The Hockey PDOcast - Nikolaj Ehlers, Gabe Vilardi, and the Jets Top Line

Episode Date: January 16, 2024

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Darryl Belfry to break down the tape on Nikolaj Ehlers and Gabe Vilardi. They talk about how their unique skill sets, how they've complemented each other so well, and why they're creating such phenomenal results for the Jets this season. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the HockeyPEDEOCast. My name is Dimitra Filippovich and joining me once again for our weekly hangout video session. It's my good buddy, Daryl, Daryl. What's going on, man? Now, I'm much excited to get going again, getting these back on the calendar. It's been I was looking forward to this one all week. Yeah, this will be a fun one.

This is one I am particularly, and before we've been anticipating it for a few weeks now, especially with how well the Winnipeg Jets have been playing. And this top line in particular has been their offensive engine behind that inspired play. And now Mark Shafley got banged up recently and he's been out. But that's okay because our focus of today's show was already going to be the combination of Nikolai Eelers and Gabriel Vilarty. And Daryl, in watching them play, it's really entertaining because I can't think of a more oddball pair than the two of them. One guy is sort of this big, lumbering, awkward skater who's much more of a traditional power forward and kind of more methodically moves his weight down the ice and does a lot of his work in small areas, both around and edit on the boards. And then in Nikola Eilers, you have one of the most dynamic skaters in the league who just effortlessly glides up and down the ice.

And so it's really been interesting watching the two of them since they got put together after Kyle Conner's injury around the start of December. just watching them interact with each other on ice, watching them put together these sequences where they're building each other up and stacking plays together towards scoring chances. And it's really been poetic, right? It's been poetry watching them on ice together. And so I think it's going to be really fun today

to dive into what makes them so special. Yeah, I think what you've described is really the more that I studied lines in the NHL, the more that you see those types of odd situations that happen that create a chemistry that you probably wouldn't have anticipated had you not just put it together. Like it's one of those things where you almost have to put it together and stand back. And sometimes we can overthink and figure out these scenarios of who we think could play together and then oftentimes it's it's not like that at all but there are some some interesting

ways in which they lend themselves to each other which is I think some of the best talking points is to not only in watching that line and what they're doing with the lead but and also just appreciating how lines are built how lines are built how they become more effective all that kind of stuff. I think that there's a great discussion on why some of these things work. Well, the two of them together, Eilers and Valardi at 515 this season, they've played 200 minutes together. They're up 18 to 5.5. In that time, they have 58.5% of the shots, 59.4% of the expected goals, and they've given the jets this sort of ice-tilting, territorially dominant line that just building chance after chance. We're going to sort of talk

about how, as you mentioned, these two guys intertwined, right, and how they work together, certainly. But I'll give you the chance here to pick which one you want to start with, because I think we should sort of isolate their individual skills and then eventually work our way towards how they sort of connect and how they intertwine together. Well, like full disclosure, Nick Eilers is one of my favorite players to watch at the NHL. So that's why I think we should start with Volardi, because we get going on Eilers, I might not be able to stop.

It could be the full show. Yeah. It could be very well be. Okay, well, so Valardi, 10 goals, 19 points in 23 full games in season 15 of those 19 points are a 5-1-5. I'll give you a few quick stats here just to highlight how productive he's been because he missed some time. And, you know, he started the year playing with Connor and Shively. Then when he came back, he was playing in a more of a secondary role until getting back on the top line. But there's been 632 players this year with 200 5-1-5 minutes played.

He's seventh in points per hour. He's 11th in goals per hour. only Zach Hyman and Anders Lee generate more high danger chances per minute than he does. And all of the numbers are through the roof with him on the ice. The jets are scoring nearly five goals an hour, which is second out of those 632 skaters. They've been phenomenal with him on the ice. And I just think he's such a fascinating player, right? Because he's, as I described him earlier, he's such an awkward skater when you watch

and move out the ice, but it doesn't really matter. And I think playing with someone like Eilers right now who can do more of the puck transporting and heavy lifting in transition certainly helps him sort of take his time getting to his spots. But I've actually noticed that in transition where he's really shined is he sort of pulls up near the blue line and he does a great job as sort of work in this delayed entry where they pass him the puck and he stops up. He makes a quick little play because he's so good in tights or navigating with the puck around sticks. And then he waits for the trailer or he waits to hit someone crashing the net. And that's something that I think has been a big development for the Jets

this year because they certainly were not a good transition team last year. If you look at any sort of rush-based stat or how much they created off of entries, they were middle of the pack to below average. And this year, they've really taken a step in that department. And Euler certainly plays a big role in how good he is in transition, but that's been the case for years. I think the one big difference this year is having a guy like Volardi who can make some of those passes off of entries and crash the net himself, but it just seems like he's allowing a lot of these sequences to connect together. And I think that's really why they flourished offensively. Yeah, I think you've hit a lot of the important pieces there. What I would also say as it relates to his skating ability is you have

