VHLM Player Profile

[Megster 63]

Article is a little heavy on content, feel free to trim some.  Also I wasn't sure of formatting so just let me know if this is okay.

 

 

Name: Keaton Louth

Position: Defenseman

Age: 19

Handedness: Right

Height: 6’4”

Weight: 230lbs

Birthplace: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Practice Hours: 128

NHL Comparison: Erik Karlsson

Keaton Louth grew up just outside of Duncan, British Columbia in a small town named Cobble Hill.  Growing up Louth played a variety of sports including ball hockey, football, and rugby.  The now 6’4” and 230 lbs defenseman was always large for his age.  Louth finished high school a year late and was quickly signed by the Victoria Royals of the WHL.  After slipping to the 7^th spot on their depth chart, but saw a shot at some ice time when a team mate went down with a prolonged injury.  Louth scored his first assist on his first shift as a Royal, foreshadowing for good things to come.  With 13 games to go in the VHLM regular season, the Las Vegas Aces looking to boost their roster for a deep playoff run signed Keaton Louth to a $1 million entry level contract good until the end of the playoffs.  Louth played surprisingly well on the blue line for the Aces in the regular season with 6 assists and only a -1 on a team that had the majority of the players on the negative side.  Louth also had 7 shot blocks for the Aces.  Going in to the playoffs the Las Vegas Aces were expected to handle the Yukon Rush, who were dead last, rather easily in the first round, but weren’t expected to move on much further.  However, they went all the way to the finals before bowing out in 4 games to the Saskatoon Wild in the post season.  Louth had 2 goals and 2 assists in 14 games but was tied for the worst +/- on the team and only had 11 blocked shots.  Was Louth’s defense, or lack thereof, going to become a problem in the VHLM?  In the VHLM dispersal draft for S56 Louth was on the hot seat once again.  After not hearig his name called in the first round and seeing people with much less practice hours put in go before him Louth was wondering when his name would be called.  Finally with the final pick in the 2^nd round Louth was drafted 10^th overall by the Saskatoon Wild.  Coming out of arguably nowhere Louth has made great leaps and bounds in his play this season.  Currently he is tied for the lead for defensemen in points with 11 goals and 21 assists for 32 points in 17 games.  He is 2^nd in the entire league in points and has a very solid +6.  His defensive play is still leaving much to be desired with only 21 shot blocks and 32 hits. 
Strengths:

Scoring – Scoring is Louth’s best attribute with the most practice hours devoted to it.  He can score goals with considerable ease although he is not currently leading the league in scoring from a defenseman.  I would keep an eye on him though, he will be a strong scorer from the blue line when he makes the leap to the VHL next year.

Passing – Passing is another great attribute of Louth’s and while he isn’t quite as strong of a passer as he is a finisher, he is offensively deadly when he has the puck no matter how you look at it.  Louth has been racking up the assists with more than 1 per game this season.

Skating – Louth is a fluid and swift skater.  He is always flying around the ice and is sometimes too reliant on his ability to get back in the play with his speed, causing him to play out of position more.

 

Weaknesses:

Defense – While he is not the worst defensive player in the VHLM, his defense is simply not where it needs to be to be on par with the other top line defenders in this league.

Checking – Louth’s checking is abysmal, and I wouldn’t expect that to change anytime soon.  He seems to be focusing his practice time on getting better offensively and not worried about his physicality at all.

Strength – Many often see strength and think it goes hand in hand with checking.  And, while it does, it is not the only thing we are referring to when we say strength.  Louth is also weak on puck possession and easily turns the puck over or is knocked off the puck in the corners easy.  It also effects his shot and I would really like to see him start putting some time into this attribute.

[Da Trifecta 1,896]

Damn @Megster you are pretty much doing a legit player profile here. Are you sure you want to continue writing this much weekly?

[Megster 63]

Name: Chase Keller

Position: Center

Handedness: Left

Height: 6’2”

Weight: 200 LBS

Birthplace: Pleasant Camp, British Columbia, Canada

Practice Hours: 221

 

This week we will be looking at the undisputed number one prospect in the upcoming VHL entry draft, Chase Keller.  Keller is represented by long time VHL agent and hall of fame builder Joey Kendrick.  Kendrick also currently represents goalie Marcus King of the Riga Reign.  With such a high pedigree agent representing Keller it is no wonder he is expected to do great things in the VHL.  He has already capped out his practice hours applied in the VHLM and will surely make the jump to the VHL next year.  Keller is currently second in the VHLM in goals with 24 in 29 games.  He adds 19 assists to that for 43 points, good enough for 7 in the league in points.  However, Keller really needs to work on his defensive game as he currently has the lowest +/- in the top 10 in points with a -10, 7 worse than the next closest.  It is important to note that Keller does play on the worst team in the league, the Yukon Rush.  The Rush have wallowed in last place the past 2 seasons and even the explosive offensiveness of Keller won’t change that. 

 

Strengths:

 

Scoring – Despite being 2^nd in the league in goal scoring currently I am going to go out on a limb here and say Keller is the best goal scorer in the VHLM currently.  He currently plays for the worst team in the league on a line with Phil Bennington and Vincent Oakhart who are both scorers in their own right with only Phil having any practice hours in passing and even then only having a measly 4 hours.  I would wager to say that if placed on a line with a pure playmaker that Keller would blow the league away in goal scoring. 

Passing – While Keller is a score first kind of player he is also a great passer.  He has had to do basically everything on his line as his line mates have scored 20 points total combined.  If Keller were to get some better line mates I would expect his assists to go up.  Currently he sits outside the top 10 in assists by 6 but we could see him creep into the lower half of the top 10 as Bennington and Oakhart continue to improve.

Skating – Keller is a very strong skater and he is expected to inmprove this ability when he moves up to the VHL next season.  Keller is very quick and it is reflected in his goal scoring abilities and his ability to get open on the ice for quality shots.

 

Weaknesses:

Defense – Even as a forward you need to be able to play defense if you want to be successful in the VHL.  I would expect Keller to improve his defense once he gets to the VHL level with a better defensive coach.  Defense helps you keep possession of the puck and if you have the puck you can score more, so we could see Keller improve more offensively as he improves his defense.  Right now this is Keller’s most glaring weakness.

Physicality – Keller has taken the second most hits in the VHLM this season with 153, and has only laid out 28.  That gives Keller a -125 hit differential this season, one of the worst in the league.  If Keller does not improve his strength and checking he will struggle to compete with the top forwards in the VHL later in his career.  While this is not a huge issue right now, I would like to see Keller improve his physicality slowly over the next couple of seasons.  Improving his strength should also help with his ability to score.

Face-Offs – Face-offs are not as important to many minor league players in the VHLM because virtually no one focuses on them at this level, but I would really like to see Keller improve this as he moves on to the next level in his career.  Gaining possession off the draw is an invaluable asset at any level but it becomes much more important at the VHL level and I would expect him to start to improve this attribute once he reaches this level.