“ 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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