Owen Power leads the NHL in even strength points for defenseman

[GoPuckYourself]

On 11/23/2024 at 10:23 PM, Big Guava said:

Something that was interesting was an interview with Rob Ray earlier in the week on WGR and he said he was talking with Power and he told him that it's been something he has had to work on learning again because when he was growing up playing he couldn't do that because he was so much bigger and stronger than everyone else that he would always get called for penalties if he tried to play physical, so he had to not do that or else he would spend the whole game in the box.

Said he is having to re-learn a lot of the physical game and how to bring that back into play.

I almost spit out my coffee when I heard that, what a crock of *****. What league or coach would tell their biggest player to stop using his size to his advantage? Maybe in the peewee leagues is when it started and he just never did it again. I don't think physicality is a skill to work on I'm pretty sure it's just in you, maybe you can but I've never hear a HC ever say we had to teach him how to be physical but maybe I'm wrong, it wouldn't be the first time.

[LTS]

1 hour ago, GoPuckYourself said:

I almost spit out my coffee when I heard that, what a crock of *****. What league or coach would tell their biggest player to stop using his size to his advantage? Maybe in the peewee leagues is when it started and he just never did it again. I don't think physicality is a skill to work on I'm pretty sure it's just in you, maybe you can but I've never hear a HC ever say we had to teach him how to be physical but maybe I'm wrong, it wouldn't be the first time.

I'm going to refute this.  When I was coaching youth leagues there were plenty of kids who had to NOT be physical because they would get penalties, all the time. I had a few of them. Where smaller kids can battle hard and learn the physical aspects a lot of larger kids don't. Certainly that can change as they get into high school and higher level leagues and as the size differences iron out.  However, it's not unreasonable to think that a skilled, larger player, would not be coached to be more physical because they were having great success with their current game.

So, look at Owen Power.  What made him a #1 draft pick?  Was it his size? Certainly.  Was it his physicality? No, not even close. Perhaps there was a belief he would be more physical but it was not in his draft profiles. https://media.nhl.com/site/vasset/public/attachments/2021/05/14983/ProspectBios2021.pdf

Power was prized for using his size for offense and moving the puck, not for hitting.

As far as the Hedman comparison goes, he's about 20 pounds lighter. I don't know what Hedman was when he entered the draft (searched quickly but only got current metrics). Is it unreasonable to think Power could get to 240?  Not at all. At that point he will have weight on people.

Right now Hedman is the 4th heaviest player and 5th tallest in the league (6'7 245lbs).

Power is tied for 10th in height with 19 other players and he's tied for 42nd in weight at 226lbs, tied with Marcus Foligno (6'3), Josh Anderson (6'3), Matthieu Oliver (6'1) and Vincent Desharnais (6'7).

And yes, all of this I still acknowledge that Power COULD play more physical.