Welcome to the future, everybody. According to Jeff Marek of Sportsnet, there’s a recently-drafted prospect (one who hasn’t been named) who has a video game addiction so severe it’ll likely result in him missing out on his NHL dream.
During the latest edition of 31 Thoughts Podcast, Jeff Market and Elliotte Friedman discussed a wealth of NHL topics like John Tavares’ next contract, this summer’s upcoming trade market, and, shockingly, a prospect with a video game addiction.
“On video games… And I’m not going to say the player’s name… I really doubt he’s going to make it to the NHL and it’s because of a video game addiction. To the point where his junior general manager told me that they’ve had him go to counseling over it because he’ll play until all hours of the night and into the morning and then he’ll have no energy the next day. He’ll be a write-off. And it is that bad. He has this compulsion for playing video games until all hours. I swore that I wouldn’t say the player’s name. But it’s unfortunate. He’s a recent first-round draft pick for a very, very prominent NHL team – will probably never play in the NHL because of a video game addiction… And again, this is information that’s six months old. Actually, you might say a year old now. But it’s a terrible story because this guy is a good junior hockey player. This guy is a good player and was a high pick… and I’m probably saying too much right there… but there’s a good chance he’s not going to make it to the NHL and his general manager said, ‘Yeah, video game addiction is bad. It’s bad with this kid.”
A recent high draft pick? A good Junior player? A prominent team? Let the investigating begin.
This would certainly be one of the stranger things that ultimately kept a player out of the NHL ever seen before. Obviously you hear frequently about players dealing with different issues and injuries holding their careers back, but never before has is been public knowledge that a video game addiction has derailed a player's career.
