The Petey Predicament

[Blob Mckenzie]

Mëds the skating guru.

[Ronning's Ghost]

On his skating, there was a bit more pace with the puck, but you have to love the fact that after Boeser scored EP40 skates towards #6 to celebrate and EP40 trips on nothing at all.....

Whatever his physical limitations as an NHL player, EP is clearly a gifted athlete in the kinaesthetics sense, and therefore I would expect that at least competent skating should be attainable for him.

There are coaches who specialize in fixing skating. I remember that Horvat worked with one, and reported being very happy with the improvement he achieved. I think that getting EP working with the right skating coach should be a priority for the organization this off-season.

This is true, but Horvat already had the platform to build on.

Skating coaches can correct technique, they can help a player enhance and better utilize what they already have.

A skating coach might not be able to improve EP's skating mechanics, and resulting performance, as much as she did Horvat's, but I still maintain that the Canucks have much to gain, and little to lose, from making the attempt -- even trying out different coaches, if necessary.

[Cornuck]

A skating coach might not be able to improve EP's skating mechanics, and resulting performance, as much as she did Horvat's, but I still maintain that the Canucks have much to gain, and little to lose, from making the attempt -- even trying out different coaches, if necessary.

It's been obvious since day that skating was his weak spot and should have been addressed then.

[Ronning's Ghost]

should have been

I submit that an exploration of this idea would require its own thread.

[Meds]

On his skating, there was a bit more pace with the puck, but you have to love the fact that after Boeser scored EP40 skates towards #6 to celebrate and EP40 trips on nothing at all.....

Whatever his physical limitations as an NHL player, EP is clearly a gifted athlete in the kinaesthetics sense, and therefore I would expect that at least competent skating should be attainable for him.

There are coaches who specialize in fixing skating. I remember that Horvat worked with one, and reported being very happy with the improvement he achieved. I think that getting EP working with the right skating coach should be a priority for the organization this off-season.

This is true, but Horvat already had the platform to build on.

Skating coaches can correct technique, they can help a player enhance and better utilize what they already have.

A skating coach might not be able to improve EP's skating mechanics, and resulting performance, as much as she did Horvat's, but I still maintain that the Canucks have much to gain, and little to lose, from making the attempt -- even trying out different coaches, if necessary.

Certainly agree that there is nothing to lose in the attempt.

[Meds]

should have been

I submit that an exploration of this idea would require its own thread.

[Meds]

Mëds the skating guru.

When you're 6 foot 17, and can stay upright on skates, you are automatically considered a guru.

[2Fingers]

I would think the Canucks have had him working with a skating coach, maybe this is just him now?

Hate to think that a bunch of old timers on a hockey board can see something that coaches and management can’t. If this is true then we are all doomed.

[Ronning's Ghost]

I would think the Canucks have had him working with a skating coach, maybe this is just him now?

The problem with that theory is that his skating looks worse.

Hate to think that a bunch of old timers on a hockey board can see something that coaches and management can’t.

There's seeing it, and there's doing something rational about it. A lot of hockey seems to me to be bound by tradition, and people who have been steeped in the culture their entire lives have trouble imagining anything outside of that.

For example, I was at the UBC gym a lot (probably too much) during the time Pete Twist was doing his Master's degree in Phys Ed (as they called it then), and Pete partially supported his graduate work picking up some hours as a weight room supervisor. So I heard how he faced enormous opposition from the old guard in trying to bring modern training techniques to even university-level hockey. I have also noted before the contradiction between insisting that fighting is part of the game, and refusing to coach better fighting skills.

So my theory is that there might be some kind of cultural barrier to saying what a player does with his off-season conditioning. Horvat is the only Canucks player I've ever heard of working with an outside skating coach, so he might have been a maverick pioneer in that regard, even six years ago.

[donlever]

These guys all have the Adam Oates, Gary Roberts, hell even Bruce Boudreau got involved in it, types for training and development.

Stars assistant Dave Pelletier was the Oilers skating coach for a decade before moving on to work in Dallas.

We've all seen the scuttlebutt of how EP likes/prefers to "manage" his own training.

So the question seems more likely has EP been working on his skating development through his career with his preferred "outside" skating coach as opposed to do the Canucks have a skating coach who manages efforts to improve on his shortcomings.

Because they do.

His name is Jason Krog.

[Ronning's Ghost]

So the question seems more likely has EP been working on his skating development through his career with his preferred "outside" skating coach as opposed to do the Canucks have a skating coach who manages efforts to improve on his shortcomings.

Because they do.

His name is Jason Krog.

I'm afraid I don't follow. Are you just proposing that a more focused, productive version of the question would be something like "Is EP using his own private skating coach, or is he using the Canucks in-house skating coach?", or are you saying that you know that the EP is working with Jason Krog?

[donlever]

Not dissecting the question at all RG.

Just conversing.

My basic point is to ask, due to the seeming (rumoured if you will) divergence in direction between EP's selected training methodologies and the teams desires, (moreso off season related), is Elias actually focusing on his weaknesses (skating) during his sabbaticals?

And yes, it seems likely he would be working with team skating, skills and conditioning coaches in season.

[Chef Boi RD]

Mëds the skating guru.

When you're 6 foot 17, and can stay upright on skates, you are automatically considered a guru.

Taking mathematics from Trumps school books, are you “500%” sure your height dimensions are correct?

[UWSaint]

is Elias actually focusing on his weaknesses (skating) during his sabbaticals?

Seems to me it’s been strength more than anything else….

But while his skating stride is, let’s say, irregular, his skating effectiveness is average to above average for an NHL player. It would be wonderful to see what more efficient mechanics and changing his center of gravity would do, but it’s kind of like changing a golf swing. The best approaches objectively are not necessarily for the each individual, and more important is whether it sticks or the player has the aha moment that makes him want to commit. Also, teaching isn’t about the quality of the content that is communicated, but the quality of the content that is received. Working with one’s own skills coach could be to avoid team accountability or it might simply be that EP40 feels he’s making progress with his guy and I think we all have the vibe that he’s strong headed and nit particularly coachable. Not saying he doesn’t need something new, but I will say that what we are seeing that’s wrong in his game, his stride is far less of a problem than not skating, not shooting, and not dangling (though he’s trying this more again this year).


Last bit, I don’t think players should be using off seasons to concentrate only (or even primarily) on what they do poorly. EP40 has a great shot that he’s not using and seems to have his sights not quite as aligned as they once were. He’s also a perfectionist, not shooting unless he thinks he has a good chance to score on the shot. I think he’d benefit from a Kesler summer of 2010 training focused on shooting the puck, not because shooting is his weak skill, but because it’s a marginal advantage and without it he is unlikely to be special. Getting better at what you do well is as impactful as getting better at what you do poorly, sometimes even moreso because it is marginal gains above average that present challenges for opposing players.