If you’re a Blue Jackets fan, there’s no getting around it – it has to be disappointing.
When head coach John Tortorella submits a lineup like the one Tuesday night that benched the team’s leading goal scorer, Sonny Milano, there’s a bit of head scratching from certain corners of the fan base.
For those watching at home, goals stand out. Goals – of which Milano has five this year, including four in the first three games – win hockey games.
But for someone like Tortorella, who has a million different factors to keep in mind when trying to win games on top of his different perspective, there are other things about Milano’s game that draw notice. It’s fair to say those things resulted in Milano playing an average of just 7:36 of ice time in a five-game span leading up to his Monday scratch.
How to bring along a young hockey player – especially one with Milano’s obvious offensive talent – is no exact science. He’s still just 21 and has much to learn, as anyone at his age in his chosen profession, but should he learn by watching or learn by doing, all with the pressures of winning in the National Hockey League on the line?
Early in the season, Tortorella had Milano learning by doing, including an average of 14:10 on ice in the first six games of the season. Recently, there's been more learning by watching.
“He has to watch the other guys,” Tortorella said before Monday’s win. “He has to know who he’s playing against at certain times, what type of team we’re playing. There’s a lot of things that these guys aren’t used to having in their head. It’s going to take some time. It’s going to be up and down.”
Milano returned to the ice Thursday night and saw an uptick in time in the 7-3 win over the Panthers. The rookie’s biggest contribution was a slick pass to Seth Jones that set up Oliver Bjorkstrand’s game-winning power-play goal in the second period.
He also paired largely with fellow rookies Pierre-Luc Dubois and Markus Hannikainen on a line that showed well. In all, Milano earned 11:16 of ice time, including 9:19 at 5-on-5, where he was on the ice for eight scoring chances for and zero against.
“Sonny was better,” Tortorella said after the game. “He concentrated on just trying to play straight ahead. He had a couple of situations where he’s just trying to make too much happen, but I also have to be fair to him and let him be himself a little bit, too. That’s a fine line that I have to walk with him. I don’t want to turn him into a checker. I don’t want to turn him into a guy that just (chipping) it off the glass and go get it.
“He makes a great play to start the power-play goal, a huge goal to me in the game after that piece-of-crap goal, the shorthander. We come right back and Sonny makes a huge play over to Jonesy and over to Bjorky. Huge play. I have to be careful. It has to be a two-way street.”
The book on Milano has been known since he was chosen in the first round of the 2014 draft. His offensive skill is prolific, from the YouTube highlight videos that have become part of his lore to some of the out-of-nowhere, tape-to-tape passes he’s deployed this year when on the ice with the Blue Jackets. And obviously he can put the biscuit in the basket, as he did when he scored 29 goals with the U.S. Under-18 team in 2013-14 or when he tallied 18 goals a season ago with Cleveland of the AHL at 20 years old.
What Tortorella would like to see is Milano marshal that skill.
“Quite honestly, it’s respect the league. Respect the league,” Tortorella said. “There are some really good players with good sticks and good positioning. Sometimes you just can’t make a play threading it through someone or trying to force a play. That’s all part of the process with this guy. We’re going to continue to help him out until it becomes part of his game, the patience of it.”
Speaking before Thursday’s game, Milano said he wasn’t happy to be out of the lineup – same as any player – but said he knows where the coaching staff is coming from.
“Torts has taught me a lot so far,” he said. “Obviously there are some things I still have to work on and I have to trust the process with that. … I just have to do the little things. Obviously they don’t always go up on the scoreboard, but they can definitely help the team.”
As the head coach sees it, it’s about picking spots, as there are times a player can force the issue and others when he must play a more responsible team game.
Tortorella pointed out a top offensive forward might see close to 20 shifts per game but only really have an opportunity to make an offensive play in three or four of them. The best in the world, of course, have grown to sense those opportunities and take the most advantage of them.
“Sometimes he may have to go three, four, even five shifts that maybe he’s just chipping the puck in or getting it out in the neutral zone,” Tortorella said. “It does not have to be a saucer (pass). It does not have to even be an offensive play. That’s part of the game that a young man with that type of skill has to learn.
“You can’t bring that into every shift. We know it’s available. We know he has it, but you also have to let the game come to you and not force it.”
Adding perhaps to fan anguish is that this movie has been seen before. The team over the past few years has made such forwards as Kristian Huselius, Cam Atkinson and Ryan Johansen healthy scratches in an effort to try to direct their play in a certain direction.
What did all those players have? Skill, and lots of it. It’s just how to use it that can drive a coach crazy.
“We can’t teach skill,” Tortorella said. “So to have the amount of that he has and just try to refine it and get it to play under a team concept, then we have something. Does it happen? We’re going to keep trying.”
