[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Bullocks. Yes, probably less dangerous, but the players have never been faster, stronger, and more skilled as a collective whole in any era than they are right now. The goalies are better, defensemen can ALL skate, and with the present emphasis on fitness, nutrition and off-ice attention to performance enhancement, nothing comes even close by comparison. When watching archived games from the '90s, the '80s, the '70s, the '60s there is a noticeable difference in speed, but beyond even that, better skates make for better, more agile players, and greater attention to strength training and conditioning makes for all-around more complete players.

I will repeat: the game is better now than it ever has been, and all the pining for "old time" hockey is just nostalgic revisionism. Anyways, my point was that that was a really strange collection of highlights for inducing nostalgia.

...And more Johnny Gaudreau.

On that note, I was watching the highlights from his first NHL game yesterday, and was starting to wonder if there is a close comparison with any other player. We have spent a couple of years now attempting to project how he might do at this level based on how other skilled, small players play the game; players like Martin St Louis, Patrick Kane, Steve Sullivan, and Paul Kariya. And I got to thinking yesterday while watching him that he really is almost unique. The way that he plays is very distinct.

I don't have the benefit of HD, and all of my hockey viewing takes place via internet streams on my computer. But even viewing poor quality, low-res, pixelated streams in which it is even difficult to make out the numbers on their jerseys, I never have any difficulty finding and following Gaudreau, simply because he moves differently, skates differently, tracks and carries the puck differently. In my mind, perhaps this is part of what makes him a special player, since he seems to play the whole game on a different level—when I say that, it is not to say that he is a better player than everyone else, only that he is just so different from everyone else.

Yeah, I totally agree.

I think the player that he is most similar to is Datsyuk. I like your description of playing on a different tier. I view it like he plays hockey differently than everyone else.

It's not that their plays styles are alike, though they are in some respects, they are just so alike in being unique. They both play in short spurts. Even when holding the puck, it's not a big, long, fluid motion, it's a series of small precise ones in sequence. Same with the skating. I don't know a lot about the dynamics of skating, but they are both effin' tricky with how they move and use their skates.

That clip of Gaudreau peeling out from the corner against that German defender was just so impressive. It's great stick skills, but he covers so much ground so quickly, and doesn't lose his balance.

Maybe someone who knows something about the mechanics of skating can tell me whether that's impressive or not? It sure seems like it to me.

Very Datsyukian:



Really fun player to watch.