Your game in ten:
1. It’s fun to think back to 2015-16 Frederik Gauthier and compare it to the Goat we see today. When he first turned pro, the Marlies/Leafs’ development objectives with Gauthier were to:
- Improve his overall puckhandling ability — particularly making plays/receiving pucks on his backhand
- Improve his ability to generate speed through the neutral zone and cross over while skating. In junior, he often skated the entire length of the neutral zone in linear strides. Combined with weak puck skills, it meant Gauthier was limited to dumping in pucks and couldn’t impact the game much offensively
- Continue to hone his faceoff and PK abilities
This clip below is a really good demonstration of his progress in areas 1 and 2:
What a play from Gauthier off the draw.