Confirmed with Link: Matthew Robertson signed 2 Years
- Thread starter haohmaru
- Start date
Kendo
Registered User
That's mainly on Drury. He kept acquiring guys (and sort of all the same guy) to block him.
I agree, but I'm only "hopeful" he's not dumb. Not quite "certain." He has size and skating, but there's something "off." It's hard to tell if it's low hockey IQ, or a slow reaction time, or a convoluted system that didn't play to his strengths. Sometimes it definitely was "trying to do too much," which is arguably a good trait to work with
I'm into giving him a shot at 6/7. Let's see how TC shakes out. There are probably shit teams that would claim him off waivers after training camp to give him that shot. I'd hate to lose him, but if we successfully snuck him through to Hartford, I'd be happy to what kind of player we have in 12 months. There's something there, even if he's not there "yet."
MrAlmost
Beer league hero.
- Jun 3, 2010
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Yeah I agree to a point. Im not so sure "hockey IQ" is a thing that cant be taught. Too many people say this player knows the game and you cant teach that. Then that player does nothing at higher levels. Then players who have "bad hockey IQ" become regular NHLers.
At the end of the day I don't know. I know personally my knowledge grew as I played more, played with better players and was coached higher. Now that may work for my very low skill and these guys have pretty much had the best throughout their life, but if I can get better moving up, I'm never going to doubt that one of these guys cant do it if given the chance, at least. Maybe they don't. But give em a shot and find out what you have.
Maybe that whole post didn't make sense. It's Friday and I've been drinking.
Draft Guru
Registered User
Last summer I wasn't even sure he was going to get a qualifying offer. He was past over late in the '24 season for Brandon Scanlin when we needed to call up a D to play. I thought that might be the writing on the wall with the organization. Kudos to him grinding it out another year in Hartford and earning 2 games at the end of the season.
I'm pretty sure he has to pass through waivers to be sent down after camp? He most likely would clear, given the amount of players teams are trying to pass through - then again Emberson was claimed last year so you never know.
His trajectory thus far certainly isn't a death sentence for not being able to have an NHL career. Just needs to make the most of this training camp and run with any opportunity he's given.
I'm pretty sure he has to pass through waivers to be sent down after camp? He most likely would clear, given the amount of players teams are trying to pass through - then again Emberson was claimed last year so you never know.
His trajectory thus far certainly isn't a death sentence for not being able to have an NHL career. Just needs to make the most of this training camp and run with any opportunity he's given.
Kendo
Registered User
"Hockey IQ" is one of the the more inherent traits. It's what Fox is elite at, and it generally cannot be taught. If you're not born with it, you can't "Maybeline" it. You can absolutely learn to be "not bad."
Jones would be an example of high Hockey IQ, but hasn't learned quite enough to be "not bad." Borgen and Vaaks are pretty good at being not bad. Neither is a "big brain."
I've had a few myself! LOL
n8
WAAAAAAA!!!
I think everyone has an internal hockey IQ ceiling but it's possible to increase it if you haven't reached it yet. That is why we see late bloomers who manage to figure it out. Gustav Forsling has to be considered a late bloomer.
Part of IQ is like, how many frames per second does you brain run at? For players who run at a higher framerate, the game probably feels like it is running slower than a player with a low framerate. That lag is what let's skilled players juke their hockey pants off.
The second part is good decision making. You can have the fastest CPU in the history of the NHL but if your hockey software is Norton Antivirus, you're going to make shit-for-brain decisions. Of course, from time to time you see even the best defenders make these type of decisions.
You can increase the "framerate" with lots of drilling. Essentially you have to turn the decisions that take analysis and brainpower into automatic and instinctual responses. A good coach and a coachable player are absolute musts. Most probably can't handle working on this type of improvement if you give them too many things to work on. So breaking it down into one manageable piece is important. The more scenarios your body can respond to instinctually, the more RAM it has to process the more important decisions. That's not really a CPU increase but it can lead to it. And of course, you have to train so your body can keep up with your brain. And have that grit and drive to skate through pain and fatigue to not give up.
I think the "not bad" players learn to hedge their bets and drive plays towards safer scenarios. They also don't know how to take risks that would make them look like "good players." Smart plays. Dumb, safe choices. Which coach had that "safe is death" slogan?
Kendo
Registered User
Almost completely agree.
Forsling is a prime example of maximizing his own "not bad." I would say that he hit his ceiling rather than increase it. On any other team, he'd be a "good dude done good." He's not a #1/#2 on any team in the league, per se. He hit his ceiling of 2/3D, but he's in a perfect fit, so he slots up one.
The processing speed of incoming information, I totally get. And circling back to Robo, "safe is a paycheck." We have other guys to run the risks. If he makes safe, dumb choices, he can be a Forsling in a perfect world. He'll just never be a lefty Fox.
Jones actually has a 2% chance to be a poor man's lefty Fox.
n8
WAAAAAAA!!!
I think you could consider expanding your definition of a 1D. If a 1D has to get to Fox's level, there are only like 9-10 in the league. There should are 32 1D slots in the league. You're talking about All-star Norris candidate elite 1D. Like even with centers, we have 1A and 1B.
Forsling totally shut McDavid down in the finals. I think we can give him a bit more credit than 2/3D
He's a legit #1 shutdown D. With your limited definition, I suppose he's a 2D but if it's someone who can neutralize the best player in the world, I think that is some pretty elite talent. His brain must be operating on 32 cores to keep up with McDavid's speed.
Jones has the CPU but does not have the decision making and speed. Hardware is there. Software is not. I worry he's not going to even get a chance to develop his game with us.
