“ Different players get different kinds of pressure, too.( Laine) will often have to come a bit lower because he’ ll draw pressure with him, and when that D comes down, the skill would be for him to take that puck off his toe and just pop it to the middle. It’ s a hard skill and anybody who’ s young and wants to be a player, it’ s a skill that I’ d highly recommend you learn how to do. Even at this level, every day at the end of practice, we’ ll grab a couple guys and just practice that for a few minutes.
“ How we work on this is we’ ll do some hard rims, we’ ll purposefully bounce pucks, we’ ll put them in their feet or six inches off the ground … It’ s all game situations, so you’ re not always getting a perfect pass. We want them to learn how to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations.”
Woodcroft has echoed that message throughout this career, pushing both pros and amateurs alike to get out of their comfort zone, add to their toolbox and increase their value to the team for reasons like this, in times of adversity.
‘ Don’ t be afraid to try something new.’
“ You have to give credit to those guys for wanting to play that way. They’ ve been given a responsibility and have taken that challenge head on,” Wheeler said.“ We went on the road and what was the first thing Edmonton did? They threw( Connor) McDavid out there at us. What’ s the first thing Colorado tries to do the next night? They tried to throw( Nathan) MacKinnon at us. … You’ re not going to get
any tougher matchups than that in the league and those guys did an outstanding job – clean slates in both games.
“ A lot of offensive guys just want to score all the time, but those guys have been great defensively and have helped me out a ton.”
Laine, who remember is just 19, says playing with the captain has opened his eyes in more ways than one.
“ His work ethic is incredible,” he said of Wheeler.“ He’ s always skating as fast as he can and he’ s winning all the battles. … On the bench, he always teaches me how to be better the next shift. You always want to sit close to him because he’ s such a positive guy and always has a different view of things on the ice. He knows a lot about this game, so I need to listen to him and try to learn.”
It’ s good advice for any player, young or old.
“ Unless you’ re an elite player coming to a new team, you’ re going to be slotted into different roles, so the ability to see the game as a centre, to see the game on the strong or weak side as a winger, those are all part of the puzzle to make you a more complete player,” Woodcroft said.
“ That makes you so valuable to your team on so many levels.”
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