We need to talk about Zach Benson making the team this year, 2023

[bg17]

3 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

This is shocking to me.

Regular season is several notches up from pre-season.   

We'll find out right away if he can elevate his pace of play.   

I still believe the best place for him right now is juniors... if Quinn was healthy, he'd have been sent back already.

Giving him 3rd or 4th line minutes isn't best for his development.

He earned his spot by outplaying everyone else vying for it. Do better. 

[Curt]

35 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

This is shocking to me.

Regular season is several notches up from pre-season.   

We'll find out right away if he can elevate his pace of play.   

I still believe the best place for him right now is juniors... if Quinn was healthy, he'd have been sent back already.

Giving him 3rd or 4th line minutes isn't best for his development.

Looks like he will be part of a pretty balanced middle 6.

JJP-Cozens-VO

Greenway-Mitts-Benson

I think those lines look pretty equal.

[nfreeman]

41 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

This is shocking to me.

Regular season is several notches up from pre-season.   

We'll find out right away if he can elevate his pace of play.   

I still believe the best place for him right now is juniors... if Quinn was healthy, he'd have been sent back already.

Giving him 3rd or 4th line minutes isn't best for his development.

I agree with the bolded, but not with your shocked reaction.  Giving him 9 games is not a commitment -- it's an extended tryout at a higher level of competition.

I also disagree about 3rd line minutes (maybe 11-12 min per night) not being better for him than going back to juniors.  I think that amount of NHL ice time would definitely be better for his development than the WHL would be.

[Happy Days]

https://thehockeynews.com/news/top-50-drafted-nhl-prospects-based-on-doerries-model
 

Zach Benson is rated 7th on this prospect list from the hockey news.

[Flashsabre]

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

This is shocking to me.

Regular season is several notches up from pre-season.   

We'll find out right away if he can elevate his pace of play.   

I still believe the best place for him right now is juniors... if Quinn was healthy, he'd have been sent back already.

Giving him 3rd or 4th line minutes isn't best for his development.

He outscored Bedard So should Bedard go back to Juniors?  Sometimes a player is ready. Right now Benson is ready. Can he handle the riggers of an entire season is to be determined but he has earned the right to start it.

[Weave]

Rigors

[Curt]

23 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

He outscored Bedard So should Bedard go back to Juniors?  Sometimes a player is ready. Right now Benson is ready. Can he handle the riggers of an entire season is to be determined but he has earned the right to start it.

Benson most definitely did NOT outscore Bedard in the WHL.  Nowhere near close.

Benson 36 goals 98 points

Bedard 71 goals 143 points

Edited October 10, 2023 by Curt

[LGR4GM]

15 minutes ago, Curt said:

Benson most definitely did NOT outscore Bedard in the WHL.  Nowhere near close.

Benson 36 goals 98 points

Bedard 71 goals 143 points

He outscored Bedard in preseason

[Taro T]

6 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

He outscored Bedard in preseason

Out of curiosity, where did you find preseason stats?

Saw individual game recaps that the numbers could be parsed from, but didn't see any sites that had them compiled.  (Didn't look hard for them, but did a quick search and didn't see them.)

[Brawndo]

2 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Out of curiosity, where did you find preseason stats?

Saw individual game recaps that the numbers could be parsed from, but didn't see any sites that had them compiled.  (Didn't look hard for them, but did a quick search and didn't see them.)

https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/stats/player/

[Taro T]

6 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/stats/player/

Danke.

[HumanSlinky39]

I was excited as hell when he slipped to us, but I didn't put much thought into him making the squad straight away. This is awesome. 

[Flashsabre]

51 minutes ago, Curt said:

Benson most definitely did NOT outscore Bedard in the WHL.  Nowhere near close.

Benson 36 goals 98 points

Bedard 71 goals 143 points

NHL Preseason.  Benson played more games though

 

[Rasmus_]

More encouraging than the points.  Is his impact of keeping pucks in the offensive zone.  His tenacity and active stick show up consistently.  To say hockey sense is a strength is an understatement.  He's a mint gem 💎 ✨️ 10.  Zone presence, open ice vision and the bursts of speed needed to pounce on loose puck opportunities.  Such a fun kid to watch.  I love his play off of the wall and away from the puck.  

[shrader]

4 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

But he won't have made the team until he plays his 11th game for us, right?

Even then, he can be sent back to juniors. It just burns a year off the contract at that point. It’s not ideal but it has happened. 
 

It’s obviously not the plan once he plays that 10th game, but it is an option if things aren’t going well. 

[Randall Flagg]

Not sure if this was posted, a nice little glimpse of his preseason

Zach's skating and compete level and hands and shot all seem excellent, especially for his age.

His processing speed needs to be talked about differently though. A couple of the plays broken down here show not only quick thinking, but chains of consecutive, instantaneous, successful decisions completely unrelated to each other, made at mind-bending speeds. 

