Claimed:Sean Blacker Rookie Profile [FINAL: 8/8]

[frescoelmo 1,282]

Sean Blacker Rookie Profile

Name: Sean Blacker

 

Height: 6 feet, 5 inches

 

Weight: 230 pounds

 

Age: 22

 

Handling: Left

 

 

 

Overview

Sean Blacker is a tall, strong forward out of Northern Ireland.  The youngest of three athletes, competition runs in the Irishman’s blood.  Having played sports in Belfast his entire life, Blacker had become subject to some media scrutiny when he announced that he would be leaving Ireland for the Victory Hockey League (VHL).  While Sean’s goal to succeed at Victory Hockey League Minors (VHLM) seemed like an easy one to him, his peers and friends alike knew the adjustment to the VHLM was going to take much longer than Blacker expected.

 

Season 45: Sean struck gold playing alongside some of the best talents in the league during his first season on the Bern Royals.  Slow to start (as expected), Blacker started playing more minutes with the first two lines and it paid off dearly.  Deemed to be the ‘cog in the middle’ of a superb offense, Sean celebrated success in various areas while maximizing others’ potential. 

 

Mr. Blacker would wrap up Season 45 with Bern with 111 points (tops for all centers), with 75 of them assists.  Furthermore, Sean would find himself on the short list for points per 20 minutes (eighth), face-off percentage (fifth) and overall plus/minus (first).  Some criticized both Blacker and his teammates for the point inflation, but needless to say the numbers don’t lie.

 

Pre-Draft: Having since lost out to the Moscow Red Wolves during the European Conference Semi-Finals, Sean has been preparing for the VHL Entry Draft in various ways.  With more focus and better habits, Sean has been the beneficiary of additional practice hours.  Now an employee of the Victory Hockey League as an editor for weekly articles, Sean has put himself in a great position to profit from additional exposure and practice hours at the league headquarters.

 

 

Pros:

 

Face-Off Specialist: A lot of draft experts have likened Sean Blacker to a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ player.  Sean’s gift as a face-off specialist has not gone unnoticed and is one of the better parts of his game.  Leading the league in face-off attempts, Sean converted over 60% of them and kept Bern’s offense in motion.

 

Leadership: Although it never seems to show in the statistics, there is a lot that can be said about the intangibles that Sean Blacker brings to the table.  Showing up before practice to warm up, staying late to make sure every teammate got their time in, there’s very little Sean doesn’t do.  Teammates have raved about Sean’s ability to keep the locker room fun, enjoyable and professional when necessary.

 

Poise: Sean’s ability to skate, hold up after being checked and keeping possession of the puck will be tested early and often at the professional level.  When you wrap it all up, Sean is ready for the challenge.  Sean seemingly has the ‘it’ factor.  Whether it’s gracefully skating to a breakaway goal or taking a hard hit to save a teammate, Blacker has poise very few others can claim in this upcoming draft.

 

 

Cons

 

Scoring: If there’s one statistic that was likely inflated at the conclusion of Season 45, it was Sean’ goal total.  His capability to score has been questioned ever since he started playing competitively in Ireland, and it hasn’t gotten much better since.  Sean will have to take a hard look at his shot if he wants to continue progressing as an all-around player.

 

Defense: Sean has admitted that this is likely the next step in his progression as a player.  Sean skimmed underneath the ‘water’ so to speak during his time in the VHLM, but his lack of capacity as a defensive player will be scrutinized quickly if he doesn’t start playing more defense.

 

Puck Handling: Despite being a great skater, Sean could stand to work on his possession ability.  This goes hand-in-hand with his scoring and passing.  With a heightened sense of handling, Blacker could take the next step towards stardom as a bigger scoring threat.

 

 

 

Projection

Sean has a little bit of everything on his plate; good overall skills at just about everything, but not truly good at anything.  The center’s progression as a VHL star will be modest, but Sean easily has the makings of a journeyman top six forward.  DRAFT PROJECTION: 5^TH OVERALL

 

Edited October 28, 2015 by frescoelmo

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

Overview: 2/2 - A nice introduction to the big, two-way center from Northern Ireland. Don't think we've had too many players from there in this league.

Pros & Cons: 3/3 - Meets the minimum word requirements. Nothing wrong with a good, solid, all-around center. Not everyone has to be a star in this league to contribute.

Grammar: 2/2 - Little thing that may be nit-picky

 succeed at Victory Hockey League Minors (VHLM) = succeed in the Victory Hockey League Minors (VHLM)

Presentation: 1/1/b] - Nicely done.

Overall: 8/8

[Kendrick 4,741]

Claimed