This will not go over well but I can't blame a young player for that. If I was 21 years old making millions a year I probably would not be 100% in to my job as well. Girls, fun, etc would probably be strong distractions from my job. I know hockey is a game we love but if its 4-5 days a week becomes a job for many. Even in college I did not enjoy practices.
This is a fair point that won’t be popular. You do see it happen. I think it was Peter Mueller who was really promising and just wasn’t into the lifestyle of a hockey player. Alexandre Daigle. There’s examples.
When I was in college I was a Callahan/Grabner type. I played good, competitive hockey with 4+ practices, gym time with trainers, travel everywhere from Buffalo to Arizona, but at that level, I was a third line forechecking pest who PKed and could spring a breakaway or two almost every game. That’s because skating was my only actually strong skill, but I was really fit, had great endurance, could eat up minutes to close out games, blocking shots or taking hits to clear the puck never seemed to phase me the way it took the wind out of others’ sails. I was a gym/fitness freak who LOVED hockey. If ice time was free, I would spend literally half of my waking hours just shooting on the empty net and handling the puck and skating. Which I did in the winter when the pond on our property froze. There were guys on my team however, that could do things with the puck so effortlessly and smoothly that I envied them SOOOOO badly. But they didn’t love hockey like I did. I’d be on the pond out front of “the hockey house” (eight of us rented this GIANT run down like mansion/estate in college) and I’d be like “hey, you guys wanna get a little pickup you going?” and they would be like “nah, we’re going to the bar to watch the Barcelona/Madrid match”. Which meant this soccer game is going to be popular and all the popular dudes from the other teams and slutty hot girls will be there. And I just wanted to skate. Later on, in the military, my first question was always “wait… are the slutty hot girls going to be there?” But that’s a different story.
The point is, Crosby, Kreider, McDavid, Bedard, Matthews, etc. etc. etc. are all guys you have to fight to get off of the ice. They want to live there. They just love it. It’s not a wonder Crosby and McDavid are bad interviews - they never went where the hot slutty girls were, they went where the ice was.
If you’re not born that way and hockey isn’t more alluring than making even just $750k per year to play it, than you’re more likely going to end up being less than elite. Like me? I’d play hockey 7 days per week, travel and be away from my family, block shots (if I was even capable), deal with injuries, etc. for $75k per year. Because that’s about what I make and I hate my job. I’d be over the moon to replace my job with playing hockey. Laf doesn’t have a wife or children. He doesn’t have years of debt and expenses. He’s 21 making 2M per year. He’s already earned more than anyone posting here will likely ever earn in their life, with his rookie signing bonuses, etc. If he isn’t flat out obsessed with hockey and being the best, what more even is there for him? I’m thinking Alex Semin, Nik Zherdev, Alex Daigle, etc. enjoyed hockey, but they didn’t enjoy the weight room. They didn’t enjoy running suicides in practice. They didn’t enjoy 6am team meetings when they’d been up til 2am with a model, or playing Fortnite. And I’m guessing Crosby, MacKinnon, etc. were going home and eating grilled chicken breast, avoiding women, shooting pucks for fun, watching tape, playing NHL rather than CoD or Fortnite.
In the time since I began typing the post and now I’ve finished two very strong old fashioneds and a beer and I forgot what my point was. Cheers. I love all of you, agree or disagree. I f***ing wish Laf looked like a 1OA. He really doesn’t. It’s just frustrating is what it is.
