When you coach junior hockey you get the wool pulled over your eyes constantly. A massive human bordering on mutant status on skates wheels into the dressing room and it's impossible not to get excited about what this over-sized mammal can accomplish on the ice. He's going to run over everybody! No one will take the puck away from him! Intimidation! Grit! Hockey!

And then he gets on the ice and his large bag-of-milk body soaks checks more than it delivers them, his hands might as well be feet, and he can't find his way out of the defensive zone with a map. 

But he can punch!

So dumb. 

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate hard-nosed hockey, probably more than people might think. But I believe hard-nosed hockey can come from any size of player. In fact, some of the softest players I've seen are above average in size. And even then, if they can move the puck and protect it while advancing it up the ice, then it doesn't necessarily matter how large they are. The point is to score goals, right? The point is to win, right? It takes plaers of all types and sizes. 

"It's about details, it's about specifics. Get away from the ambiguities and the cliches."

That's from Scott Wheeler's presentation at TCS Live 2024 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Wheeler breaks down the Dallas Stars recent hits at the draft (if 2017 can be considered recent) - they draft different kinds of players. Jason Robertson is 6'3" and has a 100 point season under his belt. Logan Stankoven is 5'8" in platform shoes and plays a grittier game than Robertson. The Dallas Stars are a perennial contender in the early 2020's, and they have room for both players. They have Matt Duschene, Jamie Benn, Miro Hesikanen - all wildly different players. But their ability to improve the condition of the puck is universal, and it's what managers and scouts should be looking for in every player. 

And it goes both ways. Large players often get accused of being slow. Well, long legs are more efficient than short legs, they just might not look as flashy. 

The point is to vary the type of player in your lineup if you have the ability to do so. Everyone should have a role and however they go about the role doesn't matter. The point is to contribute no matter what you look like. 

Check out this snippet from Wheeler's presentation and view the full video here a membership to The Coaches Site.