Austin Sutter

And I promise we will get to your story here, Austin, but I like just talking shop a little bit, but as far as McDavid is concerned, and this is usually my argument for him being, and I don't have to make this argument very often, but if you think about it, nobody skates as fast as him, as fast as him, but then he can also stick handle the puck skating as fast as he can.

So it's one of those where it's like, OK, how do you learn to stick handle like that while skating that fast? Well, nobody can skate that fast.

It's almost like he's he's that guy that's like at the moon when we're still trying to figure out how to get there.

So if you really think about it, it's like because I don't think people understand that, like when you're skating fast, there are times where you can create time and space like that.

But if you look at McDavid, he attacks it a lot.

He's one of the best players, I think, about just driving the net without absolutely running the goalies.

But, you know, he's able to do some things that when other people say like, oh, like he, you know, he's the greatest player of all time, which I think he's the most skilled player of all time.

I will go ahead and say that.

But when you watch his game, it's one of those things where it's like, oh, yeah, Most people wouldn't be able to get to where you're at because they simply can't skate as fast as you.

But then you learn how to stick handle the puck and do things within the moves that he can make within, I'd say, five to six feet of the goalie or of the net or next world.

You know, I think a lot of people think, you know, Well, I need to be a sniper and I need to, you know, be able to shoot the puck, which, you know, for for most people you do.

But when you look at how he scores, he simply skates through everybody and then ends up about five to six feet away from the net and then does like he's kind of the king of like the little flip shot over the shoulder, placing it just in the right spot.

Like in I don't know if there's a statistic for this, but if you could have like, OK, this person has scored this many goals.

What was the miles per hour on his shots? mcdavid's got to be kind of towards towards the bottom of that that ratio but it's it's his it's his athleticism and his mindset or his uh uh iq iq if you will that gets him in these positions so he really is an anomaly and there's not a lot of people that can score the same goals that he does they're very they're they're it's almost like he has signature style goals that most people even at you know the top one percent of everybody that plays hockey they're not able to do that

Yeah, I'd, I'd compare them like for some of us older guys, you know, if you're looking at a comparison, like maybe a good one for the Dallas fans would be Mike Medano.

Uh, And I would say, like, with McDavid, the thing that's funny when I watch him play is when he gets the puck, he's going 40 miles an hour or whatever it is.

But somehow, like, everybody is standing flat-footed.

And I think he doesn't get enough credit for his IQ.

I think it's so flashy and it's so overwhelming when you watch him, especially if you watch him live.

It's just like...

I've had the privilege to do so a few times at a couple of playoff games.

And he really takes over a game.

It's incredible to see in person.

But what he does is like, he's very good with understanding the space around him and recognizing that And then timing his speed and getting the puck.

Like I said, when everybody's kind of flat footed, I think there's that famous highlight in Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers where he just blows through everybody.