John Frickin Gaudreau!

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

does anyone really believe Kane is 5'11" and 180lbs?

Every site I can find says 5'10" or 5'11" and 175/181 lbs which is 2-3" below league average, so I do. I said Gaudreau was 3-4" shorter than Kane, which appears to be true...

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

does anyone really believe Kane is 5'11" and 180lbs?

no

[Canada 02]

not perfect, but a reasonable estimate

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by Azure

Patrick Kane is 180lbs as well.

Its not that hard to put on 10lbs of muscle in the off-season. Obviously he needs to put the work in, but its not impossible. So if he finishes college hockey at 160-165lbs, which is what he thought he'd be at, one good off-season workout with quality training and quality food and he should easily be able to push past 170lbs. Stamkos put on 8lbs of muscle in the off season after his rookie season at the same age that Johnny Hockey is at now.

Not sure why everyone is so up in arms about it. We're going to compare him to Paul Byron now? The stronger Gaudreau is, the better off he'll be.

Part of the difficulty is putting on a certain percentage of weight on. It is quite easy for a 6'4" 220lb athlete to pack on 10lbs, but it is much more difficult for a 5'0" 120lb athlete to pack on 10lbs. (not that these sizes correspond to Stamkos and Gaudreau, just to illustrate the difference).

Gaudreau's frame may not be conducive to packing on the weight. It may indeed even hamper him somewhat. Iginla a few years ago felt he was better at a lighter weight as it made him faster and have a bit more endurance, for example.

It is tough for any of us to judge how quickly Gaudreau can put on the weight, or even to properly gauge what Gaudreau's ideal playing weight even should be. I do think he could stand to put on some weight of course, but how much and how quickly would probably be worked out with him and Hesketh.

For instance, Kane and St. Louis are roughly the same size, but they have completely different builds, and both are dominating in their own right. Would Kane be more dominating if he was built like St. Louis? I personally don't think Gaudreau could pack up to 180lbs (and it certainly wouldn't be easy for him given his frame and starting weight), but I have to question if that would be ideal anyways.

[$ven27]

Am I the only one concerned that Gaudreau won't stick around very long in a small Canadian city?

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by $ven27

Am I the only one concerned that Gaudreau won't stick around very long in a small Canadian city?

That's a problem for the future I suppose, but many players from the states enjoy smaller Canadian cities. Conroy, Bobby Ryan, etc. Not anything to worry about fire the duration of his rfa. That's years away

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by $ven27

Am I the only one concerned that Gaudreau won't stick around very long in a small Canadian city?

He comes from a town of like 8000 people, the difference in populations from Boston to Calgary will probably be a nice if not welcome change for him.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by $ven27

Am I the only one concerned that Gaudreau won't stick around very long in a small Canadian city?

I don't know if you're the only one, but seems like a ridiculous thing to be worried about. He's not a free agent for years and years.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

not perfect, but a reasonable estimate

And Gaudreau is what.. 5'8? Really not a tremendous difference.

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

And Gaudreau is what.. 5'8? Really not a tremendous difference.

Assuming that they don't get creative with Gaudreau's height like they do with Kane's

[GoFlamesGo1989]

There was a picture of breen and Gaudreau. Anyone have it?

[DOOM]

Originally Posted by GoFlamesGo1989

There was a picture of breen and Gaudreau. Anyone have it?

[sun]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

Assuming that they don't get creative with Gaudreau's height like they do with Kane's

Which I believe they do.

Maybe Johnny's sister(?) can chime in?

[PeteMoss]

Your best bet for accurate heights/weight is NHL Central Scouting.

They had Kane at 5'9.25, 162lbs when drafted. PDF- http://cdn.nhl.com/futures/cssrankin...skater0107.pdf

They had Gaudreau at 5'6, 137lbs... but Gaudreau wasn't highly regarded so I don't know if they actually measured him.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

Part of the difficulty is putting on a certain percentage of weight on. It is quite easy for a 6'4" 220lb athlete to pack on 10lbs, but it is much more difficult for a 5'0" 120lb athlete to pack on 10lbs. (not that these sizes correspond to Stamkos and Gaudreau, just to illustrate the difference).

Gaudreau's frame may not be conducive to packing on the weight. It may indeed even hamper him somewhat. Iginla a few years ago felt he was better at a lighter weight as it made him faster and have a bit more endurance, for example.

It is tough for any of us to judge how quickly Gaudreau can put on the weight, or even to properly gauge what Gaudreau's ideal playing weight even should be. I do think he could stand to put on some weight of course, but how much and how quickly would probably be worked out with him and Hesketh.

For instance, Kane and St. Louis are roughly the same size, but they have completely different builds, and both are dominating in their own right. Would Kane be more dominating if he was built like St. Louis? I personally don't think Gaudreau could pack up to 180lbs (and it certainly wouldn't be easy for him given his frame and starting weight), but I have to question if that would be ideal anyways.

I'm not saying he will do it in one off-season. If he is already at 160lbs coming out of college I would say that is very good. But over the next few years he will have to work on his strength and power at the NHL level. He could easily stay at 160lbs, but being such a small player one would think he would be better fit being a bit heavier.

Heavy doesn't mean slow either. There are NFL guys at 250lbs that can run the 40 yard dash than comparable players at 190lbs.

It just takes time and proper training.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by Azure

I'm not saying he will do it in one off-season. If he is already at 160lbs coming out of college I would say that is very good. But over the next few years he will have to work on his strength and power at the NHL level. He could easily stay at 160lbs, but being such a small player one would think he would be better fit being a bit heavier.

Heavy doesn't mean slow either. There are NFL guys at 250lbs that can run the 40 yard dash than comparable players at 190lbs.

It just takes time and proper training.

That is true. Some guys can really pack on some size and just be even more explosive - both in strength and speed. Gaudreau will definitely be working on his strength and conditioning.

How much muscle and size is the question. Bulk up too much, and that muscle mass that helps them be that explosive player becomes a fatigue inducing waste of mass as the shifts accumulate. It takes a lot of energy to sustain them, and there is a point that it becomes too much. I don't think anyone can look at Gaudreau's weight and build, and figure out how much weight he should pack on, or what that point where he is over-doing it is. That is why experienced guys like Hesketh make the big bucks.

Definitely not implying he shouldn't be packing on some weight. Just trying to guess how much and how quickly he can/should put it on becomes guesswork. Either way, I am sure the Flames will be working with and monitoring him closely.

[devo22]

Most important area for small players when it comes to "bulking up" is leg/lower body strength. Just look at Marty St Louis or Tyler Johnson in Tampa, they have legs like tree trunks and good really good strength in their lower body. Brings balance and you're not knocked off the puck that easily.

[Crumpy-Gunt]

Originally Posted by $ven27

Am I the only one concerned that Gaudreau won't stick around very long in a small Canadian city?

He loves country music and hockey. Calgary and maybe Nashville are the cities for him and the latter play a boring defensive style. He got drafted to his dream franchise.

[T@T]

Streaks alive...JG scores

[thymebalm]

Originally Posted by T@T

Streaks alive...JG scores

Scores 13 minutes into the first. Was never in jeopardy in this one. Go Johnny Go!

His bro is playing tonight, just his second game of the season.