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‘Looking’ At Dustin Penner
by Paul on 02/03/09 at 06:08 AM ET
Comments (2)
from David Staples of The Cult of Hockey,
...Part of the problem here—a huge part of the problem I suspect—is that Penner simply doesn’t look like a hockey player. Instead, Penner looks pudgy. Chubby, you might even say, or fat, if you were a coach on a losing streak.
His skating stride appears to be leisurely. He ambles more than he churns the ice. Even when he’s making an effective deke, he appears to be doing so in slow motion.
In those rare moments when he does really get it going, when he hammers a shot on net, or uses his size to hammer an opponent into the boards, it only tends to make things worse for Penner, leaving fans to ask: Why can’t he do that every night?
Penner’s main issue is optics, that hockey players aren’t supposed to be pudgy and slow, and when we rate a player like Penner, it’s hard to overlook our strong visceral reaction to his appearance and style of play.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Edmonton Oilers | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Dustin+Penner,
Comments
Weren’t the same things said about guys like Frank Mahovlich and Phil Esposito? Seems to me talk like that died down when people starting seeing their play on the ice and how they were vital components of their team’s success.
Posted by dash_pinched from Rumour Mill Bay on 02/03/09 at 09:38 AM ET
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Stop making excuses for him.
He will never reach the point some thought he would get to. He is not an elite NHL player—he’s not even a good one right now. He’s merely an anonymolus average NHLer. Maybe. Albeit a very rich one.
Posted by Primis on 02/03/09 at 09:19 AM ET