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BEST THIS ISNT GOING TO GET OLD

BEST STRATEGY

Goldy is different.

He’s 22 years old and going on 19.

Long after he had been vaporized, Willie made sure to double back on Goldy, suggesting he wasn’t mentally tough enough yet to handle the NHL.

Not surprisingly, many don’t think the Willie-Goldy dynamic was the best fit for the Russian.

It’s a point that was driven home back during training camp when JV18 pointed out he didn’t spend much time talking to Willie at all.

It seemed to be the coach’s MO with some of his youngest players

That’s not going to be how best to get the most out of Goldy.

“He’s funny,” explained Burmistrov, who has had opportunities to get to know Goldy this season. “He looks so young. He looks like he’s 12.

“But he’s a really nice person. A nice guy.”

OK, he looks young. But how should a coach handle him?

“Just let him play,” Burmistrov said. “You look at Boeser.

“They let Boes do his thing and he started scoring. It’s one of those things.

“Goldy, I don’t think you want to be hard on him. I think you want to help him. Help him play.”

Good point, every player is different. But how different is Goldy?

“Some guys, they need to get in shit from somebody,” Burmistrov said.

“Another guy, he’ll get shit and he’ll stop playing for a month.

“You can’t all be the same.

“The Russians usually take it.

“We get the shit all the time.”

Hmmm.

How about, not this time?