I remember Craig Patrick saying something in an article once about how he wished he could take a first round pick and just have him practice / watch from the press box and generally learn so many aspects of what it takes to be just a pro in the NHL without the pressure.
This is true and important. When I reflect upon my own experiences in a high-performance professional career there's a few parallels I assume exist to that of a professional player. My education provided me with a strong basis, but it was observing other more experienced and talented professionals that helped develop my capabilities in problem solving, initiative, teamwork, thoroughness, and leadership.
About 25% of my time is client-facing. The other 75% of the time is working and relying on the capabilities I listed above. The client only sees (and cares) about the end product and rarely has a glimpse into the work that happens in the background.
At times I was impatient in my career, but now I look back and am thankful that I had good mentors that brought me along at a good pace in an environment that was conducive to healthy learning and development.
I assume it is similar for professional hockey players. They develop a strong skills basis in junior or European men's professional leagues. We get a glimpse into 25% of their professional lives through hockey games or tweets about practices and training. We are probably not getting a good view of how much planning, execution, learning, etc. goes into training properly, dieting properly, mentally preparing for games. We miss out on the minutiae of professional hockey life like proper stretches, pre-game warm-ups, video coaching. We're not seeing how coaching and mentorship is helping young players make the right reads to break down NHL-level defenses, or how to take initiative on a play without making a critical error that your opponents can take advantage of.
We can project our impatience on them, but the reality is no player is fully polished when they arrive at the NHL, and learning everything - the 25% that's visible and the 75% that's in the background - takes time, reps, experience, mentoring, etc. As I observe and draw parallels on my career, I'm hopeful that for the first time in a long time, young Canadiens players are being brought along at a good pace in an environment that is conducive to healthy learning and development.
