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Hurricanes’ Jaccob Slavin gets insane praise from ‘idol’ Nicklas Lidstrom
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- Hurricanes’ Jaccob Slavin gets insane praise from ‘idol’ Nicklas Lidstrom
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The Carolina Hurricanes are down 1-0 in the Stanley Cup Final to the Vegas Golden Knights . Carolina is in the Final for the first time since 2006, in part due to its strong defense. The Hurricanes are led defensively by Jaccob Slavin , widely considered one of the best defenders in the world. Slavin's idol, Nicklas Lidstrom, tells The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun what makes the Colorado native different.
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"Glad to hear he had me as a hero growing up!" the Detroit Red Wings legend told LeBrun via email. "Jaccob is a very good skater with good gap control and really good positioning on the ice. Makes it hard on forwards to get on the inside and create scoring chances when he's on the ice."
There are few, if any, defensemen in the history of the league better than Lidstrom . He won four Stanley Cups and seven Norris Trophies as the league's best defenseman in his 20-year Hall-of-Fame career. Slavin explained to LeBrun why No. 5 was his idol growing up.
"He was unbelievable. I feel like the way he played the game. He was never the most physical guy. Some of the older guys that have come through the locker room talk about trying to dump a puck in on him, and he's knocking it down, and you can't get by him, that kind of stuff. I tried to model my game after that and definitely growing up watched that."
Slavin's game is not modeled after offensive stars like Cale Makar or physical bruisers like Scott Stevens. He dominates for the Hurricanes with perfect positioning, great anticipation, and elite athleticism. That is what Lidstrom rode to one of the great careers in the history of the game.
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Slavin was great for Team USA in the Olympics, helping secure a gold medal. Now, he is four wins away from a Stanley Cup and one of the great individual seasons for an American player ever.
Related: Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour throws support behind Frederik Andersen after tough Game 1
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