The following article is lifted in it's entirety from Hockey's Future, "Home of the #1 Hockey Prospects Site" where it appeared as 'Eagle Eyes'-Scouting Skating- on June. 8, 1999

Ask fans or scouts what they mean when they say that a player is a 'good skater' and nine out of ten of them will tell you something like 'he's fast' or that he 'skates effortlessly'. If hockey were short-track speed skating or figure skating we could stop the discussion right here but, in fact, being a good skater in hockey means much more than just having speed or looking pretty.

Practice speed vs. Game speed:

Sure, a player may do a fast lap, but can he do it while controlling a puck? The difference between minor league and NHL speedsters is often precisely that- minor league speedsters often don't have the fast hands to match their leg speed. They often have to slow down the play in order to make a play, negating the advantage they had created with their leg speed.

Others who have great leg speed have slow brains. That is, when the world is moving faster they are unable to make intelligent decisions with the puck. How many times have I seen a guy with great leg speed gain open ice in the attacking zone only to make a dumb play because he couldn't read the defence or his teammates at that tempo.

In short, a good hockey skater has to use his skating intelligently. He has to know how and when to break for holes, how and when to take on an opposing player, how and when to go outside/inside/break for the net, how to exploit open ice, how and when to pinch or plug the gap. A failure to use speed intelligently indicates that a player is unlikely to become anything more than a chaser, a reactive player who flies all over the rink using up all his energy while actually achieving very little. You may project this kind of player as a future forechecker or penalty killer but he will be unlikely to see duty beyond the third or forth lines.

Types of speed:

a) Quickness:
Quickness is the ability to go a short distance from A to B from a starting or gliding position. It is much like the first ten or twenty metres in a sprint. In hockey, quick spurts over short distances are much more common than end to end rushes, so a player with great quickness can have a greater overall effect on the outcome of a game. Alertness, short-twitch muscles and anticipation are all a part of developing or having quickness. Those guys who tend to 'come from nowhere' within a few feet are the players who have this quality and are the most frustrating to defend against.

b) Footspeed:
Footspeed is a part of quickness but carries some distinct characteristics too. If you watch Paul Kariya suddenly change directions of Sergei Samsonov curl in from a corner you are seeing world-class footspeed, the ability to dance, twist and turn in a small space. Such players are unpredictable and usually excellent at eluding defenders and making space for themselves and teammates. Viewers often remark at such players' stickhandling skills but in fact the moves would go nowhere without great footspeed. Cliff Ronning is a classic example of a player who has always lived by his footspeed, despite not having great straightaway speed. And yes, when Gretzky has been characterized as not being fast, the critics must mean 'straightaway' fast because Gretzky has excellent footspeed.

c) Agility:
Too often skating is talked about as if it meant only forward skating just as speed is falsely confused with unencumbered lap speed. Hockey is played in all directions so a player's agility must be appraised independently of his speed. Agility refers to a player's ability to move laterally, go from forwards to backwards and to make sudden turns of various degrees. I've often noticed minor hockey players working on their raw speed as opposed to increasing their agility wit the result that they are often out of position in the games, unable to make the sudden shifts that the nature of the game demands smoothly- again this can often be the line between a career minor leaguer and an NHL star. I should also note that when observers often remark upon the skating ability of European players they are often talking about their agility- the category in which Europeans seem to most have an edge on North Americans (well, at least many Canadians!).

Strength and Balance:

Oddly, players who are not exceptionally fast but have great strength and balance are often called poor skaters which I think is highly unfair. Anybody who has ever tried to lean in on a 220 lb. defenseman, carrying the puck while driving for the net will know that it's nearly impossible unless you are a great skater. Some of you probably remember Tim Kerr in the 80's with Philadelphia. Kerr was THE garbage goal, crash-the-net player of his era. When Kerr wanted to get in front of the net he went there and was almost impossible to move. People often talked about his awesome upper body strength and criticized his skating but anyone, like Kerr, who can remain upright while talking a pounding from all sides deserves to be called a great skater. People have criticized top prospect Patrick Stefan's skating ability but he has the great strength and balance to lean in on defenders and drive to the net with he puck- an unusual skill for an 18 yr. old in a men's league!

A player who stays on his feet is more useful than one who is constantly picking himself up off the ice. So next time you are watching and rating prospects count the number of times a player goes down- yes, you will find that many so called good (read 'fast') skaters spend a lot of time on their butts while players with strength and balance are the ones actually putting the puck into the net!

Watch out for 'false friends':
Here are some more things to note when rating a player's skating ability-

1. Players who fly, flailing all over the ice are often wrongly considered hard workers and good skaters by fans. More likely the player is out of position and doesn't know how to use his skills and energy efficiently.

2. Small players LOOK faster than big players. The fact is that small legs have to take a few more pumps than long legs to achieve the same goal. A shorter player with hard legpumping is often wrongly considered to be faster than a larger player.

3. Larger players seem slower. Mario Lemieux was one of the fastest players in the NHL but he never looked like it because of his long legs and easy stride. Even so, he could outpace most opposing players in a step and a half.

4. Players with smooth strides can look lazy. An efficient skating stride is like an efficient golf swing. It looks easy, as if the athlete isn't really trying, to be efficient. Scott Niedermeyer is often believed to be not giving it 100% because of his beautifully efficient stride- don't be fooled. Pierre Turgeon and, yes, Mario Lemieux bore the same criticisms.

Well I hope that this has widened your understanding as to what is involved in rating a player's skating ability.

Go to next in series Part 3- Shooting