to be careful that you don't judge a fish by his ability to climb a tree. And what I mean by that is he's skating is outstanding in the areas of the ice that they need to be outstanding. And we have to be careful, and I've fallen victim to this many, many times in my career in which I had a certain idea of what a great skater is, and I graded everybody against that. And if they didn't fit that, then of course, then they were not a good skater. What I'll say about Valardi is he is an outstanding mover. And what I've learned over the years is that,

and I've mentioned it a couple of times on this show, is there's a big difference between being able to move and being able to skate. And this Volardi can really move. And so what you see with him is he can transfer his weight. A lot of his best skating is done with him. his body. So in protection, for example, in small areas around the net, he's very good. He can move the puck from one side of his body quickly to the other side of his body effectively,

which is of the ability to move. He separates his upper body and his lower body exceptionally well. But where I think he's exceptional is his ability to handle the puck in his feet. He does an outstanding job of handling the puck in his feet. He can catch a puck in his feet. off the pass. If the puck gets ticked or knocked in any way, he can pull it back up using his feet. He has an ability to be able to adjust to a tip puck and he can catch it in his feet. And many of the goals that he has scored, there's a lot of this type of thing that's happening where he catches the puck in his feet and then he makes another play. That is an ability to move. That's the ability to move. There's an athleticism that goes with that.

Now, this is where, again, he's outstanding in protection. He has an excellent outside weight shift, meaning he can protect the puck, but he can also move while he's in puck protection. And he's excellent, obviously, in contact. And it's not just because he's a big body. It's because he can move really well. He can knife his shoulder in areas to be able to take space when he needs to. And around the net, he is very, very good, which all takes movement quality.

So that's one interesting aspect of it. And I think that that's the best way to describe it is like if you're expecting him to sprint through the neutral zone like Eilers and you're going to grade his skating against that, yeah, he's not a good skater. But if you put him in small space and then you start asking him to handle the puck and you ask him to be able to create some separations that allow him to make plays or buy the extra second of time to score, he's really good at that. Oh, that's a really good point.

It's almost like he's moving around and that's where I said I grade him poorly as a skater when he doesn't have the puck or when he's just sort of doing straight line motion. And then as soon as he gets the puck and he's asked to sort of activate and make a play, it's like a flip switches and all of a sudden he becomes an entirely different. different mover and it becomes much more fluid and you see so much of that. The reason why I noted, because I think we're going to focus so much and rightly so on his play sort of around the net and along the boards and stuff he's done there, I think an underrated quality is what he has brought to them in the transition game. And just to highlight that, there were 20th last year as a

team in entries leading to scoring chances at 515. This year, they're all the way up to third. and it's sort of, it's out of character because I just talked about how he's not the most fluid mover. But those plays he makes with a puck in his feet and tight area around the blue line has connected a lot of them, sprung them for breakaways and two on ones and three on twos. And in particular, I'm sure your defensemen are loving this environment. I've been reading a lot of sort of interviews and quotes from them in recent weeks where it's a much more fun playing environment because that fourth man into the zone now all of a sudden is being rewarded so much more. right. So whether it's a Josh Morrissey or a Neil Pionk or even a Brendan Dillon, all of a sudden

these guys know that if they join the rush and activate as that fourth man into the zone, there's a good chance they're going to get a pass and get a quality rush opportunity off, right? And so they're not necessarily like traditional offensive defensemen the way we think of a kill McCar or Quinn Hughes, but all of a sudden these guys are being put in a spot where they're being encouraged and involved to participate offensively. And we talk all the time about this concept of five mad units or or just making sure the puck is kind of constantly moving and kinetic and inspiring players to keep moving themselves because they actually might get rewarded for it. And that's a concept we're seeing a lot here in Valardi's a big facilitator of that.

Yeah, I also think Valardi is outstanding in the defensive zone wall and making a very tough or contested exit plays, which would facilitate not only just the ability to transport the puck, but also be able to just get them out of the zone and get them into the neutral zone, which then gives them an opportunity to get other types of plays moving. But I think he's an excellent passer too, underrated passer. And I think that that has made a big difference. The other thing is that I think is really interesting, particularly when they play with Shifley, is that Shifley is a right shot.

and yeah, I think it's very interesting because whether they had Kyle Connor or whether they have, or on there, or whether they've had Valardi Connor being a left shot, Valardi being a right shot, and then Eilers being a left shot and Schifley being a right shot. The interesting part about that is that when Schifley was playing on the line, Schifley is outstanding in his ability in the, in the, in the, left corner, left offensive zone corner. And he has the ability to playmate coming up the wall as a right shot. Now you put Valardi at the net and then you have the two lefties, whether it's, whether it be Eilers or Connor, they can play now in offside situations and shoot off the pass, which both of them are extremely proficient. So I think sometimes with the line construction and how lines work.

