C - Rauno Palo - Rookie Profile [1/2]

[jRuutu 2,426]

Rauno Palo lookalike knocking on door

 

Rauno Palo
Age: 18
Birthday: October 13th, 1999
Birth Place: Vaasa, Finland
Jersey Number: 3
Height: 6'5
Weight: 230lbs

 

Description:

 

Born and raised in Vaasa where Rauno also started playing hockey at the age of 8 when he joined Vaasa U-10 junior team. It was clear quite quickly that due to his large frame and overall talent level, Rauno is able to play with kids older than him, so he moved to U-14 team couple months later. From there on he has played with the older kids year after year before eventually making his debut in Vaasan Sport at the age of 17. In his first season with the top team he collected 5+20 in 50 games. For the ongoing season Palo moved over to VHLM and is expected to be among the players drafted on the first two rounds in the upcoming draft.

Strengths

 

Puck Handling:  Rauno´s ability to hold on the puck is a joy to watch, uses his body really well when keeping players behind his back. Almost impossible to take the puck away if you let him set up his little office into the corner or behind the net.

 

Skating: For a big boy, Rauno moves really well - especially his agility is something you rarely see on players of his size, can make sharp turns in tight spaces and overall Palo´s skating looks so effortless, almost like he is floating on the ice, but he sure does get from end to end in a hurry.
 

Hockey IQ: Seems to be at the right place at the right time, knows when to keep the puck instead of trying high risk plays or forcing a pass and defensively he has the big reach, that is a massive help when trying to poke the puck away. Still could be slightly more aggressive in terms of trying to shoot more, but what comes down to young players - Rauno is as complete player as you will get from the draft.

Weaknesses

 

Shooting: Mentioned it there briefly, Rauno does not like to shoot unless he absolutely has to. Main reason behind that is the quality of his shot, it´s heavy and hard, but accuracy is brutal. Needs to work on the accuracy and more importantly trying to shoot more, does not have to go for the goal all the time, could try to get a rebound that other players could shovel in instead of always going for the pass or holding the puck.

 

Hitting:  Has managed to get by without having to hit so much, but if he wants to play a lot and have a solid career in VHL, needs to go for the body if the chance comes up. Players are bigger and faster in VHL after all. Palo has the frame to be physical - just matter of tuning his game towards being more physical than in the past.

 

Personality: There has been rumours about Palo being a player who does not take anything seriously, which has potential to cause problems in the locker room and on the ice. The famous incident in Liiga last year where Palo took a sip from goalies bottle in middle of powerplay has been viewed by thousands of people, that is a good example of Raunos inability at times to stay focused.

 

[Beaviss 4,955]

Sounds like he would look great in a  Jersey 

[jRuutu 2,426]

21 hours ago, Beaviss said:

Sounds like he would look great in a  Jersey 

[Exlaxchronicles 415]

Like the fact that you've used a pic that moves!

Your bold headers and colored ones are layered nicely in the write up.

A few parts of your sentence phrasing and punctuation were a little out of place but honestly, the art of writing can and is confusing to most people...including myself.

A pretty darn good write up Ruut!