Pittsburgh Penguins: Beau Bennett’s Injuries Hurt Himself, Team

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Beau Bennett is no stranger to injuries. Now in his fourth season with the team, the winger’s health problems are starting to pile up, taking a toll on both his body and career.

In one particular episode of “Spongebob Squarepants,” a fish tells Spongebob and Patrick about his unfortunate physique: “I was born with glass bones and paper skin. Every morning I break my legs and every afternoon I break my arms.”

Beau Bennett probably identifies with this fish.

Bennett is the ripe old age of 24, in his fourth year of playing professional hockey in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization, and has never once made it through a full season. Even before he left the University of Denver to play in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2012, he had suffered serious injuries that caused him to miss time.

In his freshman campaign, Bennett only missed five games. The cause? An injury to his right knee. In his sophomore season, he injured his wrist, missed four games, and returned to the lineup only to re-injure it and require surgery to fix a ruptured tendon.

Jan 7, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Beau Bennett (19) reacts after scoring a goal against Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40) during the first period at the CONSOL Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

In two years as a Pioneer, Bennett only played 47 games.

Early in the 2013-2014 season, after earning his place on the Pittsburgh roster, he broke his wrist in a game against the New York Islanders and was out for four months.

During the NHL’s Great Mumps Epidemic of 2014, Bennett caught the disease after already missing nine games due to a “lower body injury.”

This season, he somehow managed to injure himself while celebrating a goal – an impressive feat, if for the wrong reasons. Currently, he is in the process of recovering from a shoulder injury sustained from a hit delivered by Washington Capitals‘ T.J. Oshie, which was estimated to keep him out of the lineup for 4-6 weeks.

Yeesh.

In a sport where the regular season is 82 games long, it shouldn’t take until your fourth season to reach 100 games played. But for Bennett it has. Clearly, it’s wearing on the young player.

Back in late September of 2014, after he sustained the lower body injury, he took to his now-defunct Twitter (@BeauBennett19) to say this: “Good time to break the Twitter hiatus, haven’t had the best luck and no one is more mad/sad than me. It’s getting embarrassing, I’m sorry.”

“Good time to break the Twitter hiatus, haven’t had the best luck and no one is more mad/sad than me. It’s getting embarrassing, I’m sorry.” -Beau Bennett (@BeauBennett19)

From a player who mostly used his Twitter to poke fun at himself and make wisecracks, this sad sincerity came all the more as a surprise. Why did he feel a need to apologize to the fans for his injuries?

When he tweeted that, he was 22. Not only did he still have his entire career ahead of him but also the rest of his life. Any reasonable person would understand and agree that health should be prioritized over career, and yet Bennett still apologized for doing just that. What kind of culture have we as fans created where he felt obligated to do so?

I’m sure he personally felt frustrated, too. It seemed then that he couldn’t catch a break and it still seems that way. Who else but Beau Bennett would have the misfortune to get hurt while celebrating a goal? It was adding insult to injury – literally.

These two injuries aside, there is no doubt that this season is the best of Bennett’s young NHL career. He had four points in the last five games he played. He’s already set a single-season personal high for goals scored. He rotated through the lines but shone especially bright on Sidney Crosby’s wing. He set a new career high for hits in a single game with 9 against the Edmonton Oilers.

He joked that this past summer he “drank a lot of milk” and “built his bones up good.” And at the start of the preseason, general manager Jim Rutherford told the press that Bennett had “developed his body more… like a man.”

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It’s painfully obvious (pardon the pun) that Bennett is trying to do everything in his power to break the string of injuries. They’ve derailed every season in his pro career so far, including this current banner year. How long is the Penguins front office willing to deal with that?

When Bennett plays well, the returns are obvious. He adds depth and is an effective utility piece able to be moved around to any forward position on any line. He’s a strong skater thanks to growing up playing roller hockey, and stands at 6’2” – a big presence if he continues to play as physically as he was this season. Plus, his contract worth is still only $800,000, not putting too much of a dent into the Pittsburgh Penguins’ salary cap.

Next: Will The Pens Be Active In The Trade Market?

He’s been a fairly reliable scorer on an offensively challenged team this year, making his current injury that much more unlucky. Hopefully when he returns to the lineup he can bring a spark back with him.

Keep drinking your milk, Beau.