Foppa2118
Registered User
- Oct 3, 2003
- 52,385
- 31,643
I'm not at all worried about MacKinnon's defensive game. I saw him play too well in that area with Halifax, and his willingness to backcheck all the way behind his own net in the NHL to be concerned.
He looks very out of sorts on some shifts, but he's just struggling with some positional issues, and adjusting to the speed of trying to defend against NHL forwards, and the way NHLers move the puck around.
He has the smarts and willingness to be a good two way center, even more so in raw ability than Duchene IMO because he knows how to assert himself physically and be strong on his stick defensively. Duchene is just now getting better in that area in his fifth year in the league.
He's just a very young 18 years old, even more so than most all rookies, and needs to adjust. He'll have figured out a lot by the end of the season I'm sure of it, and in 2-3 years he'll be a pretty solid all around center.
You watch some young forwards and you get the sense that they'll likely always be weak defensively. I watch MacKinnon and I don't get that sense at all, I just get the feeling he's learning, and also get the sense his learning curve is very steep. He'll figure it out pretty soon. For all his raw talent that he leans on to be successful in all areas of the game, he's very underrated in terms of how smart he is, and at learning what works.
He looks very out of sorts on some shifts, but he's just struggling with some positional issues, and adjusting to the speed of trying to defend against NHL forwards, and the way NHLers move the puck around.
He has the smarts and willingness to be a good two way center, even more so in raw ability than Duchene IMO because he knows how to assert himself physically and be strong on his stick defensively. Duchene is just now getting better in that area in his fifth year in the league.
He's just a very young 18 years old, even more so than most all rookies, and needs to adjust. He'll have figured out a lot by the end of the season I'm sure of it, and in 2-3 years he'll be a pretty solid all around center.
You watch some young forwards and you get the sense that they'll likely always be weak defensively. I watch MacKinnon and I don't get that sense at all, I just get the feeling he's learning, and also get the sense his learning curve is very steep. He'll figure it out pretty soon. For all his raw talent that he leans on to be successful in all areas of the game, he's very underrated in terms of how smart he is, and at learning what works.
Last edited: