[yolo_pinyato_is_dead] Due to the general increase in skating speed league wide (especially from the backend) the correlation between raw skating speed and player impact (i.e. WAR) is lower than it’s ever been. puck skills matter now more than ever, and michkov has them by the bundle

11 comments

1. Anyone suggesting R^2 of ~0.2 is correlation did not go to school lmao

2. He is still slow as balls and needs way better stamina

3. Maybe Michkovs actually too fast and needs more cheesesteaks

4. According to NHL Edge, Michkov is <50 percentile in max skating speed, 22 mph burst, 20 mph bursts and 18mph bursts. That guy is smoking crack calling him above average speed.

5. Mich skates as well as Zegras.

6. don’t need to convince me – send this to Tocchet

7. So because something is more common it makes it less valuable in this case?

   No, sir. In the case of sports if a positive trait is more common throughout the league then it’s a bigger deal to LACK in that specific trait. This is a brain dead take.

   Also if backend skating is even better now then it’s important that your forwards are even BETTER skaters now.

   This is nuts lol

8. Speed is not the main issue. His skating issue is much more nuanced than that. It affects every part of his game. 1) He has a bad habit of not skating with the puck, like full-on feet not moving with the puck. This affects his transition game and his ability at 5v5. It didn’t effect PP as much because staying in a general area works on the PP. but it effects his 5v5 ceiling 2) Same with deking: he’s got the skill to deke but his footwork isn’t dynamic enough to execute at this level just yet. It allows defenders to just take away his body to neutralize his threats 3) On defense he has a terrible habit of taking huge loops. He doesn’t stop on a dot, and push off and get back to his spot, he just takes a loooong loop back into position. It has led to scores from the opposition and It’s something he has to eliminate from his game.

   Good news: this all fixable stuff and he’s super young. If he puts the work in with a skating specialist, his entire game would transform to a whole other level: offense, neautral zone, defense, all of it.

9. Skating speed is up because everyone realizes how important it is. There are some flaws in the thinking of this headline/correlation conclusion.

   Speed is lower correlated now because speed is now a prerequisite. The only players without good speed to break into the league have to be exceptional at other things (think foerster with his shot and defensive stick). The players that are good but not fast don’t even make it to nhl now

10. I’m not arguing with the data here, but it’s plainly obvious watching Michkov that he is slow and would benefit greatly from the time and space he’d gain by being faster.

11. This thread is hilarious.