Hagelin is fast, Gaborik has insane acceleration, but McDonagh looks like the best skater out there usually. Speed, lateral movement, accelerating and decelerating while skating backwards... as a defenseman, ive been impressed since his first game. He matches the speed of the other top players like Kovalchuk perfectly. It's really hard to do.
In terms of overall skating it's McDonagh. He's pivoting and skating backwards way more then the other two. Gaborik hasn't displayed his speed as much as he used to in Minnesota, he picks his spots now.
McDonagh can jet up the ice forwards, defenseman just don't have nearly as many opportunities.
Best does not equal fast. The title is misleading. The fastest is Hagelin, no doubt but the best skater out of the three mentioned is McDonagh.
I chose best because like you said it does not equal fastest. Whoever the fastest skater is isn't really an opinion. I wanted posters to bring in their own opinions and considerations and their owns standards of what makes a good skater.
Gabbys acceleration is unreal. Hagelin has more endurance. i think they are probably a draw overall speed wise. ill give the edge to Hagelin since he can go at his top speed a LOT longer than Gabby can.
I would go with McDonagh. He might not be quite as fast as Gaborik or Hagelin but he's not too far away and in the other areas of back and lateral skating he just blows the competition away.
Gabby is a ridiculous skater, Haggy is fast and McD is smooth. Gabby does it all.
But the good thing to note is that great skating and hard hitting are becoming the definition of this team. Many of our future prospects, including Kreider, will add to this definition, not detract from it.
If I didn't work out for a year and then hit the gym for 12 hours straight, the next day I would wake up and play with half the stiffness of Gabby. Are people really oblivious to this? Talk about not being able to analyze a player aside from the stat sheet.
If I didn't work out for a year and then hit the gym for 12 hours straight, the next day I would wake up and play with half the stiffness of Gabby. Are people really oblivious to this? Talk about not being able to analyze a player aside from the stat sheet.
Too many double negatives or triple positives or something...interpreter? Good or bad??
