Archive for Young Guys

Young guys taking over…part 2!!

{ July 23, 2007 @ 2:35 pm } · { Young Guys }
{ Comments (2) }

So, I finally received feedback from my friend about this blog…and well…he didn’t specify what he wanted. So, now that he has, I suppose it’s time for me to answer his questions. He wants to know why the NHL is drafting so young. I don’t know the real answer to this. I have my own opinions on it though. We draft young because the younger we draft them the more in charge of their workouts, training, and playing we can be. We can mold them into what we want them to become. You look at the Ovechkins, Crosby, and Phaneuf’s and you see a multitude of talent. These guys already know what they are going to be what their role is. But, when you draft a guy like say Rob Schremp, he has a ton of talent but he needs to time to adjust so you send him to the minors for a season or two let him develop down there and then he can come up to the NHL and become an impact player.
The NHL has always drafted young guys and will continue to. It’s not that we think we’re special because we do it this way while the NFL and the NBA does it a completely different way. It’s just we want to look out for our talent. Scouts spend days watching these guys play, practice, and how they act, when you draft young you control their development. The NFL and NBA doesn’t have that. They draft guys who have this talent but they have nothing to do with the overall development I am pretty sure it makes a difference.
So there you go Mr. Scottie…let me know…by the way…you are impatient.

Young guys taking over.

{ July 18, 2007 @ 2:16 am } · { Brad May, Chris Pronger, Hockey, NHL, Scott Niedermayer, Teemu Selanne, Young Guys }
{ Comments (2) }

So, while I was working today, I was e-mailing one of my friends and I asked him to help me come up with something to write about. His assignment to me seemed simple enough.

Why do you think the young guys are taking over hockey while the veterans are starting to call it quits?

And, no offense to my friend who asked me this…but he has very limited knowledge of hockey, and what it is all about…but I will get to that later. I wanted to keep this just to me…but, I had to enlist the help of some of my lovely HLOG. The lovely CapsChick came up with the easiest answer. She said that well the game has gotten faster. This isn’t the same game that it was before. It’s not the game they grew up playing. This is a game about speed and skill. It’s not a game about who can hit the hardest or who can fight the best (even though our defending Stanley Cup Champs could prove me wrong). Sherry said basically the same thing. She said that they are getting older and it’s harder for them to keep up.

Steph seemed to think along the same lines as me.

I don’t know….it’s kind of sad though, I mean, I love seeing the kids able to step up, but seeing all the guys you grew up watching retiring is sad… And it’s funny the way they’re adding more pads and cutting down on fighting, you’d think it would make people end up playing longer, but people do seem to be retiring at earlier ages.

Thinking of guys like Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne retiring makes me frustrated. Scott seems to think that the NHL has nothing left to offer him. And, Teemu probably wants to go out on top. But, I think the game needs them. Anyway, that’s really off topic…another day perhaps.

I don’t know that the game is actually being “taken over” by the young guys…although I suppose you could look at it that way. Veterans play a part in the game just like the young guys do. You need the veteran guys on your team. Look at the Ducks. Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, Teemu Selanne, and Brad May, older guys who played an important role in winning the Stanley Cup. Would the Ducks have won the Cup without them? No, they would not. You need veterans to lead, on and off the ice. And, the veterans will always a spot in the game.

So there ya go buddy. I made my midnight deadline…enjoy and I expect a critique…be gentle ;)

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