Dogwood Maple - Junior Review

[dogwoodmaple 349]

Dogwood Maple - Junior Review

written by Dodge Loompaw, VHLscouting.net

 

Background: Dogwood Maple is an 18 year old center from the USA.  He was born and raised in south Georgia where he grew up playing multiple sports, which led to his overall athleticism and elite hand-eye coordination.  After being scouted at 14, Maple was set to accept a scholarship to Boston University before being offered a contract to play in Switzerland.  Maple made the move to Europe and immediately lit the Swiss League on fire, further increasing his VHL prospects.  He enters the VHL as one of the hotshot players who has as high a ceiling as anyone in recent memory.

 

Pros: The main thing you see in Maple's game are his impeccable on-ice instincts.  Whether it's feeling out exactly where the puck will be, how to anticipate where his teammates will be, or just an innate sense of where to be on the ice, Maple simply gets it.  You simply won't find a harder worker in the juniors than Maple and that's really where he separates himself from other players.  He was famous in the Swiss League for being the first one to arrive at practice and the last one to leave, proving that he will do whatever it takes to improve his game.  That's something that cannot be fully quantified, but will be in high demand from the various front offices.

 

Cons:  There's a glaring hole with Maple's game so far - his puckhandling.  It seems to be a combination of being too tentative with the puck and not having fully refined stick skills. This leads to Maple not trusting his ability to weave in and out of traffic and being that tentative on the ice typically leads to disastrous results.  Hopefully this is something Maple can remedy in short order because while it may be the only drawback he has right now, it's certainly a significant one.  He had far too many turnovers last season and was the prime target for the opponents' top defender, which led to some disastrous offensive performances for he and his team.

 

Overall analysis: Maple has some valuable qualities that will lend to him becoming a solid if not very good pro in VHL.  There's going to be a significant learning curve coming from the somewhat less competitive Swiss leagues, but his work ethic should more than make up for that.  The overall theme with Maple is that he will be good, but will need some time to put it all together on the ice.  If a team is patient with him and doesn't mind the occasional setback, they could end up with one of the biggest steals in this class.  Patience pays off, and such will be the case with Dogwood Maple.

 

(459 words)

[OrbitingDeath 2,936]

What sports cant this guy do :') 

[Gaikoku-hito 1,626]

20 hours ago, dogwoodmaple said:

Maple was set to accept a scholarship to Boston University

Boston College is better!!

 

Also great to see you jump straight in and start earning TPE for your player!!