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Beau Bennett is currently fighting for a top 6 position on the Pittsburgh Penguins that would provide him the opportunity to skate alongside Evgeni Malkin and James Neal. Throughout this preseason he has done nothing to suggest that he is not ready for such a role.
Jussi Jokinen is the other man battling for the job and he is fresh off of scoring a natural hat trick in the last game he played.
Whatever the Penguins decide to do with Beau Bennett he is ready to take on that role and thrive in it.
In an article from Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post gazette he strongly states that he does not even care what side he plays on:
"I think people really make way too big of a deal of left and right.
If you're a winger, usually you can play both. There are a couple of things you'll have to adjust when you move over, but, for the most part, it's all the same."
By saying that did Beau Bennett take a shot at future Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla?
Jarome Iginla’s time in Pittsburgh will be more remembered for his pedestrian results playing alongside Malkin and Neal on the left wing and not playing on the #1 power play, than it will be for the excitement the actual trade generated.
There was plenty of criticism from the Penguins fan base that wanted Dan Bylsma to switch things up and put Iginla back on the right side where he had played for so long.
Iginla even mentioned on occasion how he was finding himself out of position at times playing on the left side.
Whether or not Beau Bennett intended his remarks as a slight against Iginla (I don’t believe he did), what he did say is absolutely correct. It should not have been such a chore for Iginla to play on the left wing.
Iginla’s play at even strength was the direct result of one person and one person only, Jarome Iginla. It wasn’t Dan Bylsma refusing to play him on the right wing, it wasn’t Bylsma refusing to play him with Sidney Crosby, it was a hall of fame talent that did not do what he needed to do in order to adjust appropriately.
The wing position is by far the easiest position to play in hockey; the defensive responsibilities are simplistic, as are the breakout lanes that a winger has to take. The fact that switching sides caused Iginla so much harm is laughable considering he is supposed to be one of the best players from his generation and had Malkin and Neal to work with.
The Penguins made a mistake last year and it wasn’t playing Jarome Iginla on the left wing, it was acquiring him in the first place.
In Beau Bennett they have a young player willing and able to fit in on any of the wing positions in the top 9 and not feel like he has to be on one side or the other.
The Penguins had their answer all along; they just weren’t willing to use him.
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