I'm not about comparing these two, but I'll gladly spill what I know about Hanowski, after watching him multiple times. His skating was supposedly an issue, but I find nothing wrong with his technique; he needs to get faster, though, as put bluntly, he's not very fast. He's got a lethal shot and really is a wizard with the puck on his stick. If he improves his acceleration and overall speed, while refining his mobility a touch, he could be a lethal player in the future. I'm not gonna overrate the kid and call him a 90 point player, because that's not likely to be the case, but he could ultimately turn into a 30 goal man (with a lot of work, of course, and not right out of the gate) and maybe a 60 point player. Who knows, with more speed he could really take his game to another level, but there's a lot that is as yet unknown about his potential because he's played at a lower level, and the teams in I believe the Northern Minnesota area are often times a bit weaker than some of the other big boys play against.
Hopefully this helps you out a bit, and I'm sure other Pens fans or Minnesota fans will be around to confirm or reject.
I'm not about comparing these two, but I'll gladly spill what I know about Hanowski, after watching him multiple times. His skating was supposedly an issue, but I find nothing wrong with his technique; he needs to get faster, though, as put bluntly, he's not very fast. He's got a lethal shot and really is a wizard with the puck on his stick. If he improves his acceleration and overall speed, while refining his mobility a touch, he could be a lethal player in the future. I'm not gonna overrate the kid and call him a 90 point player, because that's not likely to be the case, but he could ultimately turn into a 30 goal man (with a lot of work, of course, and not right out of the gate) and maybe a 60 point player. Who knows, with more speed he could really take his game to another level, but there's a lot that is as yet unknown about his potential because he's played at a lower level, and the teams in I believe the Northern Minnesota area are often times a bit weaker than some of the other big boys play against.
Hopefully this helps you out a bit, and I'm sure other Pens fans or Minnesota fans will be around to confirm or reject.
I thought I'd mention that SCSU will play all of their home games and quite a few of their road games on Olympic size ice. This will help to show his weaknesses in speed, but will also help him overcome them. There's no reason to believe he won't be at least a two year player for SCSU. A third or fourth year could even be beneficial while he builds up his leg strength and foot speed.
Speed improvements can be made but it is unlikely to be significant once you get to this stage of development. A guy with slower boots isn't going to suddenly become a great skater after a year or two. You are what you are and you just try to minimize the weaknesses as much as you can. But it isn't going to do a 180 and be a major strength.
Speed is usually close to being tapped out as a developmental trait for a lot of guys in their late teens. You don't suddenly create a Marian Gaborik or a Usain Bolt. We are talking about God given gifts. Same can be said for a 20 year old guy who can barely touch the rim on a basketball hoop and acting like he is going to improve his vertical leap by 12 inches in a year or two so he can dunk with ease.
Small, incremental improvement in skating is probably the best you are going to see from most players when they get close to 19 or 20 years old.
Speed improvements can be made but it is unlikely to be significant once you get to this stage of development. A guy with slower boots isn't going to suddenly become a great skater after a year or two. You are what you are and you just try to minimize the weaknesses as much as you can. But it isn't going to do a 180 and be a major strength.
Speed is usually close to being tapped out as a developmental trait for a lot of guys in their late teens. You don't suddenly create a Marian Gaborik or a Usain Bolt. We are talking about God given gifts. Same can be said for a 20 year old guy who can barely touch the rim on a basketball hoop and acting like he is going to improve his vertical leap by 12 inches in a year or two so he can dunk with ease.
Small, incremental improvement in skating is probably the best you are going to see from most players when they get close to 19 or 20 years old.
As I suggested, he appears to only really need to increase his speed a bit. I wouldn't call him a slow skater, but acceleration is something that can most certainly be improved --- explosiveness, and his overall speed doesn't really need to improve all that much, because he doesn't play the game in a Gaborik fashion. He's a shooter and a puck-handler. If he were to improve his feet, he could be a very good player in the NHL; that unlikely to be the case, he'll have to make improvements in his all-around game, adding to the small details in all facets.
