He said that skating was what he worked on last summer because the team asked that of him. He does seem a little better this year but I still see a many times when if he receives the puck while he is flat footed the backchecker gets him before he can get going. Obv it always feel great when you get a perfect pass in full stride and I expect he shall also improve at this due to development and his high IQ giving him the ability to better time his regroups back through neutral. But yeah I don’t think it’s top end speed so much as it’s getting going a little quicker. As far as top end speed no it’s not a huge strength, tho not necessarily a detriment. It would help him a lot to be faster with the way he wants to carry the puck particularly all the way out of his own end. He still pretty good tho due to how crafty he is with subtle feints and those mittens.
