I had center ice and watched A LOT of the 06 WJC, and Ryan played VERY soft. He played like he was scared. I don't know if it was his lack of speed that made him borderline useless or not, but he just was not the player I was expecting to see. He played on a line with Kessel, and I thought that line was going to rip apart opposing defenses, but they weren't too impressive. Kessel was good, generating a lot of offense nearly by himself, but Ryan was anything but impressive.
Wow, and there goes the neighborhood.
I agree, 110%. People were saying the same things about Brendan Shanahan before he came to the NHL level. Some people were asking if his skating was good enough to translate, and others said it needed improvement. Either A. it improved greatly, or B. he was good enough to get by as it is. Bernier REALLY improved his skating though. He was quicksand on ice in the Q, and when I saw him on that line with Marleau and Michalek, he was EXCELLENT, and was flying. He really did a hell of a job to improve his foot speed.
Bravo, Bravo.