Certain little idiosyncrasies like that about Shifley being a right shot, centerman, it does have an impact on being able to facilitate players to play off the puck who shoot off the pass and whether it was Connor or now, you know, or Eilers, those guys shoot really well off the pass. And why that becomes important is because now you have a guy like Bilardi who plays at the net. Because he plays at the net, he ties people up at the net. Because he ties people up at the net, what that does is that it allows now the players who want to play on the backside or in shooting off the past situations, it allows them more time and better seams with a guy like Shifley who's accelerating up the wall, which is a very difficult thing to do, to playmate coming up the wall.

and most of the centermen are left-handed. And so oftentimes as a left shot, that's not a puck you're going to get off the pass. But when it's a right shot, centerman who's very good in the corner like a Shifley is, it does open things up. And then you have Valardi, who's at the net, who's very good at understanding both not only screening the goalie, but also he plays really well in rebound situations. He can play the back wall. So in other words, he can release.

off the net and take a cycle on the backside, come out on his forehand, and he can make interior passes himself. There's a lot to be said about those types of little things as to why things work. Well, there was a goal Nikolai Euler scored a couple of weeks ago in Anaheim, and he scores his beautiful goal where he comes in kind of down the right circle and fires one past John Gibson, I believe, and listening to the Ducks broadcast, they're talking about they're like, instantly their goal call was like Winnipeg's best player, Nikolai Eelers scores, right? And I don't disagree. I love Nikolai Eilers, but it was really interesting in watching the celebration after the goal because Vilardi, I believe didn't even get a point on the play.

But if you go back and watch it, he did such a remarkable job of sealing his guy, attracting attention, and then taking Gibson's eyes away in front of the net, that after Eelers scored, all he wanted to do was point at Vilarty and sort of say thank you for his role. in the goal, right? And it encapsulated a lot of those sort of underrated qualities you're mentioning that didn't wind up on the score sheet, but were a big reason for why a guy like Eilers was able to cash in on that play. I mean, his, Valardi's net front play this season has been immaculate, right? The understanding of space, the ability to corral rebounds and pass his off his feet and quickly tap it in past the goalie. It seems like he's always open Darrell.

like I don't the net front area is the most sort of congested right you generally always have at least one defender on you there's typically a bunch of bodies in there and his ability to sort of initiate contact and then pop open for a pass or a rebound and constantly make himself available is is such a great quality for any net front player and he's really shown that time and time again this year right it feels like he is always available back door for a pass or always available to pop open for a tap in regardless of how much attention or how how much the opposing defender is trying to tie him up or box him out physically. I think one of the toughest things to teach in the offensive zone with NHL players is the net play at the net front. It is a really nuanced position and space. And it's, you know, years ago, it used to be just stand there. Make sure you have the goalie's eyes. You're going to take a whole pile of punishment.

Make sure you keep your stick free and you're looking for tips. and such. Now the responsibility of the net front guy is so it's really demanding. Not only do you have to be able to get there on time. You oftentimes need to get underneath the defenseman, which means now you have to preserve space between you and the goalie. So you have to preserve that space to be able to utilize it. Then you have the other issues of the puck is likely going to get rimmed down to you because the cycle used to be in the corner. Now it's not. It's coming behind the net to change sides. So you have to now play the, play the puck on the back wall and be able to pull a puck off the back wall, both on your back hand, your forehand, and be able to make plays

from the back wall. It is, it is a really new and specific. And then, and then that doesn't even talk about the number of pop out plays that you're talking about. So someone else gets a puck. As soon as they go below the goal line, you now have a responsibility to either fall off the goalie's heels where you pop out for for those chances. And so what it requires is it requires feel for not only space, but also the timing of when to do what, how to preserve the space between you and the back wall. So you have the room to be able to take the puck. Because if you go too early, they just push you into the boards. And that no matter how big you are, they just push you in and that's it. So knowing how to preserve that.

