haydn had to figure out what he was supposed to be, because that expectation was never clearly defined for him. it's not a secret that the organizational strategies under the previous regime weren't incredibly helpful for young players. i think fleury's development was a rudderless ship because he was a tweener in the worst possible way. not offensively gifted enough to be a point producer and not physical or tidy enough in his own zone to be a defensive specialist. plus, you could feel how tight he was puckered when he had to touch the puck. there was too much pulse. too much awareness of pressure.
when cale came into the league and started throwing his body around and blocking shots, he made the habs out of camp despite some pretty obvious limitations in other areas. haydn has a more traditional skillset, yet was struggling to establish a spot. once it started to become clear to him that the path they wanted him to take was to become a strong skating puck mover with an edge, his game took off. forget about draft position, because he's never going to justify that pick, but really accepting what you are and what your job is supposed to be can be liberating. his level of buy in is off the charts right now and he's just out there trying to play some quiet minutes. not trying to do too much in any one facet of his game and finishing his checks with a bit more enthusiasm. his approach with the puck has matured also. he's calmed down enough to see his breakout options and is making the logical first pass. that's basically all that is required of him offensively. tripp was dead on in my opinion when he stated that fleury was less afraid of making a mistake now. it checks out because i remember how assertive he looked during the calder cup run last season and how out of place he looked in a good way and wondering what could make that click over because it was obvious that the mental game needed some attention if his natural skill played that well down there. he's grabbing an opportunity.
