Was jv as bad as people are saying? I just saw highlights and he was shown over and over in the third.
He had a good game. You gotta keep in mind when people really want to see a prospect fail, they'll only seek out the giveaways, missed shots, lost puck battles, etc. So it gets over exaggerated.
That said, he's not "wowing" and There's just something missing with him ...and I can't tell if it's maybe poor conditioning or he's overthinking it; just seems to have lost that edge and enthusiasm. To me it looks like he's trying to play like Horvat or Draisatl where he's slowing his play down and being "puck possessive", but then at times second guesses himself and looks lost. That then leads to those soft shots on net where the goalie just easily gloves it, misses the net completely, or drives the net at half speed and the goalies already finished reading the play.
He is doing a lot better defensively though by winning more puck battles and not losing the puck along the boards. He's at his best when he has Dustin Brown mode on and he plays a bit reckless, and I haven't seen that player in quite some time.
My theory is that Benning told him to focus only on his weaknesses this tourney and he's failing to multitask with his strengths..like it literally looks like he's trying to play a game that wouldn't get him benched by WD and now he lost his fluidity and is debilitatingly hesitant.
But in the third you saw some flashes of good skill like when he dangled in tight and got a quick release off, made some patient + safe passes, and looked confident in his positioning. If he can get that ruthless/fearless physicality back and some jump in his game, he'd be cooking out there.
Just my observation and hopefully he get off auto pilot and get some fire