that space, getting underneath the D, but then when the shot is taken, being able to be able to spin with the puck or turn with the puck to them, put yourself in a spot where you can make a play, but that you're not on top of the goalie, because so many of the plays require you to move the puck slightly laterally. There is a lot of nuance in being really good at the net, and he is one of those guys. Well, it might be one of the jobs or responsibilities that almost requires the most whatever your definition of hockey IQ or feel for the game is, right? Because there's so many things you have to do, but also you're having to in real time respond to whatever the person with a puck along the half wall or in the slot is doing, right? Not to mention, as you see in some

of these plays, like, Filarity is flashing, setting a flash screen, cutting across the net, and then he has to make himself available to tip the puck or be ready to immediately turn around and gather a rebound and try to put it back home as well, right? Like there's so many moving parts. It used to be just find your biggest most lumbering guy, stick him in front of the net, and have him try to take the goalie's eyes away. And now all of a sudden you have to be so adept at handling the puck in tight, but also being able to sort of encapsulate that movement quality that you mentioned

with the puck in tight in small areas and moving around these sort of menaceous. moving around these delicate areas. Well, one of the interesting parts is if you talk to elite shooters, like top, top end, 40 goal plus guys. So they would have a couple there, like for sure, and like a guy like Kyle Connor, they don't actually love a guy in front of the net. They don't really like that. And they have all the confidence in the world that they can beat a goalie when they're shooting.

What they want is disruption. They don't want you standing there because if you stand there, then you bring a defenseman there. And now these guys, the thing that they covet the most is net to shoot at. So if you're standing in front of the net and they have the puck and you draw another defenseman, the defenseman is also six whatever, six two, 200 pounds, your six to 200 pounds. Plus then you got the goalie. The net is only four foot by six foot. So how much net is really available for this elite shooter to shoot at many times the shooter is the guy that's net front is blocking shots.

If he doesn't know how to handle that area of the ice, he can become counterproductive because he's produced no net to shoot at. And then the pucks are hitting him. And so potential goals are hitting him in the butt. that's not really what an elite shooter wants. What they want you to do is be disruptive. You want to be there, but then at times you need to understand how to, you know, take the goalie's eyes so that he's looking on the other side of you, but then you're sliding to that side, opening up net on the other side.

So when you're at the net, you're taking away one area to open up another. And that requires timing and an ability to understand where an elite shooting. shooter would like to shoot. Like when I'm standing in front of the net and I see the situation, I would need to know, okay, if I'm here and I'm going to slide somewhere, so I'm going to roll off the heels of the goalie. Which side should I go? How do I do that? Like where is the net going to be? Where is the goalie trying to look? Like there's so many things of awareness that you would need to have to become effective. Otherwise, you become really frustrating for guys. who can really score.

Those guys have an ability, particularly when they're shooting off the pass or when they have an opportunity to get downhill and the angles are starting to change and the math equation starts to go berserk. You don't want to be precluded. You want to be adding to that. And what I loved about Valardi is there are so many times

where he has the goalie's eyes and at the perfect time he rolls off the back and now what happens is when the goalie is trying to track and control the puck, he's in the perfect spot. The rebound literally comes right to him and he shoots it. Why? Because he knew where the net was that the guy was going to shoot. If he doesn't read that properly, he rolls to the wrong side of the net.

Now the guy shoots at the other side of the net. Well, the rebounds now on the other side of the net. When you see a guy like Valardi, he gets a lot of tap-ins because he rolled to the right. side because he knew where the guy wanted to shoot. Now it hits the goalie. The goalie makes a save because he's reaching. But it's on that side. The puck gets deadened. It falls right out of his feet. He goes maybe stick to skate to stick or he jams it in or he gets it. But he's there. But he knew that the puck was going to be there because he understands how to play at the net when you're with a elite shooter. And I don't think that that, like it's just not.

that simple that you just stand there in front of the net, it is incredibly nuanced. And I think that any discussion that talks about a Volardi has to talk about his ability to play with elite shooters as the net front guy, which is extremely rare and a highly coveted ability in the NHL. Well, when you combine that with the passing ability, which we just mentioned as well, that's all of a sudden you're working with a pretty good base for playing with a high level shooter, right? You're going to get him the puck and you're also going to create all these additional opportunities. One final note on him and then we're going to move on to Nik Laelers and how he plays into this is you mentioned sort of Bulari's work along the defensive zone wall as well.

And I just wanted to shout that out because last year, you know, he was playing on his King's team that had outrageous defensive metrics all the way throughout their lineup. So it was difficult to know what to make of it. But he graded out about like 90 to 95th percentile in terms of even strength defense impact. And I didn't know what to make of it. And watching him play this year, you can sort of see why that is, right? A lot of these attributes that we're talking about in terms of like the touch, the feel for it, and then sort of the understanding in small areas applies to the net front, but it also applies to the wall as well. And so on the breakout, getting the puck off the wall, but also in the offensive zone, extending some of these possessions,

