This.
I see it being more confidence than just a skating/pace issue.
There are plenty of players throughout NHL history that werent the best skaters but were very productive. It sticks out a little with Laf's game because everyone has made a point of it and are laser focused on that weakness in his game. A lot of that and other detriments are covered up when things are going well. There are very few perfect players, if any.
Laf has had some good stretches, he just hasnt strung it out long enough. This offseason/preseason thing has been blown up, just as much as he hasnt taken the horns.
A lot of it is confidence to me. I look at his style of play before juniors and also moments in the NHL (and im not talking about the highlight reel goals) where things have translated, it just hasnt been pure and persistent. Do I think he could shake loose and make good on his draft selection? Maybe.
Certaintly hard to tell at this point but im sure there is another level or two or three to his game we havent seen. This whole thing is unfortunate and it is what it is.
As a fan, for a team that literally never had a 1OA, it sucks. I would be lying if I said it doesnt piss me off.
We can kill Laf all we want but maybe trying to be positive and lifting him up this year is what he needs. I know. Unrealistic in not only this market, but any. The other choice is to bury the kid and drive him out of here in a move that likely doesnt help the future of this team. Then what?
Fire away
I want to see him succeed too and that's why training camp is so frustrating. Word travels fast when someone has really committed themselves in the offseason. "Wow, so and so got ripped...he's tough in the corners now", "so and so worked on his skating and edgework and you can really see the improvements to speed and agility", "this guy really worked on his shot and now he's ripping pucks from all over the ice."
What did Laf do this offseason? What did he work on? What about the things he can control like his skating and strength, has improved, that will enable him to overcome his limits as a player thus far, which has largely consisted of being an aggressive forechecker and good passer who struggles to retain pucks in traffic or under pressure?
Unless the team is going to send him to Siberia to train with the ghost of Anatoly Tarasov for 6 weeks during the season, these flaws are not going to magically correct themselves in the middle of the year. Once the games start, it's very hard to build up strength or work exclusively on skating technique as so much of the training during a season is about maintaining weight, retaining flexibility, injury avoidance, and stress management to avoid injury.
He's running out of time to reach his potential. On draft day, he was compared favorably to Pastrnak with a weaker shot, and even to Patrick Kane. The early eye test and juniors looked like maybe he could be a tier below that - a Joe Mullen type who played a clean game but created around the net and was good along the walls. Then, a couple years later, it seemed people would be happy to get a Vinny Prospal 50-70 point player who was more of a support piece. Now people are calling him a career third line grinder.
His point totals and ice time have increased, but the improvement has not been marked, and has coincided with the improvement of others on his line which may indicate passenger status.
The organization mishandled the hell out of the beginning of his career, but what's most concerning to me is what Laf didn't do THIS offseason. GG, who was unfair to him at times, was fired. Laf knew that in the spring. He knew the vets were getting shit on in the media, and could've chosen to go back to Quebec (or anywhere for that matter) - to beast out on training and take advanced powerskating lessons to improve his technique, and come back to camp ready to humiliate the vets in scrimmages and intra-squad play, light up some AHL scrubs in exhibitions, and posterize a few defensemen along the way. He didn't. And no amount of playing time is going to correct that. That's my biggest problem with him right now. I don't get the sense he wants to be one of the best players in the league. He acts and plays like someone who's just happy to be in the NHL and be decent, and contribute. He feels bad if he's not contributing, and might practice longer to get out of a funk, but he doesn't take being held off the scoresheet personally and make it his personal two day mission to get back on it next game. He doesn't act like a guy who takes every close game as his solemn responsibility to end, nor like someone who expects to throw the team on his back night after night. And he didn't train like that this offseason.
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