Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
Also, I remember when Gaudreau first entered the league, that I used to make comments like "he is tenacious out there" and especially "he reminds me a lot of Datsyuk in how he comes back hard on the backcheck tracking his guy, and then stripping him of the puck". I haven't seen much of that Gaudreau under Gulutzan or Peters. I have started to see that Gaudreau lately under Ward.
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Yeah I remember that too. Gaudreau's skating, hands, and ability to read plays made him a really dangerous little puck thief, to a point that it would clearly shake some opposing players mentally with the way it would make them look foolish. He also created some prime scoring opportunities with those steals.
That said, I think a part of that was that Hartley let Gaudreau roam around the ice pretty free, which made it easier for Gaudreau to pick his spots and catch opponents by surprise. Of course the downsides of letting a player just do what he wants are numerous and fairly obvious, so I'm not saying that's what Ward should do now in this series.