getting the puck into the middle of ice off of it, off the forecheck, in particular, He's so disruptive with that touch that he has in the reach. He's able to bat pucks down as defensemen are trying to rim it out, knocks it down, protects it, uses his frame to shield the puck, and then all of a sudden gets it to Eelers or Shifley and they're cooking and they're all of a sudden getting second, third opportunities. And so you put that all together. And all I hope for him is that you can stay healthy, right? That's something he's really struggled with throughout his career so far. He hasn't really had a full season in the HL. He's already going to be 25 years old. summary, I believe, I really want him to put it all together and stay on the ice because all of a sudden you're talking about elite net front ability, awesome defensive instincts and impact, passing ability, all of this stuff we mentioned. That is the foundation of a truly special player and you're sort of seeing that in Winnipeg this year in terms of what he's been able to do. Yeah, I think, you know, exactly what you're talking about, ability to field a rim, but in, in in which it often happens in the defensive zone,

and there's so many contested pucks that you have to be able to manage. What he does, and when you have that ability to protect the puck and you have a frame like he has, what it does is it allows you to play with a little bit of poise. And the poise gets converted into plays. And so rather than just getting a defensive zone puck and chipping it out, he's able to get it, field it, accept pressure, show some poise, pop a puck to speed coming through.

Next thing, you know, they're not just out of the zone, they're on the rush. So you take a highly contested puck that should really just be, listen, if you can just chip this out, that would be great. That's not it. He's able to problem solve that to turn it into now a rush four. And that, I think that those types of impacts are, like, you know, you know, you say the skills that he's using in front of the net, those skills are also good on a wall, on the back wall, in the offensive zone. Those skills are also good as a winger with a puck

coming around the board's hot in the D zone that you have to show some poise and make the next play on. So once you have those skills, you can transfer them all around the rink and that's what we're seeing. In terms of injury, I think it's one of the things is that can't be undone. understated is the volume of games that you play and having to play in such heavy, hotly contested areas of the ice against the players that you have to do every night is just very difficult to do at those ages. No matter how big you are at 19, 20, 21 year old, that body, regardless of how physically mature you are for a 19, 20, 21 year old, is very, very, different than the body of a 27, 28, 29 year old. And in terms of its ability to resist a lot

of these things, he's still growing and building. And oftentimes these guys get injured, playing in those highly, hotly contested, heavily physical areas of the ice, which he is doing all the time on a nightly basis. And he's doing it three times a week with travel. I think that that's, it's not surprising that a guy like that would struggle to stay healthy. It's not an easy road to go down. No, it's certainly demanding. I just hope he can, he can stay healthy because like I said, the details in his game for nerds like us are such a treat to watch. It's speaking of a treat to watch. Let's get to Nikola Eilers finally. I've been, I've been waiting. I was born for this moment, Daryl, spending time, just raving about this guy's game. As anyone who's listened to the show,

Renate period of time knows I could not be higher on Nicola Euler's for years now on a permanent basis. He's been one of the most efficient lethal scorers shot chance generators of 515 in the league. And this year, he's finally, because of Kyle Conner's injury, getting a chance to do it in a more featured prominent role, playing with his team's best players in a first line opportunity. And you look now, he leads the Jets and 515 points and 515 goals in the league. He's tied for 17th in 515 points with Austin Matthews. He's tied for 10 in 5-1-5 goals with Phil Foresburg. He's fifth in shots, fourth in shot attempts behind only Owen Tippett, funny enough, David Pasternak and Philip Orsberg, two players we have highlighted in recent weeks on this weekly

show we do. And so this is nothing new for him, but just seeing him do it with this opportunity on this stage and this spotlight and sort of reward the coaching staff for finally entrusting him with it is really cool and really satisfying for someone like myself who's just been pounding the table for years now to see Nikola Eilers playing top line minutes for this team. And hopefully Kyle Conner's coming back now here soon and that's great. And the team can certainly use his skill set. But I hope that doesn't mean that either of a sudden has to take a backseat again because I think he's shown enough this season to make this a full-time thing moving forward. Yeah, like I said on the outset, I'm with you. I think Nikolai,

Eelers has been underrated for years in his ability to drive play. And what's interesting is for the longest time, I had him as one of the best, like, number two guys on a line. In other words, like, he's not really the featured guy, but he's like the second guy, but he's actually the, he's actually the driver. So he's the guy that is driving the play. And that's how I'm, I had him kind of termed. He reminded me a lot of Jaden Schwartz for years was very similar. He was like this underrated guy who had elite skill who was driving things for his team. But now when you see him in a featured situation, I also think that you start to see him that he's not really a number two. He is the guy. Like he can be the guy and I'm with you. I think that whether

