Vlad The Impaler
Registered User
turnbuckle said:Where did I get that from? For one thing my eyeballs.
The least I can say is your eyeballs see funny things.
turnbuckle said:I saw Kosty play at least 15 times this season, and the progression in his two-way game was highly impressive. By the end of the AHL season Jarvis didn't hesitate to play him in important situations because he had caught on to the system.
He really impressed me with his strength, hitting, two-way play, and offensive skill at the World juniors; he was a bull. The kid is built like a tank, and in a couple more years I can see him being a "bull" in the NHL that is not afraid to take or dish out a hit. All he needs is a little more muscle and confidence.
Recent quote from Pierre Gauthier after the Worlds - "They asked Kostytsin to play defensively, and he did it well. He worked hard."
I'd label his two-way game progression in the AHL as encouraging and not highly impressive. The kind of player you project him to be is simply not what's on track right now.
I'll be the first to say this guy can be recycled into a two-way threat with a lot of work but he projects much more to be a typical scoring forward (if he makes it) than the two-way bull you are talking about.
They're working on his two-way game because it's abyssmal. The guy is greatly lacking in hockey sense. They're working on it not for him to excel at it but rather for him not to plain suck at it and be a liability.
This guy has scoring tools predominantly. He's not a bull. Just strong and well-built for a player of that type. He's mostly wrists and wheels and that's what he projects to be, a scoring forward. They're going to try and round him a little, mostly because he is not able to compete against men. That's what coaches do with players who can't do what they are supposed to do. They make them work on other stuff hoping they will eventually put it all together.
Anything else he becomes other than a scoring forward will be recycling and is not on track right now.