Why Jason Robertson has more than just hockey sense

Scott Wedgewood should know Jason Robertson's shot as well as anyone.
The Stars goalie practices with Robertson every day and the two also spend summers in the Detroit area, working out together, and Wedgewood said they compete pretty hard.

"Him and I have some fun," Wedgewood said. "We battle every day in practice and joke around. He shoots on me in the summer too. We spend some time in Michigan. He's good, he's a talented kid. I'm impressed with what he's doing, and it's nice to be on his side."

That side is pretty successful right now. Robertson leads the NHL in goal scoring with 22, he was named the NHL's First Star for November, and he's coming off a hat trick against Anaheim on Thursday. He's the talk of the league, and everyone wants to know the goal-scoring secrets of the 23-year-old winger. Who better to ask than Wedgewood?
Robertson doesn't have a rocket shot like some scorers. He's not a dynamic skater like others. So, what does he do well?
"A lot of it is placement," Wedgewood said. "It's what's available, what's there, what you don't see. He's smart with it, he's deceptive. He can wait, he can change the angle, he's got the tools and he uses them to his advantage."
Robertson's tools are his hockey sense, his patience, and his crafty work with his stick. He sees the ice incredibly well, and he anticipates plays as well as anyone in the league. Stars coach Pete DeBoer said early in the process he thought that Robertson just had good puck luck, but he has since seen it's more than that.
"He's making it look easy and it's one of the hardest things to do, to score in this league and at this level," DeBoer said. "Incredible run he's on. That line tonight was at a whole other level than everybody else. Every time they hopped on the ice, they were making plays. You've got three guys that really complement each other. He and Joe Pavelski obviously have big time hockey sense. They find holes and make little plays. Roope [Hintz] is the speed and power on that line. I hadn't coached him before this year, so I don't have anything to compare it to other than what I've seen, but he's been at a really elite level from day one when he showed up."

Robertson gives a lot of credit to his linemates, and they do the same to him. Pavelski said Robertson finds different ways to score each game, and that's what makes him so dangerous.
"He's taking it to the net, he's getting rebounds, he's got that knack for scoring from distance and finding the lane and putting the puck in good areas," Pavelski said. "It's going in on top of it, it's been impressive."

Robertson has a knack for finding holes in goaltenders and a lot goes back to what Wedgewood said - he's great with his location. He doesn't always shoot hard, but he shoots into areas that are hard for a goalie to stop. He scouts and researches and does film work, and he's always on the ice working on his shot.
"He could take all of the [optional days off] and show up last on the ice for practice, but he's the exact opposite," said goalie Jake Oettinger. "He wants to do the goalie drills every day, and obviously, he likes to have fun with us, but I think he's doing it because he wants to learn how to score. It's working, so he needs to keep doing that."

Robertson leads the Stars with 104 shots on goal. Pavelski is second at 63. Robertson loves the offensive side of the game and tries all manner of shots in practice. That plays out on the ice. After last season, he made the assessment that he didn't shoot a one-timer, so he worked all summer on it. Now, it's another club in his bag. Still, he will just as likely score from behind the net or floating a well-place wrister through a maze of bodies. And the more he does it, the less people are surprised.
"You kind of get used to it, and you almost have to sit and think about it after about how special it is what you're witnessing," DeBoer said.
A couple of times this season DeBoer has talked about Alex Ovechkin and how he scores goals. While we all see the big shot, DeBoer said, we need to focus on all the work that leads to the big shot. Robertson scored a key goal against St. Louis on Monday. The left-handed shot from the right wing was mesmerizing, but DeBoer pointed out the counterattack started in his own end with a blocked shot.
"The shot should impress the hell out of us, but it doesn't," DeBoer said after the game. "The blocked shot, that's what I like."
As Robertson continues to improve, he will probably make opposing goalies more frustrated, while his teammates are determined to match him shot for shot.
"There's days we get the better of each other," Wedgewood said. "He might say it's more him than me, but I'll fight the battle until the day I die."
It seems he's not the only one.
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.