Paajarvi is offensively brain dead. He reminds me of Kelly Buchberger.. go wide.. shoot wide. Except Bucky would charge the net for some greasy goals.. and fight... and well he's actually the comlete opposite of Buchberger except he goes wide and shoots.
I'm also in agreement that the creativity that makes the game special is being coached out of it. Playing position and percentages often trumps skill in hockey unfortunately. I also think the equipment is responsible too. Goalies with trappers the size of texas.. god everything a goalie wears. Even the players equipment too though. Just makes for less room and a bunch more goalies standing in front of shots.
Not great. He's like Jovanovski was; a great athlete with excellent physical tools and a questionable hockey IQ.
On the defensive side his hockey iq was fairly strong last season, was reading plays and responding very well. Seemed like his issues were related to confidence earlier in his career.
On the defensive side his hockey iq was fairly strong last season, was reading plays and responding very well. Seemed like his issues were related to confidence earlier in his career.
He did look better last season than ever before, but I still find his physical tools to be his biggest assets and they're clearly more developed than the mental side of his game at this point.
No. If Pajaarvi had good vision / hockey IQ he'd be an NHL allstar. He's got the speed, size, and talent to be a star, but has horrible offensively creativity / vision.
Wow you guys have it wrong. Heavier coaching and better goaltending equipment actually made cerebal players more desired. Think about it logically, if it's harder to score goals then you need more creative players to get the team to succeed. Before the introduction of the trap and the change in goalie equipment it was easier for a player to just skate to the other team's zone and take a slapshot past a floundering goaltender. Yea real creative . Also where did this dumb myth come from that coaches are there to hinder offense and employ trap-like systems? Systems are more complex than that. Yea a lot of coaches stress the importance of defense, but there is a lot of coaches that encourage offense and creativity: Laviolette, Maclean, and Boudreau to name a few.
Having watched Zib a bunch of times, I partially agree. Offensively, he lacks creativity and hockey IQ. He's got a great skillset (hands, speed, heavy shot), but isn't creative, and only seems to score on spectacular plays (breakaways, one timers).
However, when playing centre, he seems to have great awareness and IQ in the defensive zone. Bingo has been using him as a top penalty-killer, even though when he has the puck, he clearly hasn't adjusted to the small ice. However, defensively, his instincts are very good.
The Mike Fisher comparison is apt. I think Zibby will become a very good shutdown centre. 15-20 goals thinking he should have more because of the skillset. But big and fast and aware defensively = excellent checking centre. He should have a very long productive NHL career. Just not what you'd expect from the 6th overall pick. He should have gone 10th to 12th like projected. At least he's not a pure offensive guy whose skills don't translate to the NHL or is soft and completely busts. Still a very useful player.
Theres no hockey IQ anymore for a majority of players.
They replaced that with discipline and systems. But i guess you could argue that hockey IQ is what separates the elite from everyone else
Hockey IQ still allows for wiggle room within the system. A dude can play a system perfectly, but the coach's system isn't going to say "pass right now because there's an open lane". There's always some level of decision making involved, and it definitely separates similarly talented guys by a line or two.
Hockey IQ still allows for wiggle room within the system. A dude can play a system perfectly, but the coach's system isn't going to say "pass right now because there's an open lane". There's always some level of decision making involved, and it definitely separates similarly talented guys by a line or two.
I think good coaches will incorporate elite players into their systems (especially on the powerplay since it's more of a set-piece). For example, the Oilers often set up RNH on the right half-wall and position the other players to take advantage of his vision / hockey IQ (he's basically got 5 options at any time instead of the standard 2-3).
. Also where did this dumb myth come from that coaches are there to hinder offense and employ trap-like systems? Systems are more complex than that. Yea a lot of coaches stress the importance of defense, but there is a lot of coaches that encourage offense and creativity: Laviolette, Maclean, and Boudreau to name a few.