Kyle Connor comes back or not, I think there's a way to figure out how those two can co-exist and be able to really take that Jets situation to even bigger levels. But he has every skill, this guy. Eilers has every skill that you can possibly want in a hockey player. He hasn't. Well, it's a bit of a complementary skill set, but it's also, and that's what's been so baffling over the years in terms of their reluctance to sort of use him. in this top line role with team's best players. It's such a complementary skill set in the regard that as a puck transporter and his ability to just take the puck from point A to point B and essentially flip the ice and make it easier for a guy like Mark Schifley, for example,

who doesn't necessarily excel at that. It's such a no-brainer almost. And now seeing it for an extended period of time of 20 plus games, it's like, all right, yeah, this is exactly what I thought it would look like. Let's just keep doing this, right? And it's such a treat to watch. I mean, I don't know what you want to highlight with this game in particular because there's certainly so many attributes that are worthy of attention. But I just think to me that ability to sort of maneuver through the neutral zone and sort of effortlessly make people miss and then get the puck into great age, into high danger areas and greater opportunities is amongst the best and most dynamic in the league. Yeah, I think what he has that I really wanted to focus on is he has a brilliant tactic. acceleration. So, you know, he has, like, when he skates, I think his speed kind of comes out in quickness and separation. Like he, it's like one step and he's gone and he creates the separation.

And then all of a sudden, you know, it's a big problem and he's so threatening. And the tactical aspect of it is, is he's not sprinting around the rink all over the place. Like he's not a jitterbug by any stretch. He's, he times it. He's waiting. He's patient. He understands space. He understands where good ice is. And then when the play starts to develop, he knows where that threatening space is that he needs to go. All of a sudden, it's two steps. He's in that space. He's got the puck and he's gone. And that just kind of describes how he transports pucks and gets out and becomes frightening off the rush, but I also see that in the offensive zone where he has such quick and he can turn on a dime all of a sudden not only the turn creates separation, but

then he gets at one step and he just separates so much. Like it's not even like what I've studied him, I'm like, is it when he takes off, is it that he covers a lot of distance? Because speed is, you know, it's time and distance. So it's not only that he does it quick, but does he cover a lot of space. And that is exactly what it is. Like when he turns and he takes that first step, he covers so much ice that there's just no way to stay with him. And he does it so fast. I think the the intelligence aspect of how he uses his speed is to me the most fascinating talking point when it comes to his skills. Yeah. In my notes, I had zero to 100 where you can almost be in a standing still. or sort of in a more stationary gliding stance

and that all of a sudden he's going as fast as he possibly can, right? And I think that's why he's also so interesting playing with a guy like Valardi. It's similar to the concept we talk about with the combination of Rupa Hintz and Joe Pavelski and Dallas as well, right? Where it's like one guy is just so much quicker than the other, but because of the slower guy's ability to handle pucks and knock pucks down and get the puck into space, all of a sudden it allows that. speed or that acceleration ability to flourish even more in this sort of runway concept, right?

And you see that here where Florida can knock the puck down on the wall, get the puck in a space, and then all of a sudden you have the quickest accelerator in the league getting into open space with it and making something happen. And so that's why I think they've benefited so much from each other. And it's been really, it's a treat to watch, like I said, but it also makes so much more sense when you see it in action. Yeah. And that's where like you, like this part of the issue of where some of the suppression comes from with a guy like him is because if you can think of a guy how well he's thinking the game off the puck. So he's off the puck. He's trying to figure out where his acceleration route is going to be. He's trying to time it

based on what he sees as the next best threat. He has to play with someone who can also see that that is the next best threat and deliver the puck to him with speed. And there's been times where when I've watched him play, one of the first times I've really dug in, he was playing alongside Linae for a large stretch. And what drew me to Eilers was I felt like he was scoring the biggest goals of their season. He had a lot of like the games on the line. There's, you know, five minutes to go and he scores the game tying goal or he scores the game winner.

And he had this stretch that that was occurring. so I went back to watch it. And I was like, I was really intrigued because so many of the best pucks he got were not really passes. They were him anticipating like an area play that allowed him to skate into it. And I had thought at that time, I've obviously grossly underestimated how good this guy is. And I watched him off the pass and I was like,

you know, he's just not getting the puck when he wants it. You see him accelerate off the puck. You're like, he needs it. Now, he wasn't getting it at those times. And to see him now, like, say, playing like on with guys who can deliver the puck, who can play with poise, who can make those types of plays, now he gets those pucks at a higher frequency. Meanwhile, he was already generating these chances before without having that. So now the quality jumps.

