Retoslav's Rookie Experience

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IVAN RETOSLAV ROOKIE EXPERIENCE

Retoslav, having just come off of a pretty decent season in the VHLE alongside Leandro Goncalves, was expecting his rookie season in the VHL to go pretty well. His goal for points was 40 and when he picked up the first goal of the season for the franchise it looked pretty realistic and possible to achieve. Sadly, after that initial success, his season took a nosedive and he didn't end up scoring another point until 4 games later when he finally got his first assist. Many London fans by this point were calling him a draft bust, and it certainly didn't help that he was showing much slower growth than pretty much every other player in his draft class. Despite this however, he continued on with his season, fighting for points and even managing an insane 17 Penalty Minutes in just one game. Numbers like that haven't been seen from him since game one of the Season 81 Junior Showcase Tournament, when he had 25 Penalty Minutes in a single game. All that just made fans hate him more as they were on the Penalty Kill for almost a third of the game. Over the next little while, his production was pretty much the same, just with less Penalty Minutes than before. He finally started improving towards the end of the season when he ended up passing 30 points and ending his season with 33 in total. Retoslav's rookie season may have been pretty underwhelming for London fans, but when you look at other players, 33 points for a rookie season isn't bad. He may have been one of the best players in the VHLM and VHLE, but he quickly realized that it is not the same style of play in the VHL. His playmaker play style wasn't working as well as it did in virtually every league he played in, but he still pushed on, grinding his way up to the 30 point mark and cementing his name as one of the top players in his draft class. All that's left to see is if he can build on this, and manage to become one of the best. There were some ups and downs during the season and the pressure of being London's next star player obviously weighed down on him. Many believe that this had a massive impact on his game and that if he had been placed on a stronger team he would have had a way better season. All that Retoslav cares about now though, is improving his game and becoming the next VHL superstar.

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