How has his skating looked at AHL level? The clip of him getting himself into his spot on the PP to rip that goal looked like a bit of a clunky stride.
I'm........sorry (?) that you're going through *waves hands around* this...
But to answer the question directly without referencing playing minor leaguers in the preseason and all this other noise...his skating has been - fine-ish - in the AHL. Obviously, that's a different pace than regular season NHL, so he doesn't look quite as far behind in the A. The thing about him isn't
just skating. Being a great skater doesn't directly translate to anything by itself, of course. It's all part of a larger package of skills. Similarly, McGroarty needs to put a couple of pieces together to work within the frame work of his athletic/skating package.
I guess, said another way, even if he becomes an above average skater, even if he stops catching passes with the weight on the center of his blades hindering his explosivity, etc. it won't make much of a difference unless there's more to his game that he can build around. Translatable skills.
So, to answer your question...skating is good enough at the AHL level. Top speed and explosivity don't just happen (and the latter likely won't). The lacking explosivity is probably an element of what you're seeing that makes it "clunky"...but there's a core strength issue in there too I think still...at least, I hope that's what it is.
