Peace lands in Riga.

[Peace 1,518]

RIGA, LATVIA -- Rylan Peace landed in Riga a few days ago to sign his rookie contract with the Reign, talk to his new teammates and introduce himself to the city. Fans of the hockey club, were they lucky enough to meet the prospect in Latvia's capital city, received signatures from the second round pick (twelfth overall) in Baltic Beach Hotel and Spa's main lobby shortly before he packed up to return to Canada; the near beach front hotel was selected by Peace to relax a few days to himself. 

Rylan Peace joins Reign alongside former Halifax players Shawn Glade (also Halifax's GM), Ryuu Crimson, Dylan Nguyen, prospect Anthony Dabarno and finally prospect Nathan MacKinnon. 

"I thought it would be a little awkward, but I played with Shawn (Glade), Dylan (Nguyen) and Ryuu (Crimson) in Halifax. It certainly made it less awkward and more welcoming," Peace said. "I could have been the only player from Halifax on the roster, and even though I have confidence I would have been just fine, it makes a difference." 

Rylan Peace was selected by the Latvia club in the second round from Halifax, where he will leave the VHLM club to join Saskatoon after being selected in - once again - the second round of the most recent dispersal draft. Fun fact, Peace was stolen from the Titans, who planned on taking him 13th overall.

 

“Yeah, I'll admit I was absolutely certain I’d be a Titan when the draft was done, but it turned out I was heading to Riga instead when I checked the draft board later that evening.” Peace stated during a phone interview. “I even bought a ticket to Helsinki and everything anticipating them to choose me in the draft, but needless to say I was very surprised I was selected ahead of where I knew I was going to be selected.”

Rylan Peace, who was projected to slip through to the third (or maybe even fourth) round of the entry draft, had bought a two-way ticket to Helsinki to meet with GM Quik of the Titans; however, by the end of the day, he was refunding that ticket and heading to Riga to speak to his new GM instead.

Within twenty four hours of being selected, Rylan Peace had signed his rookie contract and donned his Riga Reign jersey, although he was ultimately sent back down to the minors as the club signed free agents to fill the roster in hopes of a competitive season.

“Obviously I’m thrilled to be a member of the Reign,” Peace said. “I’m going to do everything I can to be a core piece of their future.”

Peace was sent back to the Saskatoon Wild of the VHLM to enhance his development further in order to be that core piece by the time Riga truly needs him; he joins the Wