season training regimen doesn’t mean he’s not busting his ass every day. I presume he works quite a bit with David Pelletier, Oilers’ skating coach and I wouldn’t be surprised if he has “target professionals” working with him in the off-season as well.
He sure laid some beauty passes last year. The games he got to play more than 4 minutes in he played not to bad at all. Pulling for him as he has had a long climb up.
100% agree. Appreciate the determination shown by TB since his junior career injury. Interesting comparable in Sam Steel, released by the Ducks.
I can also envision Tyler Benson as a very good teacher/coach of the game. Nothing wrong with that either if you want to stay in the game.