Overall, I only meant to suggest that the skating issues appear to have been overblown. They exist, for certain, but he doesn't need to turn into Scott Niedermayer to become a success. He definitely needs to improve a touch, but that can be done.
All in all, that's a lot of work ahead of him, which is exactly what kept him out of the cream of the '09 draft, but while turning Cheechoo into Niedermayer is impossible, a move from say Cheechoo to Spezza level is very doable... or more realistically Spezza juniors to Spezza currently.
I'd like to learn a bit more about Hutchings as I've only seen him twice.
Speed improvements can be made but it is unlikely to be significant once you get to this stage of development. A guy with slower boots isn't going to suddenly become a great skater after a year or two. You are what you are and you just try to minimize the weaknesses as much as you can. But it isn't going to do a 180 and be a major strength.
Speed is usually close to being tapped out as a developmental trait for a lot of guys in their late teens. You don't suddenly create a Marian Gaborik or a Usain Bolt. We are talking about God given gifts. Same can be said for a 20 year old guy who can barely touch the rim on a basketball hoop and acting like he is going to improve his vertical leap by 12 inches in a year or two so he can dunk with ease.
Small, incremental improvement in skating is probably the best you are going to see from most players when they get close to 19 or 20 years old.
Maybe half the prospects out there should just hang up their skates and hit the books. Don't sound so knowledgeably hopeless. Of course a player can improve his game.
Another thing i remember about Hanowski is that he scores in close. He was not a pur PP floater. He will get in there and het dirty. To be fair class A MN hockey does not possess the same D men as AA hockey.
Speed can be over come with knowledge. And anticipation. He needs to improve, but he does not need to make a giant leap.
Another thing i remember about Hanowski is that he scores in close. He was not a pur PP floater. He will get in there and het dirty. To be fair class A MN hockey does not possess the same D men as AA hockey.
Speed can be over come with knowledge. And anticipation. He needs to improve, but he does not need to make a giant leap.
As any Gopher fan who saw Vanek in Minny can attest.
I'm a Barrie colt fan, so I'm biased. I though Hutchings should have gone in the 2nd round. He has tallent. Plus he was the one that broke Kadri's jaw if I remember correctly lol.
Speed improvements can be made but it is unlikely to be significant once you get to this stage of development. A guy with slower boots isn't going to suddenly become a great skater after a year or two. You are what you are and you just try to minimize the weaknesses as much as you can. But it isn't going to do a 180 and be a major strength.
Speed is usually close to being tapped out as a developmental trait for a lot of guys in their late teens. You don't suddenly create a Marian Gaborik or a Usain Bolt. We are talking about God given gifts. Same can be said for a 20 year old guy who can barely touch the rim on a basketball hoop and acting like he is going to improve his vertical leap by 12 inches in a year or two so he can dunk with ease.
Small, incremental improvement in skating is probably the best you are going to see from most players when they get close to 19 or 20 years old.
I disagree. One needs only to look towards Anaheim and players like Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry who all made significant improvements in their speed at an even older age. It can be done but it takes a good coach and tremendous effort.
I disagree. One needs only to look towards Anaheim and players like Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry who all made significant improvements in their speed at an even older age. It can be done but it takes a good coach and tremendous effort.
Absolutely agreed.
When Bobby was in Owen Sound, he had amazing hands but simply not the speed to dominate. His year+ in Portland really helped him and when he got his skating up to NHL level, he was able to really fluorish as we saw last season.
I've only ever seen Hutchings play once and it was in this years playoffs versus Missasauga. I can tell you one thing about the kid, he can sure shoot a puck and has excellant goal scoring instincts. Sort of reminds me of Brad Boyes.
Maybe half the prospects out there should just hang up their skates and hit the books. Don't sound so knowledgeably hopeless. Of course a player can improve his game.
I didn't say there was no chance for any improvement at all. Of course players can improve to varying degrees with hard work. That said, you can only do so much with what you are given and players don't tend to make massive improvements with regard to foot speed late in the development process. You can't train your way into being a great skater if you don't have that genetic ability in the first place.
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Another thing i remember about Hanowski is that he scores in close. He was not a pur PP floater. He will get in there and het dirty. To be fair class A MN hockey does not possess the same D men as AA hockey.
