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Someday Little Johnny will figure out there are only a few Patrick Kane's
“For every Patrick Kane, there are 9 Cal Clutterbucks”
Your son is eight years old. He is scoring goals in bunches. You see stars (soft chants of “NHL” “NHL” run through your head). He makes the Super Select, AAA All Stars team and leads them in scoring (more “NHL” “NHL”). Now he gets invited to tryout for the best AAA team in the World (one that has produced multiple Division 1 and NHL players). He makes it and leads them in scoring. He plays a national AAA schedule and is the “next best thing”.
Fast forward to any age: 10, 14, 18, heck 22 years old. Little Johnny has now met his match. Sometimes as early as never, sometimes it’s as late as their Division I career, their minor league career, but if they’re lucky it will happen when they hit the NHL. And THAT is the dubious moment your player realizes he is not Patrick Kane (premier goal scorer, great moves, magic shot, glory boy). Your boy is now Cal Clutterbuck.
A good friend, a 10 year NHL player recently told me, “Tony, for every Patrick Kane, there are nine Cal Clutterbuck’s”. His point was simple, at some point in your career, everyone becomes a Cal Clutterbuck.
Tony Says: It’s at this point that many kids decide to go a different direction in the sport. It’s not fun playing third line, it’s not fun killing penalties, it’s not fun being out of the limelight. My crack research has found that many of the Clutterbuck-types were never the Patrick Kane on their team, they were always the grinder, the guy the coach could lean on. So tell yourself (and if you have the guts), tell little Johnny to keep plugging no matter what age he is, if he loves the game every team needs a couple Cal Clutterbucks.
Filed Under: Feature Stories, Top Stories, YHH Editorial
You make a good point but the example of Cal Clutterbuck by your NHL buddy is off-base. There are actually 20-30 Patrick Kane’s in the NHL (skilled, offensive-minded scorers) and only 3-4 Cal Clutterbucks (guys who are consistently at the top of the NHL in hits and still score goals and have above-average NHL skills). The ability to check and hit and make an impact on the game is a talent and skill, particularly at the NHL level, and Clutterbuck is arguably the best in the NHL at this.
Patrick Kane = skilled, scorer
Cal Clutterbuck = grinder
This article would be much more appealing if you made the Patrick Kane picture the centerpiece instead of hiding it down in the corner.
It’s on the home page, front and center: http://www.youthhockeyhub.com. The pic in the corner –>>> is just a thumbnail for our “Up For Discussion” section.
TS
That’s the point; he’s more than a “grinder.” Broke the NHL record for hits and scores 15-20 goals a year. Plus he has the best name in hockey!
Tony, I love ya — but ya seriously think Cal Clutterbuck was never player #1 on his team? It kind of runs the opposite of your whole thesis anyway– that everyone eventually must be flexible enough to switch roles, if there is a player who is a better scorer or set-up man or special teams guy.
My crack research suggests that 90% of the guys in the NHL dominated at almost every level of play on every team they played for. The other 10% were the Boogards of the world.
Cal pretty much average a point a game, often more, until he reached the Houston Aeros. And kudos to whoever it was that saw how Cal could be a nice fit in The Big Show without having to be Patrick Kane the way he was in the OHL or in high school.