Zak Trokker | Prospect Scouting Report

[Peace 1,575]

Zak Trokker
LW | 6'1 | 215 LBs 
27 Years Old
Drafted 10th OVR by the Warsaw Predators

 

 

Zak Trokker was [and still could be] a promising prospect entering his rookie season with Warsaw, who wound up drafting him tenth overall despite a significant fall from grace while being labelled a risky selection. Early scouting reports had him battling for first overall with teammate Cardinal Copia, but a diminishing lack of desire throughout his self admitted frustrating rookie and sophomore seasons in the VHLM has led to a rapidly reduced developmental growth projection, and a sharp cessation in any form of participation beyond a handful of practices and skill lessons. 

 

As a result Trokker's value plummeted, and he was soon considered a high risk - high reward prospect. Throughout his VHLM career, Trokker has been a second line player, where he and his individual statistics have stumbled out of the gate and beyond. As the VHL closes in on his rookie season, both Trokker and his player agency anticipate first line minutes and a drastic change in individual performance, all anchored by the players desire to be a 'draft steal' in any redrafts long after his forced retirement from the league.

 

Although Trokker and agency had a two and a half self-admitted depressing seasons, one of which Trokker would only produce nine goals throughout the regular and post season combined, he would still be named to Team Canada's WJC roster and became part of their silver medal effort despite only registering two assists [one of which came in the gold medal game] in the tournament.

 

As a stary night rises and the sun sets on those chapters of Trokker's life as a prospect, the Peace Player Agency has begun to understand the new landscape in which they operate. They misled Trokker into believing maximum effort would result in immediate gains, but that's not how this small part of the hockey world is anymore. The collapse of the VHLE and the increased skill cap within the VHLM always meant growing pains from the start, but neither the PPA or Trokker realized that.

 

PROS:

It's hard to pinpoint any outstanding positive attributes for Trokker with such a disappointing VHLM career outside perhaps his fundamental skills.

 

Offensive Vision: Surprisingly Trokker's strongest asset is his ability to shoot the puck, score goals and create offense... at least theoretically. In practice, however, Trokker appears to struggle in the shot, shot percentage and goal scoring department quite considerably. Then again, scouts aren't rating him in the light of any context, but rather grading his skills from an unbiased perspective. Trokker has the ability to score goals, he has the ability to accurately pass the puck and he can drive a mean offence when the opportunity awards it. We saw that in S98 with San Diego where the young prospect recorded 27 goals and 30 assists.

 

Strength: We're not so surprised by this one. Trokker has always been a taller, heavier, and frankly stronger individual well before he joined Philadelphia through the waiver wire. It only follows reason that one of Trokker's principle pillars is his strength. He doesn't get pushed around as much, doesn't get pushed of the puck as much, and he can hold his ground as a menacing net front presence when slotted in front of an oppositions goaltender or behind the net. If I had graded his skills, his strength would have probably been number one, but all I am doing is recapping what the scouts sent me.

Shooting: Scouts graded his shooting separately from his offensive vision primarily because it is directly related to his ability to score goals. As we mentioned above, he has seemingly struggled with that aspect of the game but we're comparing VHLE players to a rookie VHLM player during parts of his career in the VHLM. In reality perhaps his ability to score is higher than we thought; it should be on display in his upcoming rookie season after potting twenty seven goals in S98. We do know that Trokker likes to fire quick shots at the net from the right lane, typically generating rebounds or at the very least keeping a high pressure cycle going by wrapping the puck to the left point defender. Scouts believe Trokker will quickly develop a rhythm at some point and predict a significant contribution during his VHL career.

CONS:

Unlike Trokker's positive attributes it is far easier to detect the youngsters shortcomings, but then again it is always easier to notice someone failing at something than giving them recognition for doing something else properly ain't it?

 

Passing: Passing - unlike his above strengths - has been one of Trokker's quieter and weaker assets, and also mixes into why offensive vision has been ranked so highly an an independent triat. Beyond his natural hope to simply shoot the puck and hope for rebounds, Trokker has only displayed rare moments of true playmaking ability throughout his final season in the VHLM. He earned thirty assists throughout his sophomore campaign with the Marlins, but after a brief investigation we've noticed that the majority of the assists we've looked at come off the rebound on a shot attempt. He'll need to improve his passing ability if he wants to make an impact at the VHL level and beyond.

 

Defensive Coverage: Trokker needs to rapidly improve at his defensive posturing if he's going to become a reliable player at the VHL level. It may not be obvious on the surface as he ended his VHLM career with only a negative five rating but the details are hidden behind layers of analytics: Giveaways in the defensive zone, pass interceptions in the defensive zone, poor defensive play leading to a PPG or 5on5 goal against, and frankly twenty eight shots blocked for a right winger with limited PK time is evidence of poor positioning outright.

 

Motivation: Motivation isn't something you can grade with a number, it's more of judgement on the effort we've seen from both Trokker and the agency supporting him. So far it has been a disaster; poor motivation coupled with irritation has led to frequent lapses in engagement from the VHL prospect and has significantly impacting his development. If Trokker fails to get engaged at the VHL level his career will spiral and he'll never reach even a fraction of the raw potential he arguably has: The Peace Player Agency has three solid players including a Hall of Famer. They know how to produce good players and there's no reason to expect they'd sign on with someone they didn't see any potential with.

In general the outcome is simple: Trokker is a player from a respected player agency with great raw potential, but shortcomings from the player and the agency has greatly impacted his development. Zak could develop into a reliable goal scoring forward, yet must be recognized as a potential bust if the motivation from both parties isn't found.