Frm markhmasters, Mark Hunter on top NHL draft prospects, WJC memories. MORE:
actually made his NHL debut this season for the injury-ravaged Blue Jackets. We know how fast he is, but he's spoken about getting his hands to catch up to his feet. Where is he in that process?"Some players take another step after a big tournament and find confidence in themselves to put everything together and I think he calmed down and found calmness in his game.
He let his hands do more work with his legs and put it all together. First half, sometimes he was inconsistent, being too wild on the ice and then at the World Juniors he was excellent. He really took steps in that tournament and getting better and better every game and he came back afterwards in London and was excellent – maybe the best player in the OHL after the World Juniors. So, he really came back confident and you couldn't get the puck away from him. He had confidence in his hands and legs at the same time. I sometimes think he loses some confidence with his hands and where to go. Well, he had it all figured out. He was excellent in the second half." "I think they'll have a hard time keeping him out of the lineup. We talked to [Jackets coach John Tortorella] after he went up there and Torts said, 'His calmness has come to another level.' Any good NHL player has to feel the time you have and don't have on the ice, and I think he's figured that out and how much time he has to make a play. The good players can figure that out quicker and he's figured that out. I'd be shocked if he isn't playing for Columbus during the playoffs.""Relationships that we built over that time ... [with] a lot of players like. You see a young man like that with his character and you just know he's going to be an excellent player in the National Hockey League. And Bowen Byram, who played through being sick in the last game. He was really sick and showed a lot of will to win to do that and that will help him out at the next level. So, there's a lot of relationships there. Over time you see guys, the training staff, and all the people that were involved with Hockey Canada and, you know what? It's a group where everyone worked together and there were no cliques or different agendas and I think that's so important to any team. You need to have everyone pushing in the same direction." After waiting so long for that first World Juniors opportunity and then winning gold, were you and Dale interested in coming back for another run? "We did have some interest. We talked about it, but it was such a high ride and we had so much fun then you go, 'Can you duplicate that again?' And we didn't know, so we just said, 'Let's take a back seat here.' We got the Bear [Andre Tourigny] who will do a great job and he deserves that chance. Hockey Canada is in good hands." s coach Andre Tourigny served as an assistant last year and, as you mentioned, now takes over as head coach. From your perspective, what makes him a good coach? "Technically he's strong, of course, but I just take that for granted. His communication skills are excellent, and everybody knows where they stand with him. I think that's important in a short tournament, because everybody needs to know what the pecking order is and where they're going to play. Are they third line or second line or first line? Are they on the top power play? First penalty kill? I know Bear will get that sorted out quickly and the quicker you sort that out the better your team is."
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