So it's not surprising that he's going to take off once the quality jumps. He has people who can deliver the puck when he needs it. And I think with a guy like that who has such a great feel for the tactical acceleration and preserving space and being able to hit the hole at exactly the right time with the right amount of speed to be able to take advantage, you need people who can deliver a puck in those spaces. And in talking through this, I'm wondering now if the reason why his ice time has sort of year by year been so irritatingly low at times is because there's this sort of misunderstanding

of how he's playing or what he's trying to accomplish out there from his coaches as well, right? Because I think a coach can see him is aware of what he's capable of when he's firing at all cylinders and when he's moving as quickly as we see him, right, when he's at his best. And so then all of a sudden there's these shifts where if he doesn't get the puck in those spaces or the opportunity to accelerate doesn't really present itself, he doesn't appear to be moving necessarily as quickly as he's capable of. And then I think a coach can see that and become frustrated with it and think that he's not giving it as all. Or sort of, you know, he needs to take shorter shifts so that he can spend more of them accelerating and moving quickly and conserving that energy.

And then so you get these spots where you look up and he's played 13, 14, 15 minutes. And you're like, how is that possible? He's their most skilled chance creator. Why isn't this guy playing 20, 21, 22 minutes? And so I think that's sort of that impasse between what the play. how the player plays and what the coach is conditioned to look for, I think maybe explains why we get into some of those time on ice qualms. Yeah, I think one of the things that he can be frustrating to watch with is there's many times

where he looks like he's jumped the hole too early and is forced to stop. He's forced to stop. And this happened to him when I was watching, when I first started watching him, like I said, he would jump and I'd be like, okay, he wants the puck now. he's seen this play develop, but I would be going through it frame by frame to see exactly what he's what he's trying to do. And I would then see, okay, he took off at what he thought was the right time. The guy's playing with him doesn't have the capacity to be able to give him that puck at that time. So now he's got to slow down or stop or he skates himself into traffic

in anticipation of getting the puck. So I think he has is a genius as it relates to tactical acceleration, but if he's not playing in situations where the guy can give him the puck, he can appear to be leaving too early and his timing is off. And then that can be frustrating because it looks like he doesn't. It's like he's the genius. He's trying to get there. But then when it plays itself out, it looks like he's not actually the brightest one. You see what I mean? Because he's the one that had to stop. And now he's best, you have this guy who can be electric who stops and starts. You really don't want a guy like Yelers stopping and starting offensively. You want him to find the right time and take off. And I think that that's an area that's interesting

when you're dealing with a guy like that is sometimes these sprinters, which he is a sprinter, they can be accused of being guys that are like they just leave too early. They don't understand timing when in fact they have a higher level of timing and I think that that's where and then the emphasis or the onus gets placed on them well it's up to you then to adjust which is absolutely true it is up to them to adjust but imagine having that ability knowing where that puck should go knowing where that what that chance is going to look like are you going to be the guy that's going to slow down and like wait wait wait no you're going to go and you're going to go and And I think as he was coming through in his younger years, he would just see it and he'd be

trying to get out there to do it. And I think that that's one of those areas that made him maybe a guy that could be frustrating from a coaching perspective. Well, it's interesting hearing you describe that because I often thought that early in the career of someone like Kevin Fiala, that's something he struggled with where he was moving a bit too quickly in relation to everyone else. surround him and maybe even to what would be an optimal speed for himself, right, where he just go, go, go, because he knows he's capable of it and he wants to do that. And then all of a sudden

it would almost take him out of the ideal either shooting or passing windows. And it's interesting to hear you talk about how, I guess it is up to you. The on it's on you to adjust because if you're constantly trying to jam a square peg into a round hole, something has to change. But at the same time, I was sure from their perspective it's like all right well I wish I wasn't the one that had to because I'd do my job the other guys are sort of trailing behind well they see the chances

they could be so another good example of that is Brat in New Jersey he's a really good example of that but now you put him with a guy like Hughes and all of a sudden he all of a sudden he's on time all of a sudden Eelers is on time no he was on time he knew where he needed to go

but now they got to play him with a guy who can get the puck into those areas, it does make a huge difference. And, you know, when you're young, you're expecting, you know, you see what you want. You know, you're just going to go in hopes that that puck is going to go there and not realizing, like, no, you need to adjust. You know, there's only three spots on the top line. You know, and you, you know, so there's only going to be one guy, one winger that's going to play with guy like Shifley. and that unfortunately is not going to be you. So now you're going to play somewhere else in the lineup.

It's playing with a guy now who can find you in those spaces. And I think that's part of the development process with those guys is to actively teach them how to utilize or better utilize their tactical acceleration when they're not in those situations, which it's not always going to break for you optimally. This is a great league. There's lots of good players. Sometimes you've got to wait your turn.

