Hockey IQ is one of those poorly defined terms that means something different to everyone.... so it's easy for it to cause a ton of confusion in these discussions.
A lot of people seem to use it to describe that ability that good players have to wait just a fraction of a second with the puck for a play to form or a pass to become available, as opposed to low IQ players who try to force the pass too early.
In the old days this was just referred to as guys being "good playmakers".
And if that is what someone means by hockey IQ, then yes it absolutely can be improved -- at the very least thru game situations when the player has the puck on his stick and has the opportunity to make a good play. You get that situation, you fail at it, you adapt what you do, you succeed a little bit, you gain confidence, you continue to adapt, you get better.
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