Another PWF that makes the 2015 1st round equal or better than the 2013 in depth of quality prospects, most of which will be NHLers IMHO. Greenway's already humongous dimensions 6'4" - 218 lbs. and growing along with his productions offensively, just a very big reason the USNTDP's entry for the 2015 WJHC's will be hard to beat, with or without the Habs Mike McCarron.
Any NHL team without PWF's like these in their lineups in the future stand very little chance of competing. With the pounding that these players can take and dish out smaller players stamina will be pushed to their limits in the SC Playoffs. This is more apparent in the WJC's each progressive season, this year size will matter more than ever IMHO.
“Shorter players may perform better for a longer period of time due to experiencing less strain on impact and less wear and tear on their joints,” noted Philippe Renaud, a biomechanics researcher at McGill’s Ice Hockey Research Group. Renaud added that the laws of physics suggest the shoulders, hips, knees and ankles of a player such as Francis Bouillon, who is 5’8”, receive much less torsional amplitudes as those of a player standing at 6’6”. Not only do taller players put more stress on their bodies while pivoting and braking, but the longer length of their limbs also puts them at greater risk for a catastrophic injury while making an open-ice check or taking a hit along the boards.
“I’ve never thought about whether height has anything to do with getting hurt more often or not, to be honest,” offered Mike Weaver, who was on the receiving end of 49 hits in the 2014 playoffs but came out no worse for wear. “But when I played in Atlanta, my defense partner [Andy Sutton] was six-foot-six, and he had a lot of injury problems.”
Tellingly, Sutton never once completed a full 82-game schedule, while Weaver played consecutive 82-game seasons after the age of 32, a time when many of his former teammates were filing retirement papers.
http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=721759
2015 Entry Draft
