[GDT] Rookies report!

[CaptainCrunch]

I'm not doing the Gretzky to Gaudreau comparisons at all.

But even though Gretz was fairly tall at 6 foot and weighed in at 185 and the guy had the physical strength of a roll of single ply toilet paper, but he survived in a rougher NHL because he was smart and he was agile.

We can talk about JG getting killed at this level, but they have to be able to line him up and hit him to kill him, and bigger players at the university, World Juniors and World Champions didn't have an easy time in doing that. Even in his lone NHL game he was ahead of everyone on the ice and got hit once and bounced up and kept playing.

A smaller player has to be tough to survive in a big mans game and I don't have any doubts that JG has the mental toughness to play at this level.

I think people are putting way too much stock into the whole size thing, there's no doubt that this kid has an elite skill set, he has an elite hockey IQ and he has a clutch factor that you don't see very often.

Everyone said that Doug Flutie at his size couldn't play NFL football or any other level of pro football, and he survived and thrived in a way more physical sport.

There's just something about this kid that screams big game player.

I'm excited to see if I'm right.

But size Smize, whatever.

In the worlds of a coach of mine. We hear about all of these bigger and tougher players standing in the way of our teams success. We'll F%%k those guys.

[Hackey]

These guys are the exceptions not the norm though. Gretzky is the greatest player to ever walk the planet. I truly have no idea how Gaudreau will fair. I'm cautiously optimistic. So far he keeps proving people wrong so I give him the benefit of the doubt until he proves otherwise. If he's meant to play in the league he will find a way.

[Fire]

I don't want to compare Gretzky to Gaudreau but... Gaudreau > Gretzky.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I'm not doing the Gretzky to Gaudreau comparisons at all.

But even though Gretz was fairly tall at 6 foot and weighed in at 185 and the guy had the physical strength of a roll of single ply toilet paper, but he survived in a rougher NHL because he was smart and he was agile.

We can talk about JG getting killed at this level, but they have to be able to line him up and hit him to kill him, and bigger players at the university, World Juniors and World Champions didn't have an easy time in doing that. Even in his lone NHL game he was ahead of everyone on the ice and got hit once and bounced up and kept playing.

A smaller player has to be tough to survive in a big mans game and I don't have any doubts that JG has the mental toughness to play at this level.

I think people are putting way too much stock into the whole size thing, there's no doubt that this kid has an elite skill set, he has an elite hockey IQ and he has a clutch factor that you don't see very often.

Everyone said that Doug Flutie at his size couldn't play NFL football or any other level of pro football, and he survived and thrived in a way more physical sport.

There's just something about this kid that screams big game player.

I'm excited to see if I'm right.

But size Smize, whatever.

In the worlds of a coach of mine. We hear about all of these bigger and tougher players standing in the way of our teams success. We'll F%%k those guys.

It's not the size of the dog in the fight.............