VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- There are days to critique and days to celebrate, and I dare say the NHL Draft's first round definitely files under the latter.
It's happened more than once at one of these things that, even as the grinning teenager hears his name called, hugs mom and dad, awkwardly shakes the hand of the agent, then strides up to the stage, the giant scoreboard overhead shows the TV broadcast with a blaring chyron such as LACKS HOCKEY IQ or QUESTIONABLE CHARACTER or LISTENS TO DAVE MATTHEWS BAND or other needlessly derogatory assessments.
There are times for that sort of thing -- no, not DMB, not ever -- and there are times to let the kid have his moment.
This draft that opens here tonight, 8 p.m. Eastern, will do so with two extraordinary kids taken right off the top: Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko. And before one of them gets dispatched to Newark, the other to New York, let's simply enjoy a bit of the best from both:
That's Hughes, of course, skating with the U.S. national team in the World Junior Championships this past winter and through pretty much the entirety of the Canadian roster en route to a peanut-butter finish.
Which is fine. It's a fantastic goal on its face.
But what's fun about special players is to isolate on special things they do. And what's special in the above sequence is the last backhand touch Hughes puts on the puck. Go back up and take another look. As he initially takes the pass that's a bit behind him, he smartly reads the landscape ahead, with two left-handed defenders in his way, then tucks his left shoulder and protects the puck accordingly.
And then ... yeah, that's what it looks like: He passes to himself. He touches the puck ever so slightly on that backhand, enough to navigate it away from those swinging sticks, yet puts it in a place where he knows he can recollect quickly ... and then roofs it blocker-side.
Scouts witness stuff like that, then stop wasting their time taking notes.
This is cool, too, if not as unusual:
Wow, the softness in that lift.
Sidney Crosby's got the most productive backhand in hockey history and, thus, the best. It should be part of his plaque in the Hall of Fame. But in looking solely at this Hughes highlight, I'm reminded more of Joe Sakic, who'd get possession in places just like that and make the scoring of the goal look exactly that easy.
Anyone who's ever played the game hates people who can do this. I'm just saying.
Moving on to Kakko and a far more familiar face:
You bet, that's Matt Murray. Kakko's rush up the prospect rankings came while playing among adults in Finland's top league and, in this case, with the national team in the recent World Championships in Slovakia. The Finns won it all, and they did so in large part because Kakko created offense like that.
First comes the burst at the blue line to split the Canada defense. Then the continuing control of the puck despite the machete attack from behind. Then he backhands it by Murray even though, as the super-slo-mo illustrates, Murray does quite well to get his left pad and skate down-and-across after Kakko's shoulder drop.
But again, this is about what's special. And what's special in the above sequence can be found by watching nothing more than his left skate. Go back up and do that. I'll wait here.
See it?
That's a 6-foot-2, 190-pound frame steaming ahead at full-throttle, only to violently alter his course to get around Murray. On one blade. The right toe makes contact with the ice only for a split-second.
One more, and it's not special:
Learn how to do hard labor, and one never goes hungry.
That's Kakko against the U.S., and he's not exactly hanging around the perimeter. He tracks the wrister from the right point, sneaks behind the defense to the far post, angles his body for the backhander, then buries it on the second crack. The emotion, the magnitude of the moment, the energy, the awareness to skate way back to the right point to Henri Jokiharju, the teammate who made it happen by getting his shot through ... all wonderful to watch from a player with such innate skill.
Because what that tells the scout is that he'll stay hungry and get even better.
Maybe I shouldn't have shown you the one on Murray, huh?
Anyway, for much more on these players, today's Grind includes my exchanges with both of them on a boat on Vancouver's Bayshore harbor Thursday.
