Seems like some people haven’t lately watched Scheifele play. Last season the Jets coach Maurice said clearly in an interview that the fastest skater in the whole Jets team isn’t Ehlers and neither Wheeler, but guess who? Yes, Maurice said clearly that Scheifele is the fastest skater in the whole team. Honestly I don’t see there much if any difference at all with Scheifele’s and Eichel’s skating. And this I base on seeing them both play in a lot of games last season.
Scheifele is an extremist in developing himself and he for sure has done an excellent job with developing his skating. Eichel is for sure no slouch in developing himself, but still he doesn’t have the same insane drive that Scheifele has for it. Scheifele is really Crosby-like in that, and there are not many others in the whole league with that kind of drive and ultra-professional attitude with their training. And I don’t mean just the training amounts, but also the will and the commitment to find the best approaches and experts to help them with their development.
Oh, and to get clearly back to the topic, Pettersson will become a world class player latest in a couple of years when he has filled his skinny frame. Might even become an instant star, but that I’m still a bit careful about until I see him play in at least 10 regular season NHL games.
I could see him becoming even a better player in his prime than Matthews, but he has a long way to make that happen. And he might as well not become the class of a player that Matthews becomes in his prime. I guess the latter scenario is the more likely one still. I wouldn’t though be horribly surprised if even the 1st scenario becomes reality after all. I really like the skillset that Pettersson has.