Kudos to Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff: he spotted Simon Edvinsson’s Q and A with Norra Halland’s Christian Johansson, which was first pointed out by Red Wings Prospects on Twitter.
Duff got past the paywall to share the article’s content with us this morning. Duff reports that Edvinsson’s trying to gain weight, and that he’s promising to bring a better mental outlook to his first full NHL season:
”I like the small ice and I’m starting to get a grip on things,” Edvinsson explained to writer Christian Johansson of Swedish media outlet Norra Halland. “I feel great because I know what I need to work on to grow my game.”
Edvinsson felt much different in the NHL last season than he did the previous season. That was during a nine-game stint in Detroit.
”I was more ready,” he said. “I knew what I was getting into. When I got called up I had a confidence I didn’t have the first season.”
He’s of the opinion that a big step in that direction was in learning how to deal with and overcome the mental blocks that often hinder young players making the adjustment to the NHL.
”About 80-85% is the mental side,” Edvinsson said. “Being in the present. With the right frame of mind playing becomes easy.”
Duff continues, and I have to give Edvinsson credit for changing his outlook, too.
He admittedly came over to North America not assuming that he needed to work hard on playing defense; last year, he talked about learning to overcome his “bad attitude” during his first campaign, and he promised to work harder; this year, coming over to the U.S. at 220 pounds, with a serious frame of mind, is excellent.
Sometimes we forget that the most apparently mature players on the ice are still very young human beings, and they need a season or two to develop both on the ice and between the ears.
That’s why the Red Wings afford most of their young prospects a season or two in Grand Rapids to “learn the ropes” of professional hockey, whether we’re talking about the physical toughness necessary to battle men putting dinner on the table by checking young punks into the boards, or finding the mental fortitude to eat and sleep right when you’re playing 2 or 3 games in 3 nights, with bus rides in between games.
It’s not easy to become an NHL player; the Wings have had a few Europeans “go home” in the middle of a punishing AHL season, and more than a few of the Wings’ first and second-round draft picks under Ken Holland–and Steve Yzerman–didn’t pan out over the last decade, unable to “make the jump” to the NHL.
Doing that takes a mastery of the physical, mental and on-ice developmental aspects of the game, all coming toward a nexus of those three skill sets.
The more committed Edvinsson is to mastering the physical and mental aspects of the game, the more likely he is to sort out his tremendously naturally-gifted on-ice skating and playmaking skills.