Ryan Kastelic Rookie Profile [1/2]

[Enorama 1,980]

Ryan Kastelic

Age: 17

Height: 6'1" (183cm)

Weight: 185 lbs (84 kg)

Hometown: Ljubljana, Slovenia

 

Ryan is a slick puck-moving defenseman who's quick on his feet, difficult to check, and has the vision to make outstanding passes. He's only just shy of 4 years removed from his first time touching the ice, but he looks as though he's been living in skates his whole life. After a rocky start to the season with the Sudbury Wolves, Ryan has gone on to post 4 goals and 56 assists in 68 GP. He has become an invaluable piece of the Wolves' #1 powerplay unit, feeding his triggermen as the QB of their umbrella, while also putting in time on the 2nd PK unit, boasting only 5 PPG against all year. Although his game is raw and he has much to improve as of yet, his raw talent and athletic ability are what make him impossible to pass up at the next VHLM draft.

 

Pros:

Skating Ability

As previously mentioned, Ryan hadn't touched the ice until he was 14 years old, but his days of running track and practicing inline skating have lead to a natural skating ability that rivals most 25 year veterans of the game. Almost effortlessly, he seems to be able to overtake anyone on the ice in the blink of an eye, making backchecking after a pinch or giveaway easy, and negating almost every mistake he makes.

Hockey Sense

Although I am quite hesitant to say it, Ryan has almost a Gretzky-an sense of where the puck is going to be as opposed to where it is. He is excellent at cutting off opponents' passes before they hit their mark, and he knows just how long he needs to delay a pass in order to land it perfectly on his teammate's stick while avoiding any possible interceptors.

Creative Passing

Even ignoring his passing game as a whole (which is nearly flawless), all I should need to share here is a pass that I saw Ryan make while playing for the Wolves this year. This footage isn't actually of him but of the nearest imitation that I could find online here. In case you can't watch the video for whatever reason, he drops the puck to his feet and kicks the puck for a cross-crease pass while coming in on a 2on1. The creativity behind that play is something that's evident every time Ryan touches the puck.

 

Cons:

Hitting

Being as strong of a skater as he is, Ryan's never had to take a large number of hits to this point in his career, and with his stickchecking and overall possession control, he's never had to dish many out either, so hitting is one area of his game that could potentially stand to improve, but we'll have to see if it hinders his VHL career at all.

Overall Hockey Knowledge

Due to him not being a hockey player or fan until the age of 14, Ryan still lacks some knowledge on the intricacies of the game, whether they be rule or tradition related. For example, for the first time, he gave up a penalty shot for covering the puck with his hands in the crease, something which he had no idea was against the rules because it had never come up in his games before.

Scoring Ability

Normally, for someone as natural a playmaker as Ryan is, I wouldn't even mention scoring ability as his prowess there is strong enough to make up for any faults in scoring. However, he is almost on another level of not being able to put the puck in the net (on purpose at least, 2 of his 4 goals this year were intended passes that ricocheted into the back of the net) if his life depended on it. I'm convinced that some days he wouldn't be able to hit the broad side of a barn with a shot.

 

Word count: 654 words.

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

Review:

Great RP, my man.

The sections are properly separated, with a clear idea of what the pros and cons are.

The only thing I'd ask is to maybe add a picture, rather than just a bunch of words. It just makes it look better.

However, this is solid and an easy approval!