Photo Credit: Our very own Jess Wild
Noah Cates says, “I think just getting bigger, faster, and a little quicker,” when asked what he needed to improve this offseason at exit interviews. He puts in work during the Summer and it’s quite evident in his play towards the latter part of the year. For his efforts, Cates netted three goals and two assists during the last seven games of the season.
“There was a bit of an identity crisis with wanting to be offensive, and build off a good year last year” Cates said at exit interviews
“I think I needed to build off of it even more defensively than offensively,” Cates said at exit interviews. “I think it was a great learning experience this year for me, and for the team kind of where we were at. You can’t stray too far from what you are. Obviously, I want to build on myself offensively, but at the end of the day defense leads to offense. For me personally, that’s especially true.”
He has skated well, and was confident and poised during the last seven games of the season, like the prior year. For a player that drew comparisons to Sean Couturier in his rookie campaign. Cates will tell you he needs to be better.
“Just kind of an identity crisis and then some confidence stuff, and some injuries. Definitely just a year I’ll look back on, and I think it will help propel me to even higher levels just because of what I went through.” – Noah Cates
Cates creates turnovers in the neutral zone by suffocating his opponents, and sealing their gaps. This is a highly underrated area of his game. Throughout his collegiate career he was very good at forcing turnovers in the neutral zone, thus creating an odd man rust the other way. He has taken nothing for granted, and is relishing the moment.
The young 25-year-old in Cates logs an average of 13:47 of ice time, finished with just six goals and 12 assists in 59 games played. Cates just didn’t have the same mojo that he had during his rookie season. He had trouble replicating that success, and he suffered a broken foot early in the season.
One of the main reasons he is an NHL caliber player, and should be considered as such is his skating. He skates very well, and that also gives him a physical edge to his game. Cates, it appeared he found his game at the end of the season, so that’s a huge positive to take into the Summer, “
