DANOZ28
Registered User
i cut him some slack since hes the only Russian on the team , i think he has significant upside.
Also players have confidence issues. Players do get introverted over certain things. This may sound silly, but he may have gotten really introverted into the fact he was overweight. He may not feel very confident or he may feel like he doesn't have the trust of his group around him.And that in itself is a Red flag. There is a ton of players who will do ANYTHING to make the NHL. Most coaches are looking to win. If Sokolov gave them a better chance to win by him playing, then he'd be in there.
Having said that, I don't think that is the case. I don't see a young player uprooting himself from his home country, then living up in Sudbury and going through the junior hockey grind, unless he "wants it". Maybe he just doesn't know how to work hard. Maybe he just isn't very smart. You don't have to be a genius to be a good hockey player, but you do have to have street( or rink) smarts.