This allows him to melt into whatever the flow of the play is, and be exactly where he needs to be/do exactly what he needs to do. You don't see this level of nuance all that often. I'm not trying to say that Zach is or will be as good as this player, but there is exactly one NHL skater that I see display these instincts every shift, and we threw away two seasons trying to draft him. Obviously preseason is much different from the regular season, and then the playoffs, but there is a reason this 18 year old made the roster of a team expecting to win playoff series. And it's not (at least in Zach's case) because we are in a "stealth development year" or anything like that. You just have to see what this looks like in regular season games, especially since injuries mean that the next man up is simply Tyson Jost (not a knock, but you aren't losing any of the games in the 9 game tryout because this guy gets Jost's ice time) 

I'm not expecting Zach to stay here past 9 games, and I'm not expecting a calder trophy if he does, but as someone who is not only willing, but desperate, to throw away prospects in trades to help now, I am clinging to this guy like I am stranded in the desert and he is my last drop of water 

Edited October 10, 2023 by Randall Flagg

[...]

Between Mitts and Benson Greenway may very well find out he can score goals on the regular. 

Assuming he makes it past the first nine games, which I would wager there is a strong likelihood he will, they're going to need to set up a little cot in the locker room for Benson come February for naps. Perhaps they'll have to force-feed him proteins as well. I'm sure that will go over like a lead zeppelin.

Hopefully he can teach the rest of the offense how to play two-way hockey - he looked like the most skilled at it. 

Let's see, what else is there...can we not ever, ever bring up the stupid situation comedy again when referencing this kid?

I think that's it, other than good luck, kid! Too bad our goalie situation wouldn't miraculously solve itself like your arrival in Buffalo seemed to occur!

[GASabresIUFAN]

I know it’s not the grind of an NHL season, but Benson played 80 games last year.  He played 60 regular season games, 15 playoffs games, plus 5 for team Canada in the Gretzky Hlinka Tourney. 

He is going to go through some tough stretches, but I suspect he’ll be up to the task.

[...]

17 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

This is a great analysis. I believe I was the first here to proclaim this kid is going to be star and I would like to formally double-down on that prediction. I mean, he's already a star in the market but just a curiosity for the rest of the league. He will be a star across the league. I bet you he eventually makes an appearance in a movie, too.

[shrader]

Apologies if it’s already been mentioned. How many 2023 draft picks are set to be in the NHL for game 1?

[French Collection]

He’s not a C and he will not challenge the NHL all time scoring records but I see a lot of Gretzky in this kid.

The hockey sense, going where the puck will be and using the net as a shield. Some of his pre draft clips had me mesmerized but now he is preparing to do this stuff in the NHL.

These preseason clips show him using his stick, edges, IQ and even his small body to win puck battles. It will be interesting to watch when the intensity and talent level ratchets up.

The Sabres C spine is solid but with Tuch, Skinner, Quinn, Peterka, Benson, possibly Kulich and Savoie, the wings will have talent to ice 3 dangerous lines.

Edited October 10, 2023 by French Collection

[bg17]

5 hours ago, ... said:

This is a great analysis. I believe I was the first here to proclaim this kid is going to be star and I would like to formally double-down on that prediction. I mean, he's already a star in the market but just a curiosity for the rest of the league. He will be a star across the league. I bet you he eventually makes an appearance in a movie, too.

You were also the first to claim that he doesn’t belong because his safety is at risk for reasons of entertainment. I hope you are able to enjoy watching him play. 

[SabresBaltimore]

5 hours ago, shrader said:

How many 2023 draft picks are set to be in the NHL for game 1?

Not sure how many. Bedard and Fantilli both made it. It sounds like Leo Carlsson is also expected to be playing this year, but is apparently on IR to start the season.

 

This article from June lists some of the other possibilities, but I didn't run them all down. https://thehockeynews.com/news/which-2023-draft-picks-could-start-the-season-on-nhl-rosters

 

It also said the last few years only 5-7 players tend to make the jump right away. They didn't have Benson on their list, but it seemed to be limited to the top 10 picks.

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, SabresBaltimore said:

It also said the last few years only 5-7 players tend to make the jump right away. They didn't have Benson on their list, but it seemed to be limited to the top 10 picks.

Seems highly unlikely and actually not possible that 5-7 guys immediately jump to the NHL post draft. 1-3, sure. 

[SabresBaltimore]

11 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Seems highly unlikely and actually not possible that 5-7 guys immediately jump to the NHL post draft. 1-3, sure. 

I probably paraphrased badly. They said:

 

Quote

For the last few years, we've only seen around five to seven new draft picks get NHL games at any point during the years

 

That doesn't necessarily mean those players all stay in the NHL though. I'd assume it's including 9 game trials. But it's not my article. I was just repeating what it said.