Concern over his play through most of the season was justified. It's hard to determine just how much the injury was a factor.
I'm encouraged that he's shown late season progress, but I want to see him pick up where he left off next year. People were giving Jensen a shot at making the big club after he heated up at the end of last season in the AHL. We all know how that turned out.
I realize they're different ages, different players. I just want to see this kind of production over a much larger stretch of games.
"It's hard to determine just how much the injury was a factor."
Did you actually watch this kid skate in October, November, December.......April? If you did, you wouldn't have made that statement.
The kid I watched skating up and down the wing was nothing like the player I had read about. Skating was supposed to be his game. In the beginning skating was his biggest problem. He could go hard straight ahead, but was always a step too slow at anything he tried to do. His effort could never be questioned. No one worked harder. No one accomplished less in spite of all that work.
It was like he was trying to learn how to play the game. In essence that is exactly what he was trying to do. He was learning to play his game once again. His hip had to be reconditioned to game speed in a league faster than the league where his past top speed was very efficient. His speed wasn't up to his Jr. speed and the AHL was much faster. He also didn't have the quicks. He couldn't stop on a dime and power in another direction. Some of his stick handle in the phone booth moves saw him fall down.
Every guy I read posts from who told us he was healthy by training camp and the injury had been rehabbed and therefore he can't use his injury as a crutch is talking through his ***. I watched him every day. I saw a rehabbing athlete trying to compete at a high level he didn't yet have. Green stuck with him. They designed his game as north/south so he could compete. He did. He couldn't hit a bull in the *** with a scoop shovel early on. That's how inaccurate his shot was. His best move was a dip in and try to go wide. Result? Plastered to the boards by veteran D-men who used him for checking practice.
As the season progressed his speed got better infinitesimally game by game. By mid-season he was much faster and had better quicks, his starting power from stop much quicker. His cuts and maneuverability was still lacking. The hip just wouldn't let the legs and feet go exactly where he wanted and as fast as he wanted, but Green increased his ability to move off his wing with the play. No longer just a north/south player.
Now? Everything seems to be physically working on the same page as his brain. It's still getting better in those same little increments. He's all over the ice darting here and there, in and out of dirty areas to avail himself of scoring opportunities. If his finish was acute, he'd be potting more than he has in the past month. He gets lots more chances than his goal scoring would reveal. He can only become more productive as he moves along.
If he goes the Jensen trail, I'd be shocked. This kid is a worker and a learner. Jensen is a moper, a pouter, and a headstrong player that just doesn't appear to take coaching for more than a game or two before he regresses right back to the selfish me against the world player that will never succeed.
It was hard watching a kid who loves this game as much as Hunter does not be able to do what he knew he used to be able to do. It's back in a large portion now and as I have posted on other pages, no one has more fun playing this game than Hunter Shinkaruk. His goal celebrations are a joy to watch. He is just as happy when a line mate scores. He congratulates goal scorers from the bench as if he had a part in it. Many guys dread practice. Hunter is one of the first guys on the ice and one of the last guys off. He celebrates his and his mates goals in practice with the same enthusiasm as he does in the games. It will be a sad day when this kid can no longer play this game, that's how much he lives it (and that's lives it not loves it, it wasn't a typo).
I look for a good playoff performance. Next season he should be the player everyone with high expectations thought he would be this year.
Knocking him for low output next year would be acceptable. The same knocks this year were unrealistic and ridiculous.
Sometimes you wonder if some of these posters ever had on a pair of skates. Then if they had, have they ever tried to perform at this level and then do it on body parts that just can't perform the tasks the brain asks them to perform because they are not recovered from a serious injury that every single human recovers from at their own individual rate. There is no set timetable for a full recovery that enables an athlete to perform at the level Hunter needs to perform at in order to be successful. I believe we have yet to see the real Hunter Shinkaruk.
P.S. I was down on him at the beginning of the season as well. I'm not a Hunter lover. I just saw what I saw and realized what he was going through. Where he is now is testimony to his work level and the support Green and his staff extended to this kid all along the tough road he has navigated and will continue to travel as he develops fully.