And that’s not surprising. His defensive game and consistent interest in it were always concerns. That’s likely going to be a process to get to something reliable enough regardless of maturity. From what I saw of his WJC, it’s the same thing you’d see with Daley and Schultz, the real problem area is when a cycle gets started and they’re pinned in. His skating should help avoid some of those situations, though.
I’m not sure he’s made much improvement on his weaknesses and that’s concerning. Every time I’ve seen him, he still looks like he needs to add strength and if that does improve, it won’t happen in his juniors time. He and POJ will form a little club down there. The other thing is that this season an undrafted D has outproduced him. His numbers have held steady since his draft season; on one hand, he’s been steady through the team not being as good, but on the other he hasn’t improved. The good is that he obviously performed under pressure in the WJC this year.
That's looking at his stats. Anyone that sees his game more regularly, has he not improved with his defensive game? Is he being used differently this year vs previous years?
Does it really matter if his stats aren't insane this year? If he's still putting up his usual numbers, which are fantastic btw, that's still a damn good thing for a prospect like him. I am more curious if he's worked on other things while still maintaining his usual production. There are some that are over agers that explode and while that's great, those guys don't often make it far, consistency might not be a bad thing when it comes to Addison and his game.
In any case, if anyone has any input on his actual game and how it's evolved in the last 3 seasons, that'd be great.
Because I remember an article on PG by Vensel about Addison knowing what he needs to work on, Pens being encouraging, and him wanting to get stronger so he can handle the size and speed of the NHL. Now if he's maintained his normal PPG pace while getting better defensively?
I don't give a f*** if he's not the #1 producing defender on his team.