NHL prospect career in jeopardy over video game addiction

[Star67]

“On video games – and I’m not going to say the player’s name,” began Marek. “I really doubt he’s going to make it to the NHL and it’s because of a video game addiction. To the point where his junior general manager told me that they’ve had him go to counseling over it because he’ll play until all hours of the night and into the morning and then he’ll have no energy the next day. He’ll be a write-off. And it is that bad. He has this compulsion for playing video games until all hours.
“I swore that I wouldn’t say the player’s name. But it’s unfortunate. He’s a recent first-round draft pick for a very, very prominent NHL team – will probably never play in the NHL because of a video game addiction.”

Friedman discusses NHL trade and contract potential

Pretty crazy think that video games could destroy a first round picks career, wonder who the prospect is.

Click to read more...

 

[ZJuice]

I also would be in the NHL if not for video games.
Sucks though, wonder why they can’t stop.. parents being too intense?

 

[Lil Tuzzi Bert]

I wonder who its is he mentioned also that he was a pretty high first rounder too.

 

[The Merchant]

Fortnite is a helluva drug

 

[Martin Skoula]

Anyone obvious fit the description? Someone stagnating without any real explanation?

 

[Star67]

Anyone obvious fit the description? Someone stagnating without any real explanation?

But it’s a terrible story because this guy is a good junior hockey player. This guy is a good player and was a high pick

Just guessing of high picks who are still junior players also "very, very prominent NHL team"

Logan Brown (OTT)
Cody Glass (VGK)
Nick Suzuki (VGK)
Micheal Rasmussen (DET)
Gabe Villardi (LA)
Cal Foote (TB)
Juuso Valimaki (CGY)

 

[klmdg]

German Rubtsov

 

[Future GOAT]

I was going to be in the NHL but I found it easier to just create myself in NHL video games. Saved me a lot of work.

 

[aessi]

Just guessing of high picks who are still junior players also "very, very prominent NHL team"

Logan Brown (OTT)
Cody Glass (VGK)
Nick Suzuki (VGK)
Micheal Rasmussen (DET)
Gabe Villardi (LA)
Cal Foote (TB)
Juuso Valimaki (CGY)

He also said that player would not likely play in the NHL and all of those guys seems like that they have really good odds in making it so it must be some lesser known guy like Robert Thomas for example who seems to be struggling in the minors or something.

 

[Tryblot]

He also said that player would not likely play in the NHL and all of those guys seems like that they have really good odds in making it so it must be some lesser known guy like Robert Thomas for example who seems to be struggling in the minors or something.

You mean the guy who just won the OHL Championship and was playoff MVP? Yeah, he's struggling alright...

 

[schnapshot]

My guess is Rubtsov

 

[Pavels Dog]

My guess is Rubtsov

Seems like a pretty good guess. But it could be any number of guys.

 

[Saekk]

This is really funny and really sad at the same time.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Every fan base praying it isn't their guy. Lol

 

[schnapshot]

Every fan base praying it isn't their guy. Lol

You can pretty much eliminate any CHL first rounder from 16 and 17 who’s having a solid season like you’d expect.

I guessed Rubtsov because he’d be playing in a small, isolated environment (not having many friends outside the team since he is from Russia) and his stats have stalled. Then again, I may be very wrong.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Taking “recent” to mean the last 3 drafts, here are the players who meet the criteria of:
- First round pick
- Junior league player (those who played in other leagues for at least part of this season have asterisks)
- No NHL experience to date

2015 Draft
Zach Senyshyn (Boston) *
Jakub Zboril (Boston) *

2016 Draft
Olli Juolevi (Vancouver) *
Michael McLeod (New Jersey) *
Jake Bean (Carolina) *
Logan Stanley (Winnipeg)
Kieffer Bellows (Islanders)
Dennis Cholowski (Detroit) *
Julien Gauthier (Carolina) *
German Rubtsov (Philadelphia)
Max Jones (Anaheim)
Brett Howden (Tampa)
Lucas Johansen (Washington)*
Sam Steel (Anaheim)

