stocktrader said:
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/article.php?sid=7573&mode=threaded&order=0
Kessel's weakness is his mental game. He plays dirty and shows poor leadership.
Maybe more after all can be made for his decision not to play for the Spirit.
I don't know if it is fact or fiction, but I can tell you the super-hyped guys almost always end up on the microscope. And when there's nothing to cry about, people make up attitude problems.
I'm not saying this is what happened here as I don't know Kessel enough. But I can tell you that kind of stuff is a classic that happens all the time.
There was a time when Spezza was a young phenom. But then people started to say he was too lazy and Kovalchuk was much better. But then Kovalchuk was classless and people started talking about the 16/17 years old Ovech-phenomin. That guy was the real deal, everything like Kovalchuk except he had a much better attitude and could pass because everyone knows Ilya can't pass. But then Ovechkin started to get old, so people said he had an even worse attitude. And then his shoulder was destroyed by a giga-talented team and the less mentally gifted said he quit. But no worries because we had a new phenom in Crosby. This time the guy was the real deal. Except he plays in the Q, and the Q sucks. Oh, and Crosby took a rest and didn't go to prospect skill game, so he was a yellowish quitter and had the worse attitude of all. Beware because Kessel is coming and he will be the real deal.
Except he won't be because in the next few months, people are going to cry about him and a new real deal will emerge. His name doesn't matter, nobody gives a **** because a few months later, he too will be put down until some guy in 2007 or 2008 emerge and so on.
I couldn't tie up how Ruutu went from the next Forsberg to a hold out crybaby, Rick Nash gets people really worried because he apparently can't pass, just like Kovalchuk. It's also freaky that he has a bad +/- and hooked some referee. Definitly an attitude problem there. Lehtonen was really good. But then M-A Fleury beat him in a WJC game and suddenly Lehtonen wasn't good and Fleury was better in pressure situation. So now Fleury was top of the crop except a year later, he and Coburn got majorly ****ed up and now Lehtonen was much better in pressure situation.
They're always idealized when they are a little farther away but once they are exposed for all eyes, it seems they all look bad one way or another.
You can bet your ass that if Malkin is going to continue rise on the charts he too, sooner or later, will have some kind of issues related with his attitude once he isn't all shiny and new.