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How much does hockey IQ matter?

teravaineSAROS

teravaineSAROS

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Jul 29, 2015
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How important is natural hockey IQ compared to other assets like physique or being a hard-working player for example?

Can you be truly elite with average to below average hockey IQ?

Can you be truly elite if your IQ is exceptional but you're average to below average in physique and effort?

Is hockey IQ the most important asset for an elite player?
 
teravaineSAROS said:
How important is natural hockey IQ compared to other assets like physique or being a hard-working player for example?

Can you be truly elite with average to below average hockey IQ?

Can you be truly elite if your IQ is exceptional but you're average to below average in physique and effort?

Is hockey IQ the most important asset for an elite player?
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If you've ever played hockey at any organized level, you'd notice that players have a measurable skill of being in the right place at the right time in all three zones. That's a derivative of Hockey IQ.

Hockey IQ will allow you more time to make a play because you'll know where plays are forming before they happen.

Notable players with hockey IQ? Gretz. comes to mind because he wasn't the fastest, or had the best hands but he was always in the right spot to either receive, make or stop a play.

That's my position on Hockey IQ.
 
The guys we refer to as high IQ guys - Lidstrom, Crosby, McDavid, etc. - also possess incredible technical skills, whether it's skating, stick checking, stickhandling, etc.

If you're that smart on NHL ice,, you probably love hockey enough to develop some techniques to the point of mastery. The chances of having a high hockey IQ and NOT developing some facet of your game to a world-class level are quite low. And you likely have some strong views about effort vs. efficiency.

At the NHL level, you can't be that smart if your conditioning and compete level are lacking. I truly believe that.
 
I think it's the most important quality for stratifying players once they reach the NHL, but a certain level of physical ability and skills are required to make the league in the first place.
 
mashedpotato said:
If you've ever played hockey at any organized level, you'd notice that players have a measurable skill of being in the right place at the right time in all three zones. That's a derivative of Hockey IQ.

Hockey IQ will allow you more time to make a play because you'll know where plays are forming before they happen.

Notable players with hockey IQ? Gretz. comes to mind because he wasn't the fastest, or had the best hands but he was always in the right spot to either receive, make or stop a play.

That's my position on Hockey IQ.
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this.

I play competitive ball hockey 3 days/week, and its easily noticeable who the difference makers are. You have the guys that are to hooked up on offense, good skill, but never cover their man, and when they get the puck/ball they dont look to see who around and whos open. Puck possession is key, and players with high IQ know that.

Some remind me Sergei Berezin trying to deke through 3 guys by themselves.... drives me nuts.
 
teravaineSAROS said:
Can you be truly elite with average to below average hockey IQ?
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Yes, see Derian Hatcher,

teravaineSAROS said:
Can you be truly elite if your IQ is exceptional but you're average to below average in physique and effort?
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Yes, see Dany Heatley.

teravaineSAROS said:
Is hockey IQ the most important asset for an elite player?
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The most? No, but it helps tremendously. Skating, stickhandling, physicality and reaction time as well as hard work and commitment are among the general skills.

Of couse, "hockey i.q." is such a broad term for several skillsets: knowing the wise course of action and being able to implement it; anticipating where the play is going, making quick decisions on the fly, etc really are all intelligence issues regarding the game that strengthen one's skating decisions, passing, shooting, checking and politional play without the puck.

And, for goalies, hockey i.q. means quite different skillsets.
 
teravaineSAROS said:
How important is natural hockey IQ compared to other assets like physique or being a hard-working player for example?

Can you be truly elite with average to below average hockey IQ?

Can you be truly elite if your IQ is exceptional but you're average to below average in physique and effort?

Is hockey IQ the most important asset for an elite player?
Click to expand...

It all depends on the level of competition and a whole host of other factors but hockey IQ is becoming over rated around these parts IMO.
 
There are a lot of mega-skilled players, who will wow people with their talents, but will never be stars just because of their hockey smarts, like Nikolay Zherdev.

Then again, the only elite player with low hockey IQ who I can think of is Ilya Kovalchuk, and he's one of the most physically talented players in the history of hockey IMO.

So I'd say it's a secondary asset to become an NHL player, but one that distinguishes elite players from the rest.

VanIslander said:
Yes, see Dany Heatley.
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Heatley definitely did have an above average skillset and a specific shooting talent, and he only really fell off when his back broke, no?
 
You can become a good to great player even with middling hockey IQ. I do think that hockey IQ is more important though, since being in the right spot in the first place is a lot better than being fast enough to chase the puck. Think say, the difference between Hall (middling IQ, high end physical ability) and Giroux (high IQ, middling physical ability).
 
teravaineSAROS said:
How important is natural hockey IQ compared to other assets like physique or being a hard-working player for example?

Can you be truly elite with average to below average hockey IQ?

Can you be truly elite if your IQ is exceptional but you're average to below average in physique and effort?

Is hockey IQ the most important asset for an elite player?
Click to expand...
You obviously need some physique and some effort but a decent amount of snipers were not great skaters and seemed to drift in and out of games but knew were to be to get pass they could put in. Brett Hall was a master of this but he also had an elite shot. But no player is going to be elite without a go to skill or effort. For example Kyle Wellwood had high hockey IQ but lacked effort or an elite physique, he could have flashes of good play but it would never last.
 