And this Eler's example, Brat is a good example, Fiala of guys who have that explosive skating ability, who understand at a high, high level, you know, who's another really good example of that might be a Stootsla. He's another example of that, where when he's on time, is there anybody more electric?

probably not but when he's not on time where are we do you see what i mean like that he's that could be another perfect example because how much if you go back and you watch him i'll assure you that there will be instances in which he takes off and you're like okay where's he going and then he has to come to a stop and then you see him kind of if they have bad body language which some of them do next thing you know they're like shaking their head and then that's like the kiss of death people don't like that. And that's where sometimes the guys in their youth, because they know what they're trying to do, they can, that's where some of these situations could have. Caprisoff in, in Minnesota, could be another guy that's in that range. And then what happens to a guy instinctually when

they're constantly reevaluating their reads based on their play. So they know they should go there. instinctually they should be going there. The game goes like this. It's so fast. They know they should go there. But now they're like, I don't know if he'd get me the puck. It doesn't look like he's got full control. I better wait, wait, wait, wait.

Now the puck actually goes and the guy's late. Now his timing is off. The game's built on timing. They have an ability to move faster than the play. This is where you get kind of sometimes bogged down in some of these things. And it takes great people around them who have an imagination. to be able to understand how to better utilize these types of players. And it's a very difficult problem because they can get painted with an unfair brush at times.

But then with persistence and eventually the opportunity comes, when it hits, you're like, okay, yeah, that's the guy. And it's not to say that they don't have moments. Like Stutzel is on that team in Ottawa. it's, I mean, obviously going through a lot. And it's very difficult. You could say that their entire season is off kilter. It's off. The timing is off.

With a guy like that who's sprinting around, you're going to see the frustration. But then what's the impact of that if that goes on for a long period of time? And that's why I love what's happened to Eilers, because this Winnipeg team has been building over the last few years. And it feels like he's also been building with them. And that's what's been cool to see. Well, he certainly has.

And I think there's probably a bit of a individual maturation process there as well. And that's why it's so funny, it's such a feedback loop as well, right? Where all of a sudden there's that maturation. You kind of enter your prime. You understand the game a bit more. You understand what's happening and what's at stake. But also all of a sudden, you're on time now if you are playing with better players and things are going while offensively.

And then all of a sudden you see him using that acceleration for less glamorous stuff, right? like chasing down pucks in defensive zone in the neutral zone where it's not necessarily going to lead to a rush chance, but he goes and retrieves a loose puck, gets a back to a defenseman, and then he can go off the ice, and the next line comes on fresh and can move downhill rather than having to chase the puck themselves from behind. And all of us, that the coach sees that and it's like, this is exactly what I want from him. So let's get him back out there with the top guys. And then it just sort of builds and builds and stacks up on itself. And it feels like that's what we've seen in these past 20 games. And,

And voila, you've got individual success from Eelers, and you've got team success from this Jets team that leads the league in point percentage. So this was one of my things for the last couple of years. You can argue, and this is where I go with a guy like Eilers, this is where the mental toughness comes in. So he's on the ice. He sees where the play should go. He sprints to go to that space. The puck doesn't come. He puts on the brakes or loops around, which is if he's mature, he puts on the brakes.

In his younger years, he does a loop, which is that gets knocked out of you pretty quick. So anyways, he stops, comes back. Now he does it again. Same thing happens. Now he does it a third time. He gets rewarded. He gets a chance. So now he thinks he's on his way.

And then there's all these like fits and starts. The mental toughness for players like that is to stay with it. and to make micro adjustments that don't knock them off their instakes. And where a lot of players have a difficulty is they don't have that mental toughness. And some of the mental toughness comes from the support that you have around you, in terms of the people say, hey, keep going. We'll find you. Hey, you keep playing that way or some kind of reinforcement to allow them to do it

instead of having this whole thing get deducted down. And once it gets deducted down and you're not playing with instignt, think player like Eelers, when he's not able to play like that, that's going to be a problem. And that's where that mental toughness comes in. There's a lot of different shades of mental toughness. Being able to stay with the instinct of your game at a time in which it's difficult to do that, that's a shade of mental toughness. And I think Eelers is extremely tough mentally.

I think he's very competitive and he's found a way to be at impact, at times when it hasn't really been all about him. And I think that speaks a lot about the type of player he is. Well, I'm really interested in that concept. And unfortunately, we're out of time today. So we got to put up in it here. But I think next week, when we get back together, we're planning on doing Matt Barzal. And I think we're going to build on some of these concepts we just talked about towards the end with Eilers. And so I'm looking forward to that, Daryl. Everyone go go check you out on Twitter, Belfry hockey, all the cool videos you're posting, everything you do. You're going to be back with us next Tuesday. If you're listening to this, that's great. If you're not watching with us on

YouTube, I recommend watching along because there's a lot of cool clips that'll help you visualize this. And we'll be back with Darrell next Tuesday, I believe. We'll be back with more of the PDO gas later this week. So thank you for listening to us here on the Sportsnet Radio Network.