Music: {allcanada} EAKINS: SMYTH'S FIRE STILL BURNS HOT

Monday, January 27, 2014

{allcanada} EAKINS: SMYTH'S FIRE STILL BURNS HOT

Before the Edmonton Oilers and Canucks squared off Monday evening, The Vancouver Sun relayed how, in Oilers coach Dallas Eakins' words, there's "a fire that's still burning very, very hot" within Ryan Smyth.

"The veteran guys that are able to play to his age have unbelievable hockey sense. They think the game so well, and that makes up for the loss of their quick-twitch muscles and fibres, because that's what happens as you get older. You lose your power, your quickness," Eakins said.

"So Ryan's not as quick as he was 10 years ago, but his head's still there.

"The other thing that certainly hasn't gone away is his will and his competitiveness. A lot of times as guys get later in their careers, that kind of goes away. It's not that they're not trying, it's that they don't have that fire that they had at 24 or 25. But that hasn't gone away with him."

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