What Keeps the Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon Pushing?

Something about Nathan MacKinnon in the second intermission of Wednesday night's game on Prime against the Winnipeg Jets caught my attention. It wasn't another highlight-reel play or another reminder that he's one of the best players in hockey.

It was the way the broadcasters talked about him. “He skates angry,” Chris Pronger said. That explains a lot, actually. He didn’t mean angry in the sense that he's out of control. Quite the opposite. It seems to drive him. MacKinnon plays with an edge. He is powerful, aggressive and incredibly demanding of himself. Even with all the talent in the world, he still seems to play as if there is something out there he hasn't quite accomplished yet.

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And maybe that's what makes MacKinnon so interesting.

During the broadcast, MacKinnon showed some of the little things that go into his hockey life. He uses tiny 13-inch gloves. He has shin pads he's been using for 14 years. He carries an old tape cutter named Dwayne that a friend gave him eight years ago. Those things sound almost silly on paper.

But they tell us something. MacKinnon pays attention to details. He knows what feels right to him, and once he trusts something, he sticks with it. He isn't constantly looking for a better way just because somebody else might have one.

Then there is the hockey itself. The broadcasters talked about how he carries the puck, pulls up at the blue line, uses his body, drives the line, and plays with aggression. His teammates know what he is going to do, and they support him. That's not simply talent. That's years of pushing himself.

MacKinnon still pushes himself to play better every season.

Maybe that's the thing I find most interesting about MacKinnon. Great players can become satisfied with being great. MacKinnon seems to have found a way to remain a little dissatisfied. Last season didn't end the way Colorado wanted. During the broadcast, they talked about the frustration of that playoff disappointment. Maybe that becomes fuel.

We all know anger can be destructive. But there is another kind of anger — the kind that says that he’s not finished yet. MacKinnon seems to skate with that kind. And maybe that's why, after all these years, he still looks like a player trying to prove something.

Not to everybody else. Perhaps mostly to himself.

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