One of the more insightful moments from this year's Ottawa Senators development camp occurred when Sam Gagner, the team's new director of player development, discussed hockey IQ.

As part of last week's off-ice training, the Senators led players through a variety of exercises designed to target areas for self-improvement. There were workouts for strength and conditioning, as well as seminars on injury prevention, sports psychology, and personalized training methods.

Most interestingly, there was a seminar focusing on hockey IQ. Gagner elaborated on that seminar during a media scrum following the first day's on-ice activities.

"It's one of those things where people think that hockey IQ is just something that you have or you don't," Gagner explained. "In my experience over the time I was playing, I felt like that was always a strength of mine, but I felt like it developed as I became an older player in the league.

"It's because I worked at it. I watch a lot of hockey, and you see a lot of trends in the way the game's going. If you watch enough of it, you start to see the puck always goes to a certain location.

"Or, you watch a guy like Kucherov and the way he picks up a puck off the wall. It looks like he has eyes in the back of his head. But, it's really that he's prepared for it because he's been scanning. He understands where the pressure is coming from. So, I believe those things can be taught, and I believe that it obviously comes easier for some guys. 

"But, it's one of those things that I want to work with the players on to help them develop that. The best players in the game today are the ones who think the game the best (and process the) quickest. If you can start to develop that in players, it rounds out their game and makes them better."

It is a more layered philosophy on player development, and it is encouraging to see the organization have bright individuals like Gagner and amateur scout Andrew Gordon involved in it. Rather than accept something like hockey IQ as a finished product, the organization refuses to buy into that conventional thought.

If the organization is going to take a marked step forward, it will need to rely on its player development staff to churn out more polished talent. Talent that the team can use as trade chips or as inexpensive alternatives once older and more expensive assets price themselves out of the market.

It is a testament to the commitment of Sens ownership to invest the resources needed to improve the organization from within.

By Graeme Nichols
The Hockey News/Ottawa

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