Claimed:Cian Mercer Profile [Reviewed]

[iRockstar 307]

CIAN MERCER ROOKIE PROFILE

Player Name: Cian Mercer

Position: Defence

Age: 19

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 190lbs

Handness: Right

Hometown: Dublin, Ireland

Drafted By:  Ottawa Lynx - 15th Overall

MERCER ENTERS CANADA

At the young age of eighteen, Cian Mercer and his father took their first ever flight to Canada when Cian was offered a spot on the Kelowna Rockets after they had their official draft and still had some holes to fill. Cian had been noticed and heavily scouted after playing some friendly games back in his hometown and some videos surfaced all over social media and more specifically Youtube. While the process was long and fairly excruciating, the overall process was a lifetime dream come true. Mercer had always wanted to escape Ireland and make a name for himself in a sport that he actually found entertaining. And after trying so many other sports, this one just kind of stuck to him and made him feel as though this was the real deal. 

 

As he attended school in Kelowna and played for the team, he was offered another dream come true deal that would prove to be very effective and beneficial in his favour. Just last season, the Ottawa Lynx would offer him a chance to play on their team for the remainder of the previous season as well as a chance to be in the playoffs. With no hesitation, Mercer took the offer and left Kelowna right away to become a prime defender on the squad. While he didn't have much of an impact through the regular season as the team was already a top playoff contender, he shined in the playoffs helping the Lynx go all the way to the end and win the championship. With a championship under his belt already, Cian would enter his first official year as he entered the S46 draft that would see him go right back home to the Ottawa Lynx, exactly what he was hoping would happen. 

 

Selected fifteenth overall, Mercer was fairly disappointed in falling down the rankings, but he understood with all the other people being pretty far ahead in practice hours since he joined at an awkward time in the league transition. Despite being selected where he was, Mercer had plans to be a top defender by the end of the season and he had big plans to bring Ottawa back to the playoffs. With the help of his teammates, he had no doubt in his mind that the push was going to happen and that he would be back on top sooner rather than later. 

 

PROS

Passing - When it comes to being a defender, one thing Mercer picked up early is that he was undoubtedly going to be relied on for making some big plays on the offence when he was called on. Realizing this early on in his career, passing became a big focus that he would learn to work with almost every practice. Because of this focus, we're scouting that Mercer is going to be a pass-first defender when he makes his way over the blueline. Despite not being heavily relied on when it comes to offence, if there is going to be any way Mercer tallies points, this is going to be the primary way. 

 

Positioning - One thing Mercer prides himself on when it comes to his gameplay is the ability to play his position without flaw. As a defender, Mercer understands his responsibilities and understands where he needs to be, when he needs to be there. Despite being young, it's very obvious that Mercer is fully aware that on any type of a special teams play, he becomes the PP QB or the penalty kill specialist that any team is going to want to have on their team. Through the growing process, Mercer understands there is still much to learn and a lot more practicing to go before he can make it in the pro leagues, but he's happy to learn and is still making huge strides to perfecting his position and making himself become the best he can be. 

 

Hitting - You wouldn't expect large and calculated hits to come from someone at such a regular size such as a guy like Mercer who only stands at six feet tall and only weighs just under two hundred pounds, however due to the sheer skating ability and defensive tactics Mercer can play, he can read a lot of players very easily and calculate large and in charge hits that could become very promising and devastating as time goes on. Because he's not done growing yet, we believe with more muscle mass accumulation and height growth, the hitting game will only become more promising and will only become more dangerous and pristine as the seasons pass. There is no limitation to how good this aspect of his game can become, only time will tell how good it gets before his career comes to an end. 

 

CONS

Shooting - As we mentioned earlier in his pros, the scoring ability of Mercer isn't as high as he'd like it to be, and while it's something that has slightly fallen on the back-burner of things for his practicing, it's not something the scouts are too worried about when they look at his career long-term. While we see Mercer always being a pass-first player, it's very obvious that he's got a very powerful and accurate slapshot, it's just a matter of getting him to use it more. Because of his current mindset, he's not really using it as much as he'd like to. thus some people may see it as a negative point to his game. Though we'll keep reassuring any pro GM that drafts him that in the future, you should expect to see this aspect of his game improve drastically enough to actually become significant. 

 

Size - Most people now days look at defenders and want them to be huge, broad shoulders and just big brutes on the ice, and some may see Mercer's size as a downfall to his game, however being younger and still with some growth left in him, there is no telling what will come of him when he reaches the pro levels. Right now, we believe he's a good size to dominate the juniors where everyone is still developing and pretty much all at equal sizes. We're not too worried when looking at Mercer who is still a good size for the position he plays, but again come the future we're hoping he does beef up and does grow even a couple of inches to make himself look even more promising going into the draft. 

 

Penalty Shot - One thing we don't see now days is a defender that can take a perfect penalty shot, and this time around we've met another one. Because scoring isn't his focus to begin with, his coaches believe that there is truly no reason to focus on penalty shots for the time being. This doesn't mean that Mercer couldn't step up and become a penalty shot enthusiast, but in reality it would only truly happen if a GM asked him to become on. If a pro GM is looking for a defender to take penalty shots, it's obvious that if it helps him improve his game and become a top defender, then he'll do whatever it takes to become that defender. 

 

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

Feedback:
Great RP, iR! Cian should be a stud if you can keep up activity.

[CowboyinAmerica 2,889]

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