He either pulls a complete 180 in his entire mentality and approach to the game...or he's a mess defensively. There's really not much in between there. His biggest problem is, he simply doesn't engage with the game defensively. It's not a priority in any aspect of the way he plays. There's not really much room for, "he'll engage with a responsible 2-way outlook for 5% more shifts and that will make him a better defensive player" or whatever. Either he buys in and substantially changes the way he plays and his priorities on the ice...or he doesn't.
![dunno :dunno: :dunno:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/dunno.gif)
If he does buy in, he's still not a very good defensive player...but that's where the marginal, incremental improvements could be made. But without the buy-in...it means nothing.
Schenn's growth as a player absolutely
wasn't a radical 180 shift. Which is literally exactly the point i was making. He
didn't reinvent himself, because
that is extremely rare. He
didn't become a fundamentally different player. He didn't have to. He was
always a defensive-minded defenceman. He simply got marginally, incrementally better at it with experience. Which is...entirely normal. Typical even.
Sprong, in order to be a decent, reliable defensive player...
would have to pull that total 180. That's my point. To liken it to the Schenn example...it'd be like if Schenn had gone off to the woodshed to refine his game, and came back a completely reinvented "Offensive Powerplay Specialist". That doesn't happen.
And it's not even just an age thing. It's an experience thing. This guy has over a few hundred NHL games under his belt under a wide range of situations and coaches. And he's been the same guy pretty much right through. Little ups and downs in his commitment level to playing a two-way game...but it always ends up back in the same place.
Yeah. It's not impossible that something finally rattles loose and his commitment to playing a genuinely responsible two-way game actually lasts the whole year this time. It's just...extremely unlikely, given his age, experience, and how long he's been playing the game the way that he has.