HARTFORD, Conn. — If defenceman Wade Redden is hoping to play his way back to the NHL, he has got a ways to go.
“I thought his play has been up and down. It’s been a bit of a struggle,”
said Hartford Wolf Pack head coach Ken Gernander after his club lost to the Manchester Monarchs on Wednesday. “It hasn’t been easy for him. This is not an easy league, but we expect and will hold him to a certain level of play.
He has to play NHL calibre-level hockey.”
Gernander echoed what one pro scout watching Wednesday’s game said about
Redden: His game needs more intensity.
“He has to finish harder,” Gernander said. “I know he’s not a rock-’em, sock-’em defenceman, but he’s got to finish his checks with force. He has to be there 100%, with conviction.”
“He’s what I call a ‘pacer,’” the scout said. “He’s used to playing a lot of minutes every night, so he paces himself each shift.”
