His creativity really suffered, scoring 4.33 ppg at ES after the 4 nations break.
Torts was trying to teach him when to take chances, the goal is not to score, but to outscore the other team.
You don't leave your team 4 on 5 to cherry pick, you have to learn to pick your spots.
The same way he taught Brink what you do when you don't have the puck is as important as what you do when you do have the puck - because good off puck play gets you the puck back.
I'd also point out the game is faster now, the average speed of forwards has probably increase 0.25 MPH over the last decade with enforcement of rules and a move to slightly smaller, faster players. Where you really see this is bottom six players, fewer slugs, more guys like Poehling, who lacks the skills for top six but who can skate and harass top players on the forecheck. So they're not as intimidated by skilled players as slugs used to be b/c they have makeup speed.
