Every shift, every period, and every game matter, especially when it comes to a player’s draft year. Hockey’s spotlight always shines bright on draft eligible prospects, but that spotlight can also expose the slightest of imperfections. At the end of the day, one bad outing or game doesn’t or shouldn’t make or break a player. However, from a scouting perspective it’s their reaction to that adversity which reveals perhaps the biggest question mark of all, their character and resolve.
One bad game doesn’t matter, the way you handle it sure as hell does. A less than stellar performance in one game doesn’t define a player’s path. You see every player handles adversity differently. Young players need to let their character, resiliency and work ethic guide them. You can learn a lot about a draft eligible player’s character and resolve when they don’t have their “A” game. We all know their “A” game, but what’s that prospects “B” game?
As a scout you can always tell when players grind it out or just go through the motions. Over the years, I’ve seen players literally give up on a play, a battle or a back check when they screw up or make a mistake. The energy they took to give up on the play or show their awful body language or poor attitude could have propelled them back into the play.
On the other hand, I’ve also seen highly touted prospects work their ass off on the defensive side or other subtle aspects of the game when they didn’t have it offensively.
To be honest, I’ve learned more about highly touted draft prospects when they have a bad outing or haven’t had their “A” game then when they do.
Even if some prospects have a bad outing or performance their attitude never changes or varies, which also reveals a lot about their character, their consistency and their trust in themselves.
One bad period or game should never define a player; only if it keeps happening over and over and over again.
Bad games or subpar outings are perfectly normal, they happen, but if a player is making the same mistakes over and over or we observe tendencies to their style of play or identity over a certain time frame or in the same scenarios each time that’s a massive cause for concern.
Obviously, making the same mistakes over and over again raises a lot of concerns from processing perspective to questions with regards to their receptiveness to perhaps the coaching they are receiving or the fact that they aren’t ready to make the jump to the next level just yet.
The character and the intangibles a player possess can propel them to any level in the game. It can also ground their ascension within it.
It’s one game, but that one bad game or outing can reveal a lot about a player’s character, attitude and how they handle and cope with pressure and adversity. There’s a big difference between a bad game or “one off night’ versus making the same mistakes over and over again.
Tendencies among athletes are some of the greatest indicators of present and future success or failure. The ability to commit to and trust your identity as a player and not buckle under pressure or adversity is definitely one tendency that most young players fail to accomplish right away because that aspect of things takes reps and experience.
Tendencies in practice reveal themselves time and time again in game situations. Show me a player that makes excuses when they make mistakes in practices and games, and I’ll show you players that are quick to throw out excuses hand over fist when things don’t go their way.
Tendencies reveal a lot.
I often watch interactions between coaches and players when the player returns after a subpar shift or a mistake, I look at how receptive they are to the feedback, their body language and how they apply the feedback and reinforcement they receive in their next shift or throughout the rest of the game.
FDS Sports Blog 