Hitting Machine Lukas Novacek [1/2]

[leafsman 207]

 

Lukas Novacek is a very physical Defender who hits everything that moves and eats pucks for breakfast.  Novacek is in his second full season in the VHLM with the Oslo Storm and has hit a wall in his development.  He has the build of a stay at home defender but with  good passing skills. Novacek is great at moving the puck and that helped to play a large role in the championship season a year ago.  Last season he scored a total of 16 goals and 56 assists on the vastly superior Oslo squad. He followed up that strong regular season by potting two goals and 7 assists on the way to a cup title. This year his point totals have dropped in nearly half as the team undergoes a rebuilding year.  He has posted a meager 9 goals and 41 assists with all the goals coming on the man advantage. The strength of his game however is on the physical side and he's had an excellent season there. He has been a hitting machine this season improving his hit count by nearly over 100 by the team the season ends.   Novacek is by far the leader in hits this season eclipsing the next best player 35. He is third in the league in shot blocks and has more or less posted the same total as a year ago. There are many people in the hockey world don't put any stock into plus minus and Novacek is a fine example as to why many now consider it a nearly useless tool.  Last season on a championship calibre squad he posted a nice +23, while this year on the struggling Storm he has been on the ice for many more goals posting a -46. However this plus minus total is not entirely surprising as he is playing on the top pair with Paolo Nano and the team overall is at negative 92 goal differential.

 

Being a physical player, Novacek at times has costed his team as he leads the team in PIMs.   Some in the hockey world love guys with high PIMs but with fighting trending down across the hockey universe due to concussion concerns he is probably hurting his team by spending so much time in the sin bin.  He hurts his team further when he’s in the box as he is the one the team relies on to kill penalties Oslo has the second highest PIM total and the Second worst PK in the league. This isn't entirely the fault of Novacek but he has been a major factor in the futility of the Storms special teams.

 

Despite his strong physical presence Novacek has hardly improved this season.   He had a great start to his VHLM career but his last update was over a month ago and looks destined to finish his career in the VHLM.   He started with so much potential having had a job as an updater but that too appears to have fizzled out. Maybe one day ADV will return to push Novacek into the VHL but that seems highly unlikely at this point in time.

[Devise 4,475]

@Advantage has returned and retired and created a new player, good read though. 

[JG10 28]

520 words, good article, adding a picture would make it look a lot more appealing for next time