I know that Ehlers fans don’t like this, but unfortunately I have to say that Ehlers is not a very good player, although his skating is really out of this world. But hockey is still so much more than just skating. I honestly don’t see much more than fabulous skating in his game. He is really going like crazy everywhere with and without the puck, but smart things that he does are really honestly very rare. He can use his skating very nicely when he gets some space, but unfortunately that is all the good stuff that I see in his game really.
He seems pretty selfish also, and is not at all really a good playmaker, as even his pass quality is pretty bad when he after all decides to pass, instead of blasting the puck blindly somewhere high or wide. And he is losing still way too much battles. The puck really dies to his stick most of the time and he doesn’t seem capable of doing any real good and creative plays anymore.
Maybe it has to do also with the bad chemistry in ELL, but I’m not really completely buying it, as so far I have seen really no kind of chemistry even between Laine and Ehlers, so it is not just about Little with them. The selfishness and the blinders on his eyes are what are bothering me the most about Ehlers. This kind of player would go well only with a very good playmaking center, whom could feed him to use his speed on the rush constantly, but there is absolutely no use to play him with one of the best shooters in the game, as both, Ehlers’s speed and Laine’s shot become completely misused in this way.
I just simply can’t understand why some people seriously think that Laine and Ehlers have great chemistry on the ice. And I seriously doubt if they are going to have good chemistry in the future even off the ice, if Ehlers keeps playing as selfish way as he has been doing. I think the kid really could use a wake up call.
