[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by MissTeeks

Mike Milbury on Johnny:

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/opin...ould-work.html

Originally Posted by sun

Swedish announcers also made this comparison during the world juniors.

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

I agree with this.

However, there seems to be an implication from some posters that he has no defensive game, and that is not true, IMO.

While we haven't seen a great deal of it in this tourney, I watched quite a bit of the frozen four and I can tell you he was constantly stripping people of the puck in the defensive and neutral zones - in a very Datsyukian fashion. He is definitely of little use as a crash and banger along the boards, however his puck pursuit and quick hands allow him to be quite tenacious at puck retrieval.

I think any notion that he is a defensive liability (not saying you implied that) is misplaced.

As for his size - the only thing he needs to worry about is continuing to build his leg strength (similar to St Louis) in order to be stronger on the puck. If he can do that, his hockey IQ and soft hands are definitely NHL-worthy, possibly even star-worthy.

Hi Mike