2017 Draft
Cody Glass (Vegas)
Michael Rasmussen (Detroit)
Gabriel Vilardi (Los Angeles)
Nick Suzuki (Vegas) *
Cal Foote (Tampa) *
Juuso Valimaki (Calgary)
Robert Thomas (St Louis)
P-O Joseph (Arizona)
Morgan Frost (Philadelphia)
Henri Jokiharju (Chicago)

 

[schnapshot]

Taking “recent” to mean the last 3 drafts, here are the players who meet the criteria of:
- First round pick
- Junior league player
- No NHL experience to date

2015 Draft
Zach Senyshyn (Boston)
Jakub Zboril (Boston)

2016 Draft
Olli Juolevi (Vancouver)
Michael McLeod (New Jersey)
Jake Bean (Carolina)
Logan Stanley (Winnipeg)
Kieffer Bellows (Islanders)
Dennis Cholowski (Detroit)
Julien Gauthier (Carolina)
German Rubtsov (Philadelphia)
Max Jones (Anaheim)
Brett Howden (Tampa)
Lucas Johansen (Washington)
Sam Steel (Anaheim)

2017 Draft
Cody Glass (Vegas)
Michael Rasmussen (Detroit)
Gabriel Vilardi (Los Angeles)
Nick Suzuki (Vegas)
Cal Foote (Tampa)
Juuso Valimaki (Calgary)
Robert Thomas (St Louis)
P-O Joseph (Arizona)
Morgan Frost (Philadelphia)
Henri Jokiharju (Chicago)

You can take out Senyshyn, Zboril, Johansen and Gauthier as they were pro players this year.

The article implies that this video game addiction is hurting the player’s performance, which means it’s not a lot of guys on this list.

 

[tarheelhockey]

You can take out Senyshyn, Zboril, Johansen and Gauthier as they were pro players this year.

The article implies that this video game addiction is hurting the player’s performance, which means it’s not a lot of guys on this list.

Yeah, I went back and asterisked guys who either made it to the AHL or went to Europe last year.

Bear in mind it’s not disqualifying since Marek didn’t specifically say they were current junior players, but it seems less likely that a guy who’s moving up the ladder is the one he’s talking about.

 

[Ceremony]

It's happened to people in sport much more established than whoever's been discussed here: Neil Robertson says video game addiction damaged snooker career

 

[tarheelhockey]

Another piece of info left out of the OP:

”And again, this is information that’s six months old. Actually, you might say a year old now. But it’s a terrible story because this guy is a good junior hockey player. This guy is a good player and was a high pick – and I’m probably saying too much right there – but there’s a good chance he’s not going to make it to the NHL and his general manager said, ‘Yeah, video game addiction is bad. It’s bad with this kid.’ “

So that frames it a bit more as far as what was happening with this player at the beginning of this season.

 

[VIPettersson]

2016 Draft
Olli Juolevi (Vancouver) *
)

Personally, I think Juolevi has good odds to make the NHL for sure but I wonder if they could be talking about him. Evan Bouchard was recently interviewed and was asked about a bad trait that Juolevi had. Evan Bouchard mentioned that Juolevi really liked Video games and would play them all the time. I'll try to find the link later.

[Edit link is posted on page 2]

 

[Rebels57]

As a Flyers fan, I too wouldnt be surprised if its Rubstov. Would explain how someone that talented is having a hard time putting it together. He will be playing in the AHL next season so whether this story is about him or not, hopefully that environment wakes him up.

 

[Rebels57]

The line "he'll be a bad write off" makes me think its a much higher pick than Rubstov. That's where Juolevi starts to make sense. Especially if the comments by Evan Bouchard are accurate.

 

[Advanced stats]

Id bet it's juolevi.

As a London fan, there was a notable drop off between pre draft and post draft years.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Personally, I think Juolevi has good odds to make the NHL for sure but I wonder if they could be talking about him. Evan Bouchard was recently interviewed and was asked about a bad trait that Juolevi had. Evan Bouchard mentioned that Juolevi really liked Video games and would play them all the time. I'll try to find the link later.

Yikes, that certainly sounds like a parallel comment.