- May 9, 2014
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If you have a player who has all the tools but lacks conditioning and compete level if there was a perfect destination for him it has to be L.A. I’ve gone from being happy with the pick to absolutely thrilled by it.
I just watched his combine interview on NHL tonight and liked him a lot. He comes across as a little awkward but if you get past that he seems a nice kid. He’s really focused on his offensive game and think his key strength is anticipating where the puck is going to be (something Gretzky always felt was key to his game) and getting open. He then said he needs to work primarily on his first few steps from standing when accelerating which I thought told a story. No talk of improvement of his 200 ft game, all offence.
People talk about compete but in the play offs he apparently played 30 minutes a couple of times. That’s a player doing what his coach is asking for so that mitigates to some degree the concerns about back checking etc. His coach clearly trusts him so that makes me think he’ll work on whatever is asked of him. They’ll soon know what they have once development camp opens and my gut is that they (along with the rest of us) will be very excited.
Edit: Found this article after I wrote the post. I used to know his Coach a little bit and he was a pretty good 200ft player before it became trendy, I think he’s a great mentor for him. Good to see that he seems coachable.
Sharpshooting Arthur Kaliyev is just getting started in Hamilton - TheHockeyNews
I just watched his combine interview on NHL tonight and liked him a lot. He comes across as a little awkward but if you get past that he seems a nice kid. He’s really focused on his offensive game and think his key strength is anticipating where the puck is going to be (something Gretzky always felt was key to his game) and getting open. He then said he needs to work primarily on his first few steps from standing when accelerating which I thought told a story. No talk of improvement of his 200 ft game, all offence.
People talk about compete but in the play offs he apparently played 30 minutes a couple of times. That’s a player doing what his coach is asking for so that mitigates to some degree the concerns about back checking etc. His coach clearly trusts him so that makes me think he’ll work on whatever is asked of him. They’ll soon know what they have once development camp opens and my gut is that they (along with the rest of us) will be very excited.
Edit: Found this article after I wrote the post. I used to know his Coach a little bit and he was a pretty good 200ft player before it became trendy, I think he’s a great mentor for him. Good to see that he seems coachable.
Sharpshooting Arthur Kaliyev is just getting started in Hamilton - TheHockeyNews
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