Quote:
Originally Posted by sketchyt
It's pretty insane how competitive professional athletes are:
Gio and Tkachuk are lined up at centre by the boards for a 1v1 drill. The drill is a race to the puck that's within stick length to both players. If Gio gets it, he'll defend against a forechecking Tkachuk. If Tkachuk gets it, Gio will defend the zone.
So one of the coaches is still getting set up for the drill, but Gio and Tkachuk are already lined up, both in a ready stance. Tkachuk keeps tapping the puck closer to him. Gio pushes the puck back in between them. This happens a good 5-6 times.
They weren't smiling or joking around either.
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To be fair, half the team's GAF meter resides in those two men.
Really getting the feel from various comments that the Flames are taking the tourney quite seriously and are motivated for it. Other rosters might have a flakier attitude because of the situation surrounding it. This is where you want all your 'character' pick ups to pay off.
Gustafsson getting a full camp with the team could help him settle into an important role here and be that PP producer. I've found so often that deadline rentals don't really gain traction with new teams in such a short window, but this practice time may give them the opportunity to mesh him with the PP and get more of his offensive game.