There are tons of examples of guys who were elite or highly regarded youngsters, but failed to make it to higher levels or the NHL because of low Hockey IQ. Maybe the best example I can think of in the last ten years is John MacFarland. 1st Overall OHL pick who had all of the technical skills, size, what have you, but noticeably lacked the creativity that you see out of truly elite players. Was instantly recognizable in the OHL because he tried to do the same things in Midget that made him successful but simply don't work at the OHL level. Turned into a good but not great OHL player and is about to permanently be a minor league journeyman. Also didn't help that he physically matured very young and his peer group caught up and (in many cases) surpassed him. But Hockey IQ is in my opinion a big reason why he never became a high end prospect.

On the flipside, outstanding Hockey IQ can put guys in the show, and make them good players, even if other facets of their game are lacking... This thread really screams Andrew Brunette:

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=9101

Always had good size, but was always a pretty terrible skater. However had world class technical skill and incredibly high Hockey IQ, and the result was an 1100 game NHL career.
 
Acallabeth said:
There are a lot of mega-skilled players, who will wow people with their talents, but will never be stars just because of their hockey smarts, like Nikolay Zherdev.

Then again, the only elite player with low hockey IQ who I can think of is Ilya Kovalchuk, and he's one of the most physically talented players in the history of hockey IMO.

So I'd say it's a secondary asset to become an NHL player, but one that distinguishes elite players from the rest.



Heatley definitely did have an above average skillset and a specific shooting talent, and he only really fell off when his back broke, no?
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Kovy was an incredibly smart hockey player
 
A tremendous skillset with zero hockey IQ has a maximum ceiling, and it's roughly Alexei Kovalev's career. Average hockey IQ and elite physical skills would be someone like Ilya Kovalchuk, as already mentioned. So yes absolutely you can be an elite player, but not the absolute best in the game.
 
Evander Kane and Kyle Wellwood both come to mind.

No one can question Kane's effort or physical skills. Those are the reasons you can put him with crap on the third line, and he'll produce like a first line player on even strength, barring injury. However, that's about how much he'll produce, as he lacks the hockey IQ to improve while playing with better players.

Kyle Wellwood had the physique of a glazed doughnut. Also, his effort was sometimes questionable. But he was one of the smartest players I've seen put on the Jets jersey. Loads of fun to watch because of this, but slightly frustrating that he was a great hockey player in a great chess player's body.
 
Hockey IQ is the thinking part of the sport.

Unlike the reactionary part of the game, the thinking part is largely anticipatory : where you recognize the play will be and being there before it happens.
 
Its weird. My personal take is you can make the NHL with strong natural talent and no hockey IQ, but not if you have a strong hockey IQ with lacking natural talent. However, to be truly elite in the league compared to another dime-a-dozen player, your hockey IQ needs to be your strongest attribute.

Crosby and Gretzky are both tremendous examples. Both weren't the most talented player of their generation but they were by far the smartest. Stamkos is an example to the contrary, probably the best skill set in the league but his average hockey IQ doesn't put him at the top (maybe not even top 5).

Also for anyone who ever played organized hockey, its usually the smartest player on the ice with the most points, not the most talented player (assuming the talent level isn't ridiculously disparate).
 
It matters quite a bit. Just think of the "tools" players that play one dimensional. Jack Skille, David Booth, Shawn Matthias. Players that have difficulty utilizing their team mates and supporting the puck, but are useful in their own role.


Igor Larionov has great hockey IQ. Jean-Gabriel Pageau has it.

Ray Shepphard, a player who was a poor skater but managed to score goals because of positioning and his shot had it. Can't really think of any Andrew Brunette types of the top of my head right now.
 
If you don't have it, you're not going to be a superstar. By far the most important tool imo. If the rest of your tools are average or even subpar, you can make up for it if you have a high enough hockey IQ. Still, you obviously need to have SOME athleticism, like in other traditional sports.
 
The Podium said:
Its weird. My personal take is you can make the NHL with strong natural talent and no hockey IQ, but not if you have a strong hockey IQ with lacking natural talent. However, to be truly elite in the league compared to another dime-a-dozen player, your hockey IQ needs to be your strongest attribute.

Crosby and Gretzky are both tremendous examples. Both weren't the most talented player of their generation but they were by far the smartest. Stamkos is an example to the contrary, probably the best skill set in the league but his average hockey IQ doesn't put him at the top (maybe not even top 5).

Also for anyone who ever played organized hockey, its usually the smartest player on the ice with the most points, not the most talented player (assuming the talent level isn't ridiculously disparate).
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I agree with this. You need the natural talent to make it to the big leagues but once you get there it is hockey IQ that separates the elite players from the average players.
 
It matters. It's not the most important thing necessarily, but it can turn a high scorer into a generational talent (see Orr, Gretzky, Crosby and OV), a great defensive forward (i.e., Bob Gainey or Jere Lehtinen in the past and Jonathan Toews, Patrice Bergeron, or Sean Couturier today), or a good D-man (i.e., Larry Robinson, Doug Harvey, Nicklas Lidstrom, Al MacInnis, and Chris Pronger in the past and someone like Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, or Jonas Brodin today). High hockey IQ elevates a player to the next level and can prolong a career even when physical skills aren't the best.

Another person whom I would say had great hockey IQ has to be Luc Robitaille. He is perhaps one of the worst skaters in the history of the NHL, but more than made up for it with his hockey IQ.
 
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I played drop-in hockey once with a guy who made it to the AHL. He skated around the entire team and put the puck in the net so fast that I couldn't tell any time passed between his release and hitting the twine. In the locker room he said that he was about as strong and about as fast as everyone else in the pro ranks but couldn't think the game quickly enough to do well there.
 
The opposite end of someone who has the tools but low hockey IQ playing today has to be someone like Alexander Semin, and before that, Nikolay Zheredev. These kinds of players drive coaches nuts.
 
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