mostly hockey now

after talking about Gabe's scoring w the Eagles, they bring Mack in to compare, which is fun! Nowadays we hear mostly about the Will/Mack rivalry, but in Nov '23, it was Gabe/Mack comparisons. And of course lets not forget to mention how canadien Mack is. boo american gabe!

No idea what the question was, but like Will, Gabe cannot resist bringing in the other two muskateers. Things are going well, its their third year together and things "click" between them. I said I'm sure.

Gabe is open about the fact that playing for BC was motivated "partly" by continuing to evolve together with Will and Leno. And then we get something really interesting where they speak about the trio being drafted and how Gabe had to wait the longest to be chosen... I do think of this often. Esp interesting when we get into his insecurities below.

then there's a bit about his brother, Jacob. Gabe himself says that Jacob is more "costaud", sorta like, physical/beefy, which is why Jacob chose canadian junior hockey. But for Gabe, he felt it was better to play less matches and spend more time in the gym to improve his physicality. Gabe is a pretty light player. Jacob has 40~ pounds on him. I think this is really revealing, gives a lot of insight into Gabe's insecurities but also his priorities. He is excellent on the ice, making plays w Will etc. We also know that the USNDTP encourages their players to avoid hits. So here's Gabe, a guy who knows he's smaller and is mostly trained to avoid these situations, naming physicality as a priority OVER ICE TIME.

what comes through to me is that gabe is very self-aware. he doesn’t deny the obvious (that he’s smaller, lighter, drafted later, QC/American). that feels like family influence. yanic perreault actually seems like a really healthy influence on his kids. im sure gabe has also seen enough media thru his father to know how to interact easily, despite coming across as a little shy. even this early on, when asked about himself he deflects to will and leno, which is really common/expected in NHL answers.

if mack was framed as this disciplined canadian prodigy and will as the all american boy, gabe slots himself as the connective tissue between those two roles, not achieving or aspiring to either (IMO).