I don't understand what so many people on here were talking about when they were ripping his skating and foot speed. His skating looks fine. If you were to read some of the posts on here you'd think he was like a John Scott level statue on the ice.
I think someone mentioned that many had not seen McIlrath play, and I also think that was the case.
I've always been a McIlrath backer. He is a very unique mix of natural talent overall and physical ability. I am sure that we selected him for two reasons: (i) we had not had someone like him in a really long time. (ii) we betted on him really putting things together just after getting drafted. Kind of like a Shea Weber who went in the 2nd round but not many months after getting drafted would have gone real high. McI were really trending with a strong POs before his draft etc. However, just because that didn't materialize, it didn't mean that he sucked. He still had a very good platform.
What always have worried me the most all along was the pressure on McIlrath. I've seen so many kids not handle the pressure of being a high pick, in NY but also elsewhere. Its just speculation, but if Hugh Jessiman was a 9th round pick, Id bet a lot that he had a nice NHL career by now. Nothing he ever did could make the environment be positive about him. But McI have handled this pressure in an amazing way and just kept doing the right things week in and week out, year in and year out.
And -- this is my point really -- after Christmas last season he really started to put it together. His work paid off. Before that when I saw him in the NHL, I liked a lot of things but it was still always with some conditions like "for a young kid that is this big and a fighter", if you get what I mean. Many of us saw him play decent with the puck, but he really was not "decent" if compared to like a Allen or any natural good PMD in the AHL. It was decent -- for a player like McIlrath who still was young etc. But then he just took a really big step and turned into a No 2 D for real, a good No 2 D "no matter what" in the AHL. Who defended like a good No 2, who moved the puck like a good No 2 and so forth. Roughly, his skating has been there, but now came the gap control, explosiveness on his skates when needed, and so forth.
My point is just, McI is a lot better now than 2 years ago. I see no reason for his development curve to stop here though, if he gets to play on a regular basis, I think he will be much better 2 years from now too than he is today. Exciting!!