Inside the Cage: Timo Time

A player drafted in the top 10 carries expectations in his hockey bag right along with gloves, skates and other hockey gear. Everywhere he goes they go, too.
Timo Meier is learning that fact the hard way while living in these demanding, we-want-it-all-yesterday times. Funny thing, though. Those expectations aren't only felt from the outside. The Sharks first-round pick (9th overall) in 2015 has them of himself as well.
"I have high expectations for myself," Meier said. "I think that's the most pressure. I want to work hard and have success. But I want to play for the team. Being a high pick, it doesn't really matter once you're in here. You want to earn your spot if you're a first-round pick or a seventh-round pick. I want to go out there and compete."

The 21-year-old Swiss native has never displayed a better example of his ability to compete on the NHL level than on the recently completed four-game road trip. Installed on the left side of a scoring line anchored by Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski, Meier showed his skill, used his size and played with grit in helping the Sharks go 2-2.

And all this after spending two months of the regular season moving up and down the lines while trying to find some consistency in his game. Meier scored one goal and added two assists during 10 games in October. Production then tailed off to just one goal and no assists during 12 games in November.
But once December arrived - and Meier was elevated alongside the team's two most accomplished veteran scorers - his game has picked up in addition to playing on average three more minutes per outing (15:30) than during his first 22 games.
Established as one of the game's best two-way forwards now 10 years afte being chosen ninth overall by the Sharks, Logan Couture knows exactly what Meier is going through. Couture estimates he was promoted from the minors and demoted back to the American Hockey League "eight or nine times" from 2008-10 before securing his spot as an everyday regular.

"Last year obviously he just got his feet wet," Couture said of Meier. "There's some more confidence in the game. He can help offensively and he forechecks hard. His big body can make it tough on other teams' defensemen. It forces them to go back for pucks when he plays hard in the other team's end."
Meier was productive in his 33 games with the Barracuda last season. He scored 14 goals and added nine assists for 23 points in 33 games. And thanks to his offensive output on the recent trip, he's matched last year's total of three goals and six points in nine fewer games.
The numbers aren't setting the world on fire, but Meier is starting to look more and more like the power forward his 6-foot, 215-pound frame suggests he'll become in the NHL. It's a common thought that power forwards and dependable defensemen in the NHL take the longest to develop.
"I think he's on pace," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "Now the next step is getting trust and being able to create some things without the pressure of 'you've got to score 30 goals.' That's just not realistic where he's at right now.
"It's just now getting the foundation laid where you're starting to understand how to create offense at this level because it's different at the lower levels where you're more talented or bigger and stronger than other guys. You've got to look for different ways and that's not stuff you can rush, it's going to come."
To that end, Meier dedicated his offseason regiment to getting stronger. He learned from his first pro season he would be better equipped to go into the corners and come out with the puck against older and more experienced players if he simply got bigger and stronger.

"Getting physically stronger was part of taking another step," Meier said. "Obviously mentally I wanted to prepare. I know how it works now. There's not a lot of things that are new this year. Last year there were a lot of things were new to me."
Meier is no longer new to DeBoer. And the coach doesn't subscribe to any of those expectations that others from the outside attach to a player chosen as high as Meier.
I'm not looking at where he's drafted or what guys around him who were drafted are doing," DeBoer said. "We're looking at the player and the player came in last year and had a setback with mono, which I think bled into a lot of his year last year. He had a decent year in the American League, and had a strong finish for us in a short stint, especially in the playoffs.
"And this year he's taking the next step. It's almost like his first year again. I have no doubt that he's a full-time NHLer."