Tomas Jurco is close to making the Detroit Red Wings season-opening roster after impressing as a call-up last season, establishing himself as part of Detroit's burgeoning youth movement.
Jurco's journey to the NHL is far from a usual one, especially considering how it started - with an internet connection.
"It was kind of lucky for me, because we got internet in my home when I was 13, 14, and that's when I started spending four, five hours a day on YouTube just watching videos of hockey," Jurco told the Detroit Free Press. "And then I tried the same stuff at the practices. That helped me so much. I can't even tell you how much it helped me. Internet saved my hockey career."
Jurco became something of a YouTube hit himself before the Red Wings selected him in the second round of the 2011 NHL draft. His sleek stickhandling, honed through years of mimicking online videos, earned him comparisons to Detroit star Pavel Datsyuk, but coach Mike Babcock believes Jurco needs to go to the net more and be more responsible with the puck if he wants to be a scorer like Datsyuk.
Despite these shortcomings, Babcock still sees more than enough from the 21-year-old to deem him NHL-ready.
"If I'm picking the team, he's on the team," Babcock said.