Red Wings will keep working to develop Givani Smith into impactful player – MLive
Smith has not taken a penalty in his past seven games, which Blashill believes might be affecting his physicality.
“Certainly, my message hasn’t been to take away the physical play,” Blashill said. “It’s been to play from whistle to whistle and then get out of the scrums. He was in a lot of scrums, and he was taking some penalties. We want him to stay away from the hookings and the holdings. Those aren’t intimidating penalties.
“I think there’s moments where he’s played good. I think he’s done a really good job in the offensive zone. I think he still needs to work on his play through the D-zone and through the neutral zone.
The balance between being physical and hurting the team is a hard one to maintain but I like how Blashill addresses Smith and what he wants to see out of the kid.
Coburn retires from NHL after 16 seasons – NHL
“I knew going into the 2020-21 season, there was a possibility it was going to be my final year playing hockey,” Coburn told the Lightning website. “I don’t know if my mind was really made up at any one point during the season or offseason. I was very fluid and very flexible, dependent on how my body felt, what worked for me and what was right for my family. Ultimately, I’ve come to the realization that father time is undefeated, and I knew after 16 years my body wasn’t ready for a 17th.”
I never liked him. Never was supposed to, so I guess that’s good for him.