While meeting with the media to start a new season, NHL coaches, just as Leafs assistant coach Jim Hiller did yesterday, will often mention the banality about stiff competition for jobs at training camp. Often times the media will ask about a player — a high-profile prospect, or a veteran on a tryout agreement — and their chances of making the team, and the coach will respond with a quote about simply taking the best 20 some-odd players.
Coaches aren’t necessarily fibbing to the media or their players when they say the best 20+ players will make the team, but their assessment process is clearly more complicated than the adage sounds.