The question will be how he handles it when he doesn't have the size/reach advantage any longer like he had most games in high school. Particularly with the schedule he had where most opponents had little to no size or depth. He could get away with scoring in close in high school because he could ward off players from teams that rarely had any size on defense. He is moving up to a level now where other teams will have opposing defenseman that are not only his size (or bigger) but also skate better than him. We'll see how he adapts to it. I suspect he will do OK in man advantage situations but I would bet he struggles at full strength when one on one battles become more important.
I disagree. One needs only to look towards Anaheim and players like Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry who all made significant improvements in their speed at an even older age. It can be done but it takes a good coach and tremendous effort.
Absolutely. Watching Bobby skate in Owen Sound was like watching someone churn butter at times, he had this hunched-over style and really lugged around the ice.
Joe Pavelski in San Jose is a good example as well. He lacked speed in college, but really improved his skating as a pro and now he's pretty quick.
I didn't say there was no chance for any improvement at all. Of course players can improve to varying degrees with hard work. That said, you can only do so much with what you are given and players don't tend to make massive improvements with regard to foot speed late in the development process. You can't train your way into being a great skater if you don't have that genetic ability in the first place.
I must've missed the part where someone claimed that Hanowski was going to become a great skater. All anyone here said is that skating deficiencies can be addressed and overcome, and then they listed several players who've done just that.
The question will be how he handles it when he doesn't have the size/reach advantage any longer like he had most games in high school. Particularly with the schedule he had where most opponents had little to no size or depth. He could get away with scoring in close in high school because he could ward off players from teams that rarely had any size on defense. He is moving up to a level now where other teams will have opposing defenseman that are not only his size (or bigger) but also skate better than him. We'll see how he adapts to it. I suspect he will do OK in man advantage situations but I would bet he struggles at full strength when one on one battles become more important.
I've watched him play quite a bit. Even in the WCHA, he'll have quicker hands than 80% of his opponents. In other words, he'll win puck battles without having to use his size much. He was a master thief in high school, and I imagine he'll pick a few pockets in college too... just to a lesser extent. The difference will be that all those turnovers won't result in breakaways but quite a few of them could be assists. To sum up, I think most of his assists will be 5 on 5 and his goals will be on the PP. His +/- will probably suck his first two years.
I know I sound optomistic to anybody but an SCSU or Pens fan, but I'll stick my neck out and predict about 12 goals and 12 assists (in about 40 games) for Ben's first season if he ends up on the second PP unit... more if he makes the first. That total may seem low, but it's better than most 2nd rounders do thier first season in the WCHA.
I love how people think a highschool kid that is now going to play in the NCAA is already as good as he will ever be.
Apparently they've never heard of training camps, off season work-outs, the AHL...progression, strength & conditioning coaches/camps. Luca Caputi was slow in Juniors, coaches said lose some weight, he did and he looks like he is quicker than last year.
Btw....When Crosby was interviewed about how he was in juniors, he mentioned that people said he wasn't fast enough, so he worked on it and hasn't stopped working on it since.
So seriously, take the negativity to another thread, these kids have a bright future ahead of them if they want to put in the work.
I've watched him play quite a bit. Even in the WCHA, he'll have quicker hands than 80% of his opponents.
I guess I have seen a different player than you have in the occasions I have watched him. Especially when I watched him in New Hope in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League or when the opposing talent and game pace were increased.
A great example is when he faced Breck at the state tournament. It was arguably the only HS opponent he faced all last year that had the kind of depth or player quality that many good Twin Cities Class AA teams have. In that game, he was pretty much shut down and really didn’t threaten much offensively. The time and space was no longer abundant and I didn’t see a guy with hands better than most college players in the top conference in college hockey. It seemed like he was a bit lost without the usual advantages he had throughout his high school season. That doesn’t bode well in my eyes when the playing level he faces this season goes up a couple of notches from what he has faced in high school.
I do think he could have a bit success on the power play unit as a first year player when the opponent isn’t going to be able to press him as much. But I think he will find the going difficult outside of that.
