What makes a modern defenseman, and what's next?
Ty Smith remembers his dad's sales pitch like it was yesterday. It was 2007 or 2008 and his minor hockey team was short on defensemen in the middle of a tournament. None of Smith's teammates were eager to drop back and help out, so, as the coach's son, he became the default choice. "It's fine, don't worry - you can still go end to end," Smith recalls his father telling him during a largely one-way conversation. Smith, all of 7 years old, was soon blown away. In that first game of spot duty, he learned playing defenseman provided a quarterback's perspective. "I loved it," the New Jersey Devils...
Source: thescore.com