Well in his draft combine he rated top 3 for speed. He's been working with Barb Underhill ever since. His skating is now very good.
Here's what his coach said last week week:
"I should mention that he's one of the most important players in the Q and he plays in Rimouski, and we're thankful for this," said Rimouski head coach Serge Beausoleil, of Leafs prospect Frederik Gauthier in an interview following Tuesday's Game 3 victory against the Gatineau Olympiques.
Have to say, Freddie the Goat looks really good this game. Had some really good offensive chances, backed with solid defensive play. Not ready to write off his offensive side yet, looks like he could actually improve quite a bit.
Bigblue;102336841[B said:]Well in his draft combine he rated top 3 for speed[/B]. He's been working with Barb Underhill ever since. His skating is now very good.
Here's what his coach said last week week:
"I should mention that he's one of the most important players in the Q and he plays in Rimouski, and we're thankful for this," said Rimouski head coach Serge Beausoleil, of Leafs prospect Frederik Gauthier in an interview following Tuesday's Game 3 victory against the Gatineau Olympiques.
His offensive side at the pro level does remain a concern as he has 1 goal in 16 playoff games and scored just 16 goals in the regular season.
You would think with his size and strength simply standing in front of the net and banging in pucks in the blue ice on rebounds or getting hit by shots fired at the net that he would score more as a 20 year old junior player.
As much as I defend gauthier (and I think he deserves defending), straight line speed isn't saying much for a prospect who is 6 foot 5. It's great but he's got much longer legs which can let him cover ice quite quickly.
Minor side point
It's not fabrication. There was a skills comp for prospects in his draft year and he was top 3 in the test for straight line speed.This is quite the fabrication as Gauthier was never ranked top 3 for speed. His skating was ranked 3/5.. That's 60%
How many 60% students do you know that are "top 3"? Not many..
There's a difference between being enamoured with a prospects and creating up false factual arguments. He's definitely improved, but let's not rank him as a the best skater of his draft class..
Most likely a 30 point player in the NHL.. I wouldn't be too concerned with his offense at this point in time. It's not his bread and butter for making the show
This is quite the fabrication as Gauthier was never ranked top 3 for speed. His skating was ranked 3/5.. That's 60%
How many 60% students do you know that are "top 3"? Not many..
There's a difference between being enamoured with a prospects and creating up false factual arguments. He's definitely improved, but let's not rank him as a the best skater of his draft class..
This is quite the fabrication as Gauthier was never ranked top 3 for speed. His skating was ranked 3/5.. That's 60%
How many 60% students do you know that are "top 3"? Not many..
There's a difference between being enamoured with a prospects and creating up false factual arguments. He's definitely improved, but let's not rank him as a the best skater of his draft class..
Nimble Nicolas Petan of the Portland Winterhawks, topped the Transition Agility test, which assesses an athlete’s agility and directional transitions between forwards and backwards skating. His time was 13.832 seconds. Gauthier and Justin Bailey of the Kitchener Rangers were the only two other skaters to break beat 14 seconds on this challenging test.
Nathan MacKinnon used home ice to show the speed he’s been using to menace defenders this season with the Halifax Mooseheads. He covered 30 metres in just 3.918 seconds – and was even faster with the puck, at a blistering 3.893 seconds. Just 3 other skaters also clocked under four seconds: Nikita Zadorov of the London Knights, with Samuel Morin and Frederik Gauthier of the Rimouski Oceanic.
Lack of offense in my view comes from him playing a safe, systematic game overall and that he's absolutely no threat at all with his shot.
You reference Bergeron, and I remember reading the same thing about him. He had an offensive game that worked much better in a more structured league.
Gauthier really needs to work on his shot though.
That's nice.
His lack of offense comes from?
No hands
Thinking the game
Both
?
Has size, can skate and is agile, so something is lacking.
Bergeron only scored 73 points in 70 games in junior. He seemed to turn out okay.
simple, it's his role ...he's not used as a scorer, because he is so good defensively, and used primarily in that manner.
he may not have offense in him, but, he does what he does so well that it doesnt matter, he has a critical value to the team that is often lacking, and always desired.
This junkie reasoning is why our system suks. Bring 'em up watch get put through the wringer and by the time they're 24 and should be just coming up we are trading them as burn-out busts - all because peeps "see no reason why all of our prospects need to play with the Marlies"
Thanks God Dubas is in charge of the development stream now and not Leaf fans. They all need to play ECL AHL then NHL unless they are a freak of nature like McDavid. I would put every other player in this draft down for 2-3 years and let them grow physically and learn the game.
His offensive side at the pro level does remain a concern as he has 1 goal in 16 playoff games and scored just 16 goals in the regular season.
You would think with his size and strength simply standing in front of the net and banging in pucks in the blue ice on rebounds or getting hit by shots fired at the net that he would score more as a 20 year old junior player.
Straight speed means very little in the NHL, for instance Morin who was one of the fastest skaters struggled in the WJHC he had several give always because of his lack of foot speed and mobility. We've seen many guys who can fly put can't translate scoring abilities with the puck. Tyler Biggs can skate straight line but he can't do any thing with the puck.
Sorry but the Goat gets a failing grade, his team won he was a minus 1, he did win more face-offs than he lost but not by much after loosing many in the first two games, he'll have to improve that also as around 50 percent in Junior won't translate to many winning faceoff battles in the pro's.
Example Kessel great skater, Cory Perry average, who's going to score you the over time goal to finish off a Stanley Cup playoff series. It's how you get it done not how pretty it was.
Gauthier tends to over think but when it comes to finding open men, he's quite solid. You'd think with his hockey sense, board work and puck protection ability that he could be part of a strong forecheck and retrieve pucks in the offensive zone. I'd be satisfied if he could play a Bozak-like role between two strong scorers.Lack of offense in my view comes from him playing a safe, systematic game overall and that he's absolutely no threat at all with his shot.
You reference Bergeron, and I remember reading the same thing about him. He had an offensive game that worked much better in a more structured league.
Gauthier really needs to work on his shot though.
Straight speed means very little in the NHL, for instance Morin who was one of the fastest skaters struggled in the WJHC he had several give always because of his lack of foot speed and mobility. We've seen many guys who can fly put can't translate scoring abilities with the puck. Tyler Biggs can skate straight line but he can't do any thing with the puck.
Sorry but the Goat gets a failing grade, his team won he was a minus 1, he did win more face-offs than he lost but not by much after loosing many in the first two games, he'll have to improve that also as around 50 percent in Junior won't translate to many winning faceoff battles in the pro's.
Example Kessel great skater, Cory Perry average, who's going to score you the over time goal to finish off a Stanley Cup playoff series. It's how you get it done not how pretty it was.
Gauthier tends to over think but when it comes to finding open men, he's quite solid. You'd think with his hockey sense, board work and puck protection ability that he could be part of a strong forecheck and retrieve pucks in the offensive zone. I'd be satisfied if he could play a Bozak-like role between two strong scorers.
Speaking of his shot, it's heavy, fairly accurate and the release is quick. The problem is he doesn't have a goal scorer's mentality. Seeing that his playing style isn't that assertive, I can't see him being much of a goal scorer. We're better off hoping that he becomes a two-way distributor instead.
Ride off of coattails offensively, and still manage to be putrid defensively? Yeah, that sounds like a guy every team wants. Not that Gauthier is Bozak; by all indications Gauthier is very good defensively.