A retired NHLer who had lead his team in scoring, told my friend that he had never seen anyone with better hands. And this guy played against Gretzky etc.
He was so good, he was playing with players four years older then him. His goal totals were higher then other players points totals. He had absolutely no
concept of how to play defensively. His entire hockey career had him just dominating offensively. What he needed in his career was stiffer competition
and never found it and when he did, wasn't prepared. I think he would of made the NHL had he lived in the Toronto area and played against better players.
He got to one level and they had to stick him on the third line and start getting him to play both sides of the puck. It wasn't just the difficulty of learning
new skills, it was getting chopped down to size. It was the difficulty of handling all the pressure, all the expectations, and then not meeting them. Really
it put him in a dark place which lead to some self destructive behavior. Sometimes I wonder if a career-ending injury wasn't the best thing for him. When I
see Marner now, I think people cannot emphasis how much Babcock's coaching and mentoring can put this kid on track. It won't just be teaching him how
to play against the world's best, but how to mentally handle the challenge of doing so. I don't know exactly who Andersen's tirade was directed to, but this
is a young team. Personally, I really don't think it helps to attack the kids who are still on a learning curve. There's enough pressure coming down on them.
Personally, I would be more upset with players that should of already have developed their game and are still regularly pulling off bone-head moves. Granted,
sometimes you can expect things like turnovers with a player who is handling the puck more. But sometimes we're dealing with players like Jake Gardiner
who has 59 giveaways(8th in the league), but his offense is only 40th among defencemen. 27 years old, should be in the prime of his career.