X-SHARKIE said:
Not saying he's dumb.... But I think you guys are overating his hockey sense..... I think it's more hustle. Sure the rebounds seem to find him, and he picks up his man well. But I think he gets more by hustling every shift.
His Vision is great though, Ladd sees the ice extremely well and sets up his teamates for gimmes and great chances....but overal his hockey sense isn't as good as you guys make it out to be.
Much like Milan Michalek last year, his hockey sense actually isnt as strong as everyone here thinks, but he gets away with it with pure hustle.
Just my 2 cents.
Rebounds? From what I remember, the majority of his goals weren't being rebounds at all, and although I don't remember each of his 30 goals this past season, none that I do recall were rebounds.
The majority of his goals came off his shot, which is pretty good, as long as he doesn't break his stick. I've never seen a player break so many Synergy's in one season before. I know he used three different types of Easton's this season, but he must've snapped one every other home game I saw.
He's got great hustle, you've got that right. His hustle allows him to get in position to use his vision though.
For instance, in a playoff game against Red Deer, he blocked a Dion Phaneuf shot, outraced Phaneuf to the puck heading back the other way, fed a backhanded pass between Dion's legs right on to the stick of Getzlaf for a one timer short handed goal.
Hockey sense...he knows where he needs to be out there on the ice, and he knows how to use himself effectively out there on the ice.
My question would be is this; "How do you define hockey sense?"