While watching the Bruins game and seeing the report from EricBowser on Simon Despres, a few thoughts crept into my head that I wanted to share but didn't think would fit into either thread.

Beau-mez:

Pretend we live in world where time machines are a thing (bear with me on this). Pretend that the following quotes were delivered here by me directly from somebody currently playing on our roster. Would there be a guy who immediately comes to mind?

That’s not to say it was an easy decision. I played on the same team with some guys for seven years. We grew up together. We were like family. There’s no question that I felt a certain loyalty to them and the organization. But at the same time, we’ve all seen the other side of it. We’ve watched our friends get cut. We’ve seen guys buy a house and then get traded a couple of months later. When you see those things, you learn very quickly how important it is to take care of yourself when you can.

I really started to struggle when (Pittsburgh) employed a dump-and-chase approach. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not that kind of player. If you give me minutes on a line with guys who move the puck, I can help a team win hockey games. But if I’m getting limited minutes on the fourth line in a system that requires me to grind against the boards, I simply won’t be my best. And that’s extremely frustrating. Anyone who has ever been in a work environment where they feel their talents aren’t being properly utilized can probably relate.

With all that being said, I still can’t bash (Pittsburgh). The truth is that I loved it there and met a lot of people that I still consider to be really close friends. I just wasn’t a good fit for the style of hockey they wanted to play. The hardest part about my experience with the (Penguins) was knowing how good we could have been. We had the talent to be a great team, but we just couldn’t put it together. That’s my biggest regret.

My final six games with the (Penguins), they had a few injuries and I got into the lineup. I figured this was my last hurrah in the NHL, so I went full-out balls to the wall. I decided I didn’t care about fitting in whatever scheme was in place; I just grabbed the damn puck and played my style of hockey. I figured in a few months, I’d probably be in a TV booth so I left everything out there. My ice time jumped from 6 minutes to 17 minutes and I played better than I had in years. At that point, the people closest to me got in contact and told me the same thing: You’re not done.

Of course, these quotes originally come from Scott Gomez' fascinating article from the Players Tribune (I highly recommend it). They describe a guy who is an excellent playmaker that likes to have the puck, who begins to struggle mightily in a system that favors dump and chase and grinding over pure skill.

When I watched Beau Bennett playing along the boards alongside Brandon Sutter and newly acquired possession machine Daniel Winnik today, I couldn't help but think of this article. A former first round pick, Beau Bennett has seen a noticeable dip in his numbers of late (especially after the series of scratches) in spite of the fact that he is further along physically than he ever was. When you watch him play, you can't help but see that the areas in his game that needed improvement have improved, but the numbers haven't.

It doesn't take an article like this to realize that our coaching staff's decision to scratch Beau so they can mold him into their type of player (while marginalizing what he is best at) is an obvious way of them saying "Beau Bennett is not going to play to his full potential anytime soon (unless he ignores our wishes)". With that being said, you'd like to think as a fan that Beau could do a decent enough job of playing on the boards to allow the coaches to keep him on the ice and utilizing his true talents.

Given the recent lack of production, there is a real chance that Beau could find himself in a Gomez like situation if this keeps up. At some point in the near future, JR and MJ are going to need to decide if they want to give Beau more opportunities to play his game, or if they are going to keep trying to sand off his curves to fit this round peg into a square hole. The longer this goes on, the less we'll get in return for him if our staff decides that he just won't fit the system.

He may be playing now, but #FreeBeau may need to return. I say #FreeBeau to play his style on our team, but if you don't like, you should want our team to #FreeBeau to a team that will use him right and is willing to give a decent return.

Simon Despres and TSN:

With DK's reports/claims below, one of the first things that came to mind was a rumor spit out on a comments section here about the possibility of Desi being in a similar situation to what has been rumored about Patrick Sharp, Jeff Carter, and Joffrey Lupul in the past.

Here’s the unvarnished truth, based largely on information offered all too freely after the trade this week: They don’t trust Despres off the ice and, hence, lost trust on it.

And no, I will not get specific on this. Sorry. Other than to say the Penguins got sick and tired of betting on his future.

Do I believe that Desi was involved in this type of situation? Not really. That's as believable as the issue being that Despres tried to sell teammates on a pyramid scheme, partied with hookers and blow too often, or really any other imaginary situation that can't be ruled out by such vague reporting.

Speaking of vague reporting and rumors of adultery, let's talk about TSN. While it was a major issue that the infamous tweet got through their screening process, I don't know whether to be more bothered by the thought of some intern scanning through a constant flow of tweets missing this one in the same way somebody working at a recycling plant occasionally fails to throw a piece of trash off the belt, or the fact that they used fan tweets to begin with.

What does the process of setting this in place even look like? This would be my guess:

70 year old TSN executive walks into 50 year old TSN Marketing Director's office. [50 year old marketing director tosses bottle of ensure into the trash as he hears a knock on his office door]

Exec: Hey man, I just saw our latest ratings report. It looks like we could do a better job of reaching millennial. Any suggestions on how to appeal to them?

Marketing Director: I guess millennials like their tweeters, selfies, hippity hop, and yolo. I guess we could try to appeal to that?

Exec: Good thinking! What if we got Cabbie to do something hip? He seems to relate well to the young folk.

Marketing Director: What if we got him to take (awkward) selfies with Sidney Crosby?

Exec: Brilliant! How about hippy hop? Could we get Dutchy and the rest of the gang to make a rap video?

Marketing Director: Yes please! Now that you mention it we could also include fan tweets in our actual show!

Exec: Wow, you are so millennial. Keep it up and you can have my job one day!

[businessy laughing commences]