More random draft thoughts: was reading a piece on the Raptors drafting philosophy, and how as their sport has evolved into shooting, shooting, shooting, they've really honed their scouting strategy in on defensively capable players with high work ethics, figuring that shooting can be taught and practiced. That thought process seems like it may have beared out to be a huge, underrated aspect of what got them a championship.
It has me thinking; is skating to hockey right now what shooting is to basketball? We've seen with players like Horvat (possibly as an exception to the rule, but proving that it's not an impossibility) that skating can be improved. However, there is an undeniable premium on players that can really skate. We're going to look back 10 years from now and reflect on Matt Bartkowski and Derrick Pouliot having jobs for as long as they did because of their skating the same way we look back at the useless monster defensive defensemen of the 90s.
So what is that underrated skill? I think as the league keeps moving towards faster skating players, it's likely going to be passing ability. That definitely makes a player like Zegras more appealing to me than he was before.