The Detroit Red Wings posted a training day featuring Patrick Kane and J.T. Compher. It’s about what you see at rinks in the Troy, Waterford and Brighton area. Male and Female pro, semi pro, collegiate etc players doing half ice scrimmage work. I’ve only seen 3 of these types in person. In Brighton is was a young man who said he played in jr (can’t remember the name) and he filled a net with as many obstacles as possible. Cones, buckets and even a tire. He was trying to recreate the small gaps available with a goalie. It was impressive. There are pickup games with wings and alumni up in Troy and sometimes you can catch them. Enjoyable to watch them just having fun.
During the course of the video, the net approach of Compher vs. Kane on a “breakaway” was incredibly different. Compher skates hard, finds the angle on the off side to open up options. Kane puts his lead skate back on the heel of the blade and can do crazy quick moves (serpentine! Serpentine!). Kane uses his whole body to draw in a goalie. Head fakes, shoulder fakes, wrist fakes and that quick ability to change skating position. It’s worth the watch.
This took me back to Datsyuk. His “bow legged” stance was complemented by inverted foot position (pigeon toed was the old reference). When he walks off the ice it looks like he’s laboring. When the Hall of Fame bound center hits the ice, it’s like magic. Everything that would be a hinderance is used to create an advantage. His montage of moves is just a joy to watch.
This took me back to one player I got to know a bit (years before the blog). This was back in the era where Helm seemed to get breakaways several times per game but wasn’t strong on finishing. The player I was talking to would repeat, “you can’t always teach scoring. Some players have it built in and some never really catch on”. This was specifically at the NHL level. Mike Modano once opined that high level scorers would engage the goalie starting with moves they made at the blue line on entry. I don’t know that to be the case for certain, but his input carries a good deal of weight.
After those incidents, a point was made to me regarding a dip in scoring at the time. “So many coaches in the younger leagues are players who weren’t really scorers. They can teach work ethic, back checking, defensive awareness etc. They aren’t able to draw from experience on high level pro scoring.” Gretzky talked about his tenure in Arizona in a joking manner once. “I can’t tell a player to go out and do the things I would do”. It wasn’t arrogant, it was just someone who saw the ice completely differently and seemed wired to be great.
In your experience, how much can be taught? Are there instincts and tendencies built in that put a cap on scoring at the highest level? Obviously you can teach back checking and positioning. A player can improve on defensive deficiencies. It’s an interesting debate to be sure. Your thoughts and input are always appreciated. We’re getting closer to the end of summer. It’s always exciting to countdown and prepare for players coming back together. We still have some business to be attended to, but hopefully that will be wrapped up soon.
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