If you read or listen to any sort of hockey prospect analysis — mainly so you can be really-extremely cool to fellow hockey fans and appear to be on the cutting edge of knowledge, and to develop opinions about players while watching the lengthy draft coverage every summer — you know that skating can be a boom-or-bust attribute for any young player. Some forwards or defensemen can have all the stickhandling, shooting ability, and skill in the world, but if they can’t move around the ice in an efficient way, then they will drop significantly in any rankings.
Now, imagine if that was the main attribute of a defenseman and some might say that they are simply the best at skating among the hundreds of draft-eligible kids this year.