Prospect Info: Owen Beck

[Rapala]

It's refreshing to read/view an analyst who actually watches and assesses a players strengths, attributes and potential and just not parroting the conventional /accepted wisdoms about a player.

What this analyst is doing is exactly what my staff and I do with respect to the athletes in my organization: we watch and determine how any player influences the game and the players around him. We watch and assesses a player's overall skating ability, his acceleration, his top speed, can he gain separation, his ability to drive the play, his strength on his skates, does he slow down once the puck is on his stick, his agility, his offensive vision, how quickly he processes the play, his ability to receive a pass under pressure, his shot, does he shy away from contact and what is his overall compete level.

Watching this video shows an insightful approach to understanding a player's current strengths and potential. I doubt most of the usual talking heads engage in this intellectual and in-depth analysis.

Anyone who wants to see Beck's potential should watch this

Gotta love a player who's A game comes out against those blue jerseys with the Maple Leaf on it.
I'm sure our own Sam Pollock approves.

GREAT VIDEO

 

[dauv]

Gawd this is getting old from you.....

It is the 21st century, hockey IQ is king. Funny you mention Esposito because it was not skating that held him back, it was his brain. The AHL has many players with NHL skating and AHL brains. IQ, character/work ethic and skill are the 3 most important criteria for a top of the line up NHLer on a contending team which is exactly the type of player that you want to draft.....speed is a really nice bonus but it is not essential as the long lists of top NHLers who are/were average to below average skaters that I had given you previously clearly demonstrated.

You work with youth hockey where speed is king so I know where your bias originates from but it is not transferable to the NHL. I have had so many painful conversations with youth coaches/managers where they just don't get it and are Don Cherry level thinkers.You don't seem like one of them as you are well educated, genuine and a seemingly very nice gentleman. Unfortunately there are some similarities in the way that you value skating above brains and it is a mistake that was made at the NHL level for too long. This is why the Esposito's, Daigle's, Yakupov's etc dominated until they reached the highest level as they did not have the IQ and/or character to realize their perceived potential in the NHL.

Trust me, I love speed as much as anyone else but there have been too many great skaters who never made it to the NHL or did not make a significant mark in the NHL because of deficiencies between their ears. The very reason that 1st rounders like Drouin, Barron, Beaulieu have greatly under achieved despite being great skaters. Skating only matters if you have the IQ/work ethic to use it. There are zero top NHLers with low IQ's and very few AHLers with high IQ's/high compete levels. Yet there are ton's of good skaters with low IQ's in the AHL. The Richard's and Gignac's of the AHL are better skaters than most NHLers but their low IQ's keep them in the AHL.

The order of traits that make a good NHL F/D ranked by importance....imo

1. Hockey IQ
2. Character/compete
3. Skill
4. Size/strength
5. Speed/skating

If you were to break down skating into speed and agility/edge work I would submit that agility/edge work are more important than speed as the game is mostly played and won/lost in tight quarters.

Angelo Esposito problem was always heart and laziness. I watched him over 30 times when he played for the MTL Juniors in Verdun. The guy oozed skill with the puck, the problem was he never worked, always coasted and floated waiting for the the puck. This works well in Juniors when the gap in talent is not as massive but not in the pro's where you're just one of many many talents trying to make it. Desire and work ethic goes a long way.

There are very few players no matter how much talent they had, have any success if they were lazy. ANGELO ESPOSITO was as lazy as they come.