Young Rooks Making BIG plays!
Posted 8:38 PM ET | Comments 0
It happens every single year that the NHL season kicks-off, SPECULATION! We all love it in one form or another whether it is about who is going to finish first in the conference or which star is going to be taking home the big hardware. The fun part about it is the fact that no matter who you cheer for your team has just as good of shot to take home the cup at the beginning of the season as the next team does. Yep there's nothing like some good old ranting about how this year it's going to be the year that a Canadian team brings the cup home or the year that someone breaks that amazing feat of scoring 200 points in a single season. But what about those youngsters that come, it seems, along only once a decade that really just takes the game to an all new level? Everyone knows the Crosby's, Ovechkin's, Gretzky's and Super Mario's but what about those few youngsters that have no build up at all? I mean who could have really guessed that Detroit's current team would be lead by a 6th round draft pick (Datsyuk) and a 7th rounder as well (Zetterberg)? I guess the general point is that for every Daniel Tkachuk, Jason Bonsignore and Terry Ryan (to just name a few) a player of Datsyuk's calibre comes out of the woodworks. Some examples could be Tomas Kaberle being taken 204th overall in the 1996 draft or even Pavol Demitra being taken 227th overall in the 1993 draft. It just goes to show that you never know what can happen in the world of sports, just when you may think that you have everything figured out someone will shoot a 178 footer at you and it could go in.
I really feel for the pressure that today's young NHL'ers is going through. It's only been a total of 3 seasons since we have been removed from the lock out and some of the bigger, meaner and tougher players still have legs to play. The whole problem with youngsters in the past was that they needed the time in the minors so that their bodies could develop to take the hard beating that was sure to be given in an 82 schedule season. As we move forward it's almost impossible to give the guys with so much talent time to develop that frame because of the new salary cap. We are already witnessing some of the problems that come along with it in the form of Jonathan Toews broken leg and now a hampering ankle injury to Sidney Crosby. And yet even with all the bumps, bruises and scrapes youngsters across the NHL are putting up AMAZING stats! You can look at Chicago's other young dynamo Patrick Kane who leads his team with 62 points and could finish the season above 70, By the way Kane's weight on NHL.com is HUGE 163 pounds. Or how about Andrew Cogliano of the Oil who lifted his team to 3 straight overtime wins. Looking back after the season if Edmonton makes it into the 8th seed, everyone would have to say that it was because of the overtime magic that he had. It's also almost impossible to forget the amazing goals that these guys have given us throughout the season. Much like the Ovechkin from his back its going to be a long time before anyone forgets the Jonathan Toews through the entire Colorado defence goal.
So here is a salute to all the youngsters making an impact on their respective teams this year. Almost forever gone will be the days of Jason Spezza sitting in the minors for 3 years and in comes the new era where good talent is needed now more than ever. Just don't doubt the little guys taken with that "forget me" 7th round, you never know what type of all-star could pop up in your system. Thanks for reading this is K closing it out from Cow-town.
I really feel for the pressure that today's young NHL'ers is going through. It's only been a total of 3 seasons since we have been removed from the lock out and some of the bigger, meaner and tougher players still have legs to play. The whole problem with youngsters in the past was that they needed the time in the minors so that their bodies could develop to take the hard beating that was sure to be given in an 82 schedule season. As we move forward it's almost impossible to give the guys with so much talent time to develop that frame because of the new salary cap. We are already witnessing some of the problems that come along with it in the form of Jonathan Toews broken leg and now a hampering ankle injury to Sidney Crosby. And yet even with all the bumps, bruises and scrapes youngsters across the NHL are putting up AMAZING stats! You can look at Chicago's other young dynamo Patrick Kane who leads his team with 62 points and could finish the season above 70, By the way Kane's weight on NHL.com is HUGE 163 pounds. Or how about Andrew Cogliano of the Oil who lifted his team to 3 straight overtime wins. Looking back after the season if Edmonton makes it into the 8th seed, everyone would have to say that it was because of the overtime magic that he had. It's also almost impossible to forget the amazing goals that these guys have given us throughout the season. Much like the Ovechkin from his back its going to be a long time before anyone forgets the Jonathan Toews through the entire Colorado defence goal.
So here is a salute to all the youngsters making an impact on their respective teams this year. Almost forever gone will be the days of Jason Spezza sitting in the minors for 3 years and in comes the new era where good talent is needed now more than ever. Just don't doubt the little guys taken with that "forget me" 7th round, you never know what type of all-star could pop up in your system. Thanks for reading this is K closing it out from Cow-town.