Less than 48 hours after it was reported the Calgary Flames and Sam Bennett were not close to a contract extension, well, they agreed to terms on a contract extension.
The 21-year-old center Bennett put pen to paper on a two-year bridge deal, as has long been speculated, worth an average of $1.95 million per season.
Bennett's camp had little leverage in negotiations -- his counting totals last season were disappointingly low and he didn't have arbitration rights -- but I can't help but think the Flames made out like bandits here.
Part of Bennett's struggles can be attributed to a big dip in shooting percentage (he scored on 7.5% of his 5v5 shots, compared to 13.2% during his rookie year) while spending a good portion of his minutes being weighed down by Troy Brouwer certainly didn't help, either. While sharing the ice with Brouwer, Bennett owned a putrid Corsi For of 44.4%. Without the veteran winger, his Corsi jumped to 51.7%. That's no coincidence.
It's entirely possible both of those problems disappear this season (his SH% should positively regress and I doubt he plays as much with Brouwer). Factor in the expected development of a young, former top pick and we should see a much better version of Bennett this year -- and moving forward.
Should that be the case, it's pretty easy to see the Flames getting value out of this contract.
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