Stops and starts. It’s such an easy thing to do, but it’s just not happening. Big circles, a lot of players are turning their backs on plays, kids floating into the offensive or defensive zones, it’s happening now more than ever, if the puck gets transitioned quickly or turned over, there’s no stop or start, there’s no explosiveness, it’s a just massive circle or turn, it’s not even a quick sharp turn, just a bunch of circles, one endless circle.
It’s like some players are what my old coach and mentor (God rest his soul) Dale Turner would refer to as, “just going for a skate.”
When the puck goes the other way after the massive circle or collections of them or what I like to call the “Gretzky rookie card” pose then it usually goes hand in hand with a lackluster half assed back check covering really no one or just open space.
In this day and age many players are experts of the “fake back check” they make it look like they are working their arse’s off or that their caught out on a long shift when they try to get back into the play, but lookout if the puck somehow turns and is now heading back the other way to the offensive side of things, those same players suddenly find a second life or wind that propels them back into being engaged offensively.
Everyone talks about being engaged or getting to the middle, back tracking or going to the dirty areas of the ice. You can call it whatever the hell you or use all of the new buzz words, but if young draft eligible players or any player for that matter want to get noticed, just throw on the damn brakes and go the other way, show some intensity and purpose out there and you will definitely get noticed.
Players that actually stop and start on pucks, engage and take short intense 40 to 45 second shifts simply jump off the page, they standout.
I’ve written and commented a lot on “honest players” and good “two-way” players, and you’re probably sick and tired of me writing about them, but in all seriousness, players don’t stop on pucks and when someone does it’s unbelievably noticeable. I would offer up this piece of advice for all of the young draft eligible players out there that want to get noticed. “Do all of the “little things” and do them right.”
Stops and starts define a player’s resiliency, compete level and character. It’s such an easy concept, but it’s just not happening. Young players have to take pride in the “little things.”
Be the first player back, don’t coast in any zone, work hard, keep your feet moving, be tough to play against, but most importantly be engaged and show people that you actually give a shit about both sides of the puck.
In most of the games I’ve watched this season there’s been way too many flybys, a lack of intensity on or away from the puck. I realize the game is quicker and it has changed and will continue to change, but the little things have taken on even more emphasis and importance as ever before.
Stops and starts, it’s easy, but a lot of players these days are finding it hard to do.
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