Over the years he’s been an nice little barometer of sorts for me to tell if someone knows what they’re talking about.
Casual or ignorant people watch him and think think he’s slow or dogging it. No, he’s thinking his way through the game at a different level than most players. He’ll take off sooner than everyone else on the ice to get to a puck. He’ll see angles off the boards that nobody else sees. He’s drifting finding space or going to the front of the net at the right time…you don’t need to go 100mph to do these things.
“He’s soft,” but he goes to the net and stays there every single game.
“He can’t shoot” yet scores lots of goals.
All the while he’s a hell of a defensive player, great passer, and has a sick set of hands.
So many people look at the game with video game eyes looking for player ratings and miss the beauty in the cerebral game.