It's no easy task to think that you can analyze @Victor's player and come up with a comprehensive list of stats he hasn't seen or thought about, but that's what I look to do today. In fact, I look to take a deep dive into last year's Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy (Rookie of the Year) recipient, and what really makes his player stand out.
The Ratings
What really jumps out at me for Podrick's stats, is his low passing of 61. While it obviously is factored into STHS decision making, as well as the skill to pass without it being intercepted, a relatively low passing stat hasn't stopped Cast from racking up 70 assists in 54 games this season. Now a lot of those could obviously have been off of Faceoffs, which his overall is 90 in, but his assist totals are higher than his player rating in passing, which one can only imagine is a difficult achievement.
Another stat I'd like to highlight is the 89 defensive rating, which doesn't really show up well in his stats. Sure he's got a lot of hits, and a fair amount of shots blocked, but nothing that blows you away straight from the stat line. In fact, one might argue that Cast could possibly have better numbers if he focused more on say improving his Scoring from 90, than improving his defense all the way up to 89- unless he knows something we don't. It could very well be that a crucial part to his success, and the 70 assists and 62 goals he's racked up to this point, is his defense, and his ability to intercept the puck and score.
The Stats
Now here's why Podrick is a Unicorn, because anyone can simply earn their 506 TPA, and apply it to their player. Just going down the line, he leads the league in goals, assists (tied), and points, kinda like the guy at the gym who only works the "show" muscles. It's incredibly impressive what he's been able to do given how little TPE he has, but what you might not get from just this stat line, is his 13.33% Shooting %, which is good for 4th in the VHL. Now if you just look at his 465 shots taken, and how he gets to play about 30 minutes per game, you start to get a better grasp on how his stat line is really possible. While you might be able to extrapolate the shooting % and the minutes and say it's all just luck, it's really tough to explain his 70 assists, unless maybe you dig a little deeper into who he's passing to.
The Supporting Cast
Leph Twinger and Edwin Preencarnacion are two great line mates that Cast shares his heavy workload with. Twinger, an early candidate for the Stolzschweiger trophy Cast already won, is a great winger to pass to, just look at his 40 goals and 85 points on a 10.23% clip in his rookie season. While that won't be enough for ROY year honors with how will Smirnov has played, it's definitely worthy of noting that he's on pace to outscore Cast's performance from last year's rookie campaign- albeit without a distributer like himself at his side. Preencarnacion aside from being a difficult name to spell, is 2nd in the league in points, with 47 goals and 64 assists, putting it in the net at a relatively regular 8.3% rate. Now I don't have time to calculate the secondary assists that Cast, Twinger and Preencarnacion get from each other, but one can only imagine that it's a lot. The success of Cast most likely wouldn't be possible without these two guys at his side.
In Summary
Cast is a unicorn, like almost nothing the VHL has seen in recent years, and with STHS being wonky as heck, he's taken advantage, and sits 21 points ahead of the next best player at this point in the season. It might be too early, but it seems we might have a unanimous MVP this season, and his name is Podrick.
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