I'd be happier to see prospect like Grachev work with Underhill as well.
I'd be happier to see the entire team and system work with Underhill. Even skaters like Gaborik could probably get a little tune up to their stride in a one day session. Their stay at the camp would last as needed.
Wolski has the potential to be the top-6 forward the Rangers need. I am fully in support of him trying to prove he can fill that role on this team. He has shown spurts of great play, and perhaps just needs to be a bit more motivated. Well, he is in his contract year, so money could be a huge motivation. It's a good sign he is doing this training that helped Boyle so much last year.
I am NOT in support of buying him out. He is young and will be a RFA after this season, meaning he has value. If he can be traded for some assets, then so be it. Then perhaps the Rangers can go after a UFA top-6 fwd, such as Gagne, Ryder, Leino, Tanguay, Cole, Jokinen, Laich, Brunette, etc... Of course on short-term deals no more than 4 million a year.
She is a figure skater. Given figure skaters are better skaters overall, she can help those who missed that part in their childhood, Boyle and Wolski are both from poor families not able to afford a personal skating coach for the kids. Just keep in mind there will be no sticks, pucks and other attributes of routine hockey skating practice there, so value of this thing isn't there for everyone.
just because wolski is from poland doesnt mean he was poor, and boyle being from a big family also doesnt mean he was poor two pretty baseless conclusions also this training builds their strength and works on their technique. if they made it to the nhl they can skate better than the poor average joe, if the couldnt skate during childhood they wouldnt have made it this far.
Probably, though I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that the Rangers had Barb on the payroll in some capacity. If enough of the players buy into her program, it may behoove the Rangers to do so if they haven't already.
Barb Underhill runs a power skating camp. In addition to Boyler last year, she has also done work with guys from the Ducks and Lightning. Her husband is a part owner of Guelph in the OHL. When she works with the NHL players, she also works with the equipment staffs to make sure everyone's skates are properly fitted and have the appropriate blade profiles.
I think Grachev has excellent straight ahead speed and in general is a pretty solid skater. The part of his game he seems to really be working on is puck pursuit. To me that was always about being able to master quick stops/starts/turns and working in the smaller spaces. I think Grachev would be served well by improving that capability.
Again, I think that's a symptom of the conservative don't-want-to-make-a-mistake-where-am-I-supposed-to-be-positionally mentality we saw during much of his stint in NY - especially in the defensive and neutral zones. The couple of times he got going on the forecheck, however, his pursuit was very good - in fact, on more than one occasion, he completely surprised the defenseman with how quickly he was able to close and it led to multiple opportunities where he played the body and separated the man from the puck. Honestly, it's one of the reasons I remain very excited about him as a prospect.
If you saw him during the second half of the season at HFD, I think this is where you started to see a difference. I didn't get to watch much, but in the bits I saw, you saw a much more active player in puck pursuit - in ALL facets of the game. Giving him time on the PK may have been a contributing factor, because there you pretty much have to be continually moving, especially as a forward. (Just wish Gernander had thought to do it, I dunno, like a year earlier.)
I think this is why regular viewers (in particular, I believe, Jarkko), bloggers and Rangers brass all talked about his improvement in the second half, despite the fact that his numbers - while much better - weren't earthshattering.
Good to see, hope WW is with Rangers next season (looking very likely). If we can land Richards then we have a pretty decent top-6 (Richards, Gabby, Dubi, Ani, Cally and WW).
Stepan should be there too, he was skating in mud at the end of the season.
I feel like Stepan slowed down due to the sheer number of games he played. It's not uncommon for an NCAA player. I don't think he needs Underhill specifically, rather just some continued endurance training.
If Wolski is retained, I hope working with Barb can return him to the 09/10 version with Colorado/Phoenix where he scored about 60 points. We could use that.
no one needs that version of Wolski. Regardless of point totals, you'd be just as well with PAP.
I feel like Stepan slowed down due to the sheer number of games he played. It's not uncommon for an NCAA player. I don't think he needs Underhill specifically, rather just some continued endurance training.
That's what I think too. I think his main problem was physical training, not skating ability.
I feel like Stepan slowed down due to the sheer number of games he played. It's not uncommon for an NCAA player. I don't think he needs Underhill specifically, rather just some continued endurance training.
Ding ding ding. He needs to work on his conditioning. He definitely wore down over the course of the season, which is totally normal for an NCAA player jumping right into the big league.
Inconsiquential news regarding Wolski as far as Im concerned. His speed isnt an issue.
Maybe Underhill can teach him how to skate into the dirty areas of the ice.
I don't know if it's even about his speed or his stride. The guy knows how Tortorella thinks about him. What this falls in line with is what I was curious about for this offseason to begin with: namely that I wanted to see how he prepares for camp. This is really the first step in that and it shows an marked acknowledgement that he needs to improve his game. This is about commitment more than it's about seeing a Boyle-like improvement in his skating next year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by we want cup
Ding ding ding. He needs to work on his conditioning. He definitely wore down over the course of the season, which is totally normal for an NCAA player jumping right into the big league.
He doesn't need to work on his conditioning in the sense I think you mean. While being in absolutely ridiculous shape to start the year and continuing the good habits helps, you can't actively condition yourself in the offseason or the regular season for an 82-game schedule. The only way to condition your body to that is to do it. He did last year and I fully expect it to be less of an issue this year, whether he changes anything in his conditioning regimen or not.
Yeah, that's it. She teaches speed skating. Wolski doesn't need to skate faster. Yeah.
Power skating allows player to skate with less effort or more efficiently. It is ridiculous to assume that that it is directly beneficial for production. Shot is the the most important skill needed to score. Skating is useful, but the skating technique is mostly benefit defensive players. As many know defensemen are the best skaters, then go the defensive forwards. One may not be a good skater to produce. Dino Cicerelli scored tons of goals and was barely able get around the rink, for example. If you need to improve the scoring work on shooting from various positions, improve your passing skills, you vision, stick handling, etc.
When player decides to improve his skating that is an indication of his desire to assume more defensive role on the team. No matter how look at it it is a sign of defeat for the scorer. Boyle did just that when his career was going nowhere. Now Wolski thinks he can do more on 3rd line. May be Rangers told him about it, may be he figured that out on his own. Bottom line: there is nothing exciting about it. Hopefully none of our young kids will need to conclude that they suck and just need somehow to keep their jobs.
I feel like Stepan slowed down due to the sheer number of games he played. It's not uncommon for an NCAA player. I don't think he needs Underhill specifically, rather just some continued endurance training.
Agreed, it looked like he hit a wall in the 2nd half of the season which is why I was even more shocked that he played in the World Championships. Figured it would be best for him just to get some rest after the long season but more experience doesn't hurt.
also this training builds their strength and works on their technique. if they made it to the nhl they can skate better than the poor average joe, if the couldnt skate during childhood they wouldnt have made it this far.
