Has a "soft" player ever toughened up and played hard?

[LeafFever]

Yzerman.

 

[roflstomper]

Blake Wheeler was a ***** in Boston. He really came into his own in Winnipeg.

 

[Aerchon]

Ales Hemsky

 

[Hannibal]

Nathan Horton in florida was a big soft floater. In Boston, he turned into Lucic 2.0

 

[Mathew Barzal]

Pretty sure the Sedin's are in the Joe Thornton phase of their career now. Old with no ****s left to give, started a couple brawls this year.

 

[Mattb124]

Not like Pavelski is much of a physical presence, but since he was made captain he started laying some hits - leading by example.

 

[JThorne]

If I recall correctly Cody franson was soft as hell in Nashville then started hitting a ton when he went to Toronto, dunno how he is now

The only thing he hits is the pressbox.

 

[bohlmeister]

TJ Galiardi is a great example of this. In juniors he was pretty soft and wouldn't engage. When he made the Avs he had to a hard to play against checker, and he did it well for a couple of solid seasons. Because of the change in his game his body couldn't hold up. But he did a complete 180, and it really helped him get into the league.

 

[joestevens29]

Semin, Alex

 

[puckeater]

Nathan Horton. Wasted his back trying to prove in Boston he is rough and tough.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Semin, Alex

Physicality was never his thing, but he grew 2 inches and gained like 20 lbs since his rookie year. He's soft but he's a big lad at 6'2 210 lbs. He used to be a pretty good skater with slick hands and a wicked shot, it was tough to stop him given his natural skill.

He's still rather soft compared to other players in the NHL. It doesn't show as much in the KHL because the game there is less physical.

 

[txpd]

Semin learned how to hit in part, i am guessing, because Brooks Orpik hated his guts and he had to be more aggressive. When he got mad, he could destroy guys. His hit on Boyle in the olympics is a good example of that. Boyle couldnt handle getting blown up by a "soft" player and lost his mind

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Semin learned how to hit in part, i am guessing, because Brooks Orpik hated his guts and he had to be more aggressive. When he got mad, he could destroy guys. His hit on Boyle in the olympics is a good example of that. Boyle couldnt handle getting blown up by a "soft" player and lost his mind

Boyle himself is soft. I remember in the 2015 playoffs, game 1 of the second round. With like 5 seconds to go, he has the puck in the corner. Backstrom smoked him against the boards and Ward scored a buzzer beater to win the game.

 

[BlueDream]

For the Blues I think I'd nominate Alex Steen and Patrik Berglund.

Steen is an interesting one, he's gotten a lot more aggressive and angrier over the years. In his younger days I don't recall him playing like this, but over the past several he really plays with an edge and is always hacking and slashing guys out there. He goes under the radar as kinda dirty, and he doesn't throw many hits but he plays a very hard, tough game. He's not afraid of getting his nose dirty and taking punishment to make plays.

Berglund is to a much lesser degree because he doesn't play like that, and will never drop the gloves or anything, but he's a big guy and he will throw his weight around. There are Blues fans that act like he's the softest player in the league which just isn't true. He throws hits now and uses his size just fine, IMO. His physicality is certainly decent for a Swede.

 

[tfong]

Sven Baertschi was next to useless until he started getting more involved physically. His second half of last season was night and day.

if only he realized that before we traded him...

 

[darkwingduck]

Technically big buffs skin went from soft to tougher, by a lot.

 

[King'sPawn]

I remember at the time he was drafted, Hanzal was criticized for "playing like Gretel." But now he's a very edgy player.

 

[Kimota]

Joe Sakic.

Having watched him a lot in Quebec, he was so skilled with easy 100 points seasons.

But when the Nords traded Sundin for Wendel Clarke and Clarke played with Joe, Joe became a completetely different player. People don't realise how much of an incredible influence Wendel had on Joe.

He started to play with balls. Like he now had a killer instinct. He wanted to eat the whole freakin rink, he was hungry for winning like he never had before.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Roenick is a great example. In his autobiography he talks about being a soft as butter finesse player heading into the draft at 150 pounds. When he got to the show, he learned real quick that he had to play feisty if he was going to last long.

 

[bohlmeister]

Joe Sakic.

Having watched him a lot in Quebec, he was so skilled with easy 100 points seasons.

But when the Nords traded Sundin for Wendel Clarke and Clarke played with Joe, Joe became a completetely different player. People don't realise how much of an incredible influence Wendel had on Joe.

He started to play with balls. Like he now had a killer instinct. He wanted to eat the whole freakin rink, he was hungry for winning like he never had before.

Jesus. The current Avs need that leader. Iggy wasn't it, hahah.

 

[ColePens]

Miro Satan... softest player ever. But the guy actually took on a 4th line role in 2009 playoffs for the Pens and even got into a fight.

 

[moog35]

Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin......

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Wasn't Yzerman considered a soft player who could only perform in the regular season and a terrible leader for years?

Not really.

When the Wings kept disappointing in the playoffs in the mid 90s there started to be whispers about Yzerman, but I wouldn't say he was considered a bad leader. Yzerman also performed at a PPG or better in the playoffs early in his career.

To me Yzerman's leadership was really on display in the wake of what happened to Konstantinov in 97 and then how he and the Wings handled the next year.

I'm not sure where soft comes from. He wasn't the most physical player but didn't need to be. He was the franchise player and had Gallant and Probert nearby most of the time. Yet he was still involved in scrums, and people may not remember but his knee problems started back in 1988.

 

[Over the volcano]

Andrei Nazarov

 

[wolfgaze]

lol the love story between Keenan and Roenick... Off topic but such a great read.

Mike Keenan the NHL's last great ass**** coach

"and Keenan became enraged about our effort to the point that he ripped out seven ceiling tiles in the visitors' dressing room"