Roman Polak reflects on younger league as he celebrates 500th NHL game
Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Roman Polak said he does not remember his first NHL game back on Oct. 9, 2006, but hopefully he remembers his 500th game. The defenseman celebrated that milestone Monday night when he suited up for the Maple Leafs' game against the Boston Bruins, but Polak said his next 500 games will be much tougher to achieve than his first 500.
According to Polak, it has less to do with his advancing age and more to do with the prominence of younger players in the NHL.
"I think when I started in the league, especially where I started in St. Louis, we had five guys who were over 30, maybe 35 years old and all of the veterans," Polak told reporters. "We only have a couple of guys over 30 now and all the young guys and they are scoring in the league, they’re 18 and 19.
"I was the youngest on my team when I was 20. That’s the way I think the NHL is changing. Young guys are more ready, or the game is faster so they’re ready for the game. I think guys are going to come in and play for three years and play be replaced with younger guys. That’s just what I think. I don’t know if it’s actually going this way."
The leading scorers in the NHL currently are not necessarily teenagers, but but many of them are under age 25. The leading scorer among defensemen, Dallas Stars blue liner John Klingberg, is just 23 years old. His 23 points in 21 games puts him at fifth overall in the NHL scoring race.
Polak, meanwhile, plays a grittier role. He is expected to be more of a stay-at-home defenseman who can dole out hits, but rough-and-tumble players like Polak are also on the decline as the NHL focuses more on speed, talent and flashy offensive ability instead of plays which can result in the now-dreaded concussions.
Still, Polak's achievement of reaching 500 NHL games is an impressive one and shows how far a man from Ostrava, Czech Republic has come over the course of his career.
(h/t Vancouver Sun)
