Good question. I actually expected disagreement. I think we've seen this very odd blurring of the lines recently that combines passing vision and creativity into hockey sense. I highly disagree with this. I think they are very distinct categories. Those spin passes we see from Zegras or being to see difficult passes others don't see is pure raw creativity or vision. To me, those are offensive attributes, not tactical/sense/IQ/mental attributes. So when I see people say Zegras has elite hockey sense, I think they really mean he has elite vision/creativity/ability to find solutions offensively. To me, hockey sense combines how well a player understands positioning, where teammates should be, where opponents should be, limiting errors with the puck, the ability to know when to try to do a lot and when to try to make simple plays, situational decision-making, anticipating player movements for players and opponents.
To me, Turcotte is excellent at these types of categories. I think there probably was no player in the 2019 draft better at these categories. There are going to be people that say McDavid, Kane, MacKinnon have the best hockey sense in the NHL, but I've consistently argued otherwise. I simply think they misinterpret what hockey sense is. I think players such as Bergeron, Couturier, Barkov, Kopitar, ROR, Cirelli, Stone have the best hockey sense. Thats not to suggest Zegras doesn't have above-average hockey sense, but those spin passes or seeing a player open that other players wouldn't see isn't hockey sense, in my opinion. Thats an offensive attribute. Hockey sense is neither offense or defensive. It's the non-skills/physical/athletic part of the game. You could call it a mental/tactical skill.
