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'-Shooting- on June. 23, 1999

You may recall that when I talked about skating earlier in this series I remarked that measured lap speed had little to do with actual in-game skating skills. So it is with the booming slap shot in relation to shooting skills. A booming slap shot in a shooting contest from a set position on an open net looks impressive but it's a bit like John Daly hitting 320 yard drives only to shoot an overall 80 on the day. What I'm saying is that game shooting conditions just don't match those of shooting contests. Of course it is better to have velocity than not but in this scout's opinion there are many more important factors to be considered in scouting shooting. What are they?

1. Does he have the whole arsenal? Just as a top golfer needs control over all his clubs, a good shooter needs to master wrist, snap, backhand shots and deflections as well as the boomer from the point. Some of you may remember Minnesota's Brad Palmer back in the early 80's. He had an absolute boomer from the left point. When defenders and goalies eventually discovered that this was ALL Palmer had it became easy to defend against him by taking away his positioning and time to let the rocket loose. Palmer soon faded into obscurity.

2. Decision making. I am including accuracy in this category but accuracy, like pure velocity, is often overrated. A lot of players can hit targets in a skills competition but in-game accuracy is often more a matter of making the right choice of where to shoot rather than simply hitting a pre-selected target. A good prospect makes the right decision about what kind of shot to use (snap, wrist etc.) and can anticipate the movements of goalies and defenders in a fraction of a second. A good prospect not only thinks "I'm going top shelf stick side" but also "I'm going top shelf stick side because the goalie won't be able to see it from that angle" or some such thing. 'Goalscorer's hands' are often nothing more than the ability to predict a goaltender's movements accurately.

Good decision making also includes the sense of knowing when to shoot, when to continue stickhandling and when to pass. A player may have a heavy, accurate shot but if he always passes up a clear passing play just to drive the puck into the goalie's pads I find it hard to think of him as a 'good shooter'.

3. Eye-hand coordination. Some shooters need the puck in perfect position on their stick, their skates perfectly balanced before they can produce a quality shot. In real games however the puck rarely sits on your stick in perfect position. This is perhaps what most clearly separates real goal scorers from players who have a good practice shot. A truly good shooter can get a good shot away whether the puck is on the toe or heel of his stick, whether or not the puck is rolling, bouncing etc. I see too many young players practicing their shooting by placing the puck in perfect position in practice. It would be much better for their skill development if they practiced by having a teammate give them passes in their skates, or while in full stride or with hard or bouncing passes. Practicing releasing good shots from bad puck positions more accurately emulates game conditions. And this is why career long goalscorers such as Pat Verbeek and Dino Ciccarelli can be considered to be better shooters than the Al Iafrates and Shawn Heins' of the world.

4. Release. This one should not be too surprising. Every goalie loves a telegraphed shot which aloows them to gain position and balance. With lesser prospects it is obvious to everyone in the building where they going to shoot and how. Defensemen love to watch opposing players wind up 180 degrees for the big slapper knowing it will be easier to deflect or block. Getting the puck away without telegraphing it is perhaps the most consistent skill found in great shooters and goal scorers. Mike Bossy was an absolute master at it. Joe Sakic scares goalies witless precisely because you never know what is coming, when it's coming or where it is going. Sakic could let it fly at any moment, meaning the goalie can't afford to play the pass. This takes more than just strong wrists. Learning how to let the puck go quickly while your legs are in mid-stride or turning, rather than only when in ideal position, produces a lot of goals. Tip to young players- want to be a goal scorer? Work on this! Russian and Czech/Slovakian players, perhaps due to soccer backgrounds seem particularly adept at it.

5. Who scores the goals? Ultimately I feel that the player who is the best shooter is often the player who scores the most goals. Goalscorers combine most or all of the qualities I've described above- good decision making, having a full arsenal, quick release, being able to shoot accurately from less than ideal puck and body positions, having good anticipation of goalie movements etc. Rather than be impressed by a player's 100 MPH slap shot in practice conditions I tend to look at a guy who's scoring 40-50 goals despite having only a 70-80 mph measured shot. To me the latter player is the better shooter.

Go to next in series Part 4- Puck Movement