Here's what I do. I forget about rankings and hype and draft position and watch them play hockey.
but then you are forgetting about many other people who watched them. no one of us has eyes 24/7. when I see aaron dell play hockey maybe I watched the last 2 games when he pitched shutouts? maybe I feel this guy is about to become the next great white hope {and for the record I do have him on my keeper team in the hfl so yes... I am a fan of his}
but aaron dell is 29 years old. he has played more than 2 games. there are reasons he is 29 and no one has ever made him a starter before.
could he overcome what his problems are... and become something now? we all saw tim Thomas become something after bouncing around forever so it might happen... but is it likely?
suppose I saw aaron dell pitch 2 shutouts this week... and I saw carter hart do it. who should I be higher on? who should I predict is in line for a better career?
you cant simply rely on what you see with your own eyes. I saw vladamir rudzicka undress 5 buffalo sabers on the ice with an end to end rush that was one of the most beautiful goals ive ever seen. I saw him flipping the puck over the back of the net and setting up goals this way... my god he was a beautiful player to watch.
I remember all the hype for little Robbie schremp… I didn't see him myself but he put some youtube vids on the computer and 1000s of people saw them and screamed with lust over all the puck tricks this kid knew.
seeing with your own eyes can often mislead you unless you know what you are looking for. its often not the spectacular things guys do that matter. sometimes its more important to be looking at the problems a guy has
take tim Thomas for example... his style was always good for highlight saves. I remember when he came to oiler camp and everyone was very impressed with his highlights. Thomas was always a super acrobatic guy who would scramble and look impressive with his successes. but it was never that problem that was keeping him out of the nhl. Thomas allowed too many soft goals because he was out of position so often. a person needed to know what they were looking at with their own eyes if they wanted to evaluate Thomas.
eventually Thomas got enough coaching... or listened to it... and adapted... and he was able to defy the odds and become an nhl goalie. but when he was 22-23-24 he was even more athletic but further away from being an nhl goalie. it wasn't his skills that were ever a problem.
a lot of kids are like this... for a lot of them its about paying the price... living the lifestyle... the amount of training required to stay in shape.. the amount of pain they have to endure and play through
a kid like me {when I was a kid} if I had a bruised up rib... trust me I can barely roll out of bed to go to the tv and turn the game on. I just don't have the mental abilitylike a Bergeron to bust a bone and go back on the ice 10 mins later...
you grade these prospects to begin with... on raw skills. because that's what we all see on first glance. and when they have raw skills we give them the benefit of the doubt. maybe their other aspects aren't up to nhl standards but at least they got the raw skills.
I mean you could give a guy like me all the hunger and smarts in the world to become a player... but my raw skills make it impossible. it doesn't matter how much coaching you give me... how hard I work to get in shape... nothing will ever allow me to be an nhl player.
things like hunger and work do matter... but only when you start off with enough raw skill to make it possible
