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Draft Round 1 #23: New York Rangers Select RW Gabriel Perreault (Boston College, NCAA)

Rangers haven’t had a #34 since Johnny Mitchell.

Looks like we might sooner than later. Too bad we don’t have Big Willie Style too
 
GoAwayPanarin said:


Pretty good.
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Send him to the same training program Zuccarello and MSL went to when he played, whatever they were. Both small guys that are really strong on their skates and stronger on the puck than one would expect otherwise. If he does nothing but gain 10 lbs of muscle and work on defense his sophomore year, I'd be thrilled.
 
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I Eat Crow said:
Send him to the same training program Zuccarello and MSL went to when he played, whatever they were. Both small guys that are really strong on their skates and stronger on the puck than one would expect otherwise. If he does nothing but gain 10 lbs of muscle and work on defense his sophomore year, I'd be thrilled.
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panarin is kind of the same way. hes wiry strong and very good at keeping himself between the puck and the defender when he has it in the o-zone and hes pretty strong on the stick when trying to win a puck in the o-zone.
 
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ecemleafs said:
panarin is kind of the same way. hes wiry strong and very good at keeping himself between the puck and the defender when he has it in the o-zone and hes pretty strong on the stick when trying to win a puck in the o-zone.
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He's okay at it, but I think MSL and Zucc did/do win board battles more consistently. Panarin is a bit taller than them. Maybe the lower center of gravity helps.

I wonder how much coaches teach regarding board battles. Something I notice with Mika quite a bit is he'll engage with the defender but end up behind the player rather than in front of him, so that he's no longer between the puck and our goal, giving the defender a lane to move the puck up the boards.
 
I Eat Crow said:
Send him to the same training program Zuccarello and MSL went to when he played, whatever they were. Both small guys that are really strong on their skates and stronger on the puck than one would expect otherwise. If he does nothing but gain 10 lbs of muscle and work on defense his sophomore year, I'd be thrilled.
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He’s not small like those guys though. He’s an average sized kid. Just needs to fill out a bit.
 
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GAGLine said:
I wonder how much coaches teach regarding board battles. Something I notice with Mika quite a bit is he'll engage with the defender but end up behind the player rather than in front of him, so that he's no longer between the puck and our goal, giving the defender a lane to move the puck up the boards.
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Not to derail the thread, but Mika has had his share of concussions and has stayed relatively healthy the past few years. He’s adjusted how he plays especially when arriving at the end board with speed on dump ins (higher risk plays for injury) where he prefers to be the ‘responder’ versus the ‘initiator’, which means letting the defender get body position on the puck putting Zibs at a disadvantage. He also tries to finesse the puck away from the defender without as much physical engagement. When he does go in first he either tries to use speed and agility to get in and out quick, or he’s very defensive with his stick raised off the ice due to using his hands to brace himself against the boards and then uses his skates to kick the puck ahead.

It is what it is, which is why he needs two other guys who can win board battles, something Kakko had struggled with this year, and Wheeler also isn’t so great at.
 
Synergy27 said:
He’s not small like those guys though. He’s an average sized kid. Just needs to fill out a bit.
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Correct.

5'11" is not small. It's average. I know a lot of people draw a very arbitrary line at 6 ft for hockey players but the difference between 6 ft and 5'11" is not as big a deal as people make it out to be. People using the metric system would never say "Well, he's not 1m 82 cm so he's too small". 6 ft is just the arbitrary cut-off because it's a round number in the imperial system :laugh:

There are a lot of players who became successful and even physical contributors in the NHL despite being 5'11".

Kucherov, Bratt, Trocheck, Raymond, Kaprizov, Suzuki, Crosby, Point, Guentzel, Jack Hughes, Keller, Marchand, Giroux, Marchessault, Coleman, Skinner, Teräväinen, Atkinson, Mangiapane, Domi, Haula, Gourde, Pageau, Gallagher, Tatar, Zucker, Lehkonen

To me, size does matter to a degree but it's at most a tie-breaker. As in, you have a 6'4" and 5"11" player who are similarly talented. You go with the 6'4" guy. But other than that, size is massively overrated even in hockey.
 
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It's not the size that matters. It's the motion....

For real, though, being an absolute tank with your lower half will benefit you a lot more than a few inches. Having the ability to be tough to knock off the puck because you're well grounded goes a long way. All size does is give you reach. Of course having size and being a tank is a little different than just counting inches.
 
Amazing Kreiderman said:
Correct.

5'11" is not small. It's average. I know a lot of people draw a very arbitrary line at 6 ft for hockey players but the difference between 6 ft and 5'11" is not as big a deal as people make it out to be. People using the metric system would never say "Well, he's not 1m 82 cm so he's too small". 6 ft is just the arbitrary cut-off because it's a round number in the imperial system :laugh:

There are a lot of players who became successful and even physical contributors in the NHL despite being 5'11".

Kucherov, Bratt, Trocheck, Raymond, Kaprizov, Suzuki, Crosby, Point, Guentzel, Jack Hughes, Keller, Marchand, Giroux, Marchessault, Coleman, Skinner, Teräväinen, Atkinson, Mangiapane, Domi, Haula, Gourde, Pageau, Gallagher, Tatar, Zucker, Lehkonen

To me, size does matter to a degree but it's at most a tie-breaker. As in, you have a 6'4" and 5"11" player who are similarly talented. You go with the 6'4" guy. But other than that, size is massively overrated even in hockey.
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Size is being used as a substitute for strength and reach - two important aspects. By definition a taller person would be more likely to be both stronger and have a longer reach but it's not axiom.
 
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kovazub94 said:
Size is being used as a substitute for strength and reach - two important aspects. By definition a taller person would be more likely to be both stronger and have a longer reach but it's not axiom.
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Yeah I would guess the average defenseman is probably an inch or two taller than the average forward, following that logic you outlined where they're also then going to be stronger with a larger wingspan and better reach. All of which are perhaps more important for a defenseman than a forward.
 
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Points are what they are (he is a production machine, we knew this) but the biggest standout for me was how… good he was in the corners?

He won a ton of battles and was a puck retrieval machine in this tournament. Created 2 turnovers in the OZ in the semi final game which led to high danger chances (Smith beefed both.)

Wish we could give him Barbashev’s body.
 
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