Nino Noderreiter
Registered User
Everything is there, t's night and day. Skating is good, IQ seems to be off the charts, he's almost always in position to do something good whether that's score a goal, make a pass, force a turnover, win a puck battle, etc. He still doesn't have the "take over a game" dynamic at this point like Kaprizov and Fiala had, and like Boldy has shown in the past, but he's just consistently always doing the right thing, and he looks really good almost all of the time.
He doesn’t have the 1:1 ability that Kaprizov and Fiala have/had, but from what I’ve watched his impact is extremely high — higher than many players who might have more 1:1 ability than he does.
That being said, for a comparison for Wild fans not watching I would compare his game right now to a Center version of Parise versus a Center version of Fiala.
I think there’s more “takeover” projection in his game, but I think he’s always going to be a player that wins by winning in the off beats of the symphony rather than creating or orchestrating the symphony.
The thing I continue to be most impressed with is how strong he is on the forecheck and driving and maintaining possession in the offensive zone. He wins a ton of battles and has no issues with getting knocked off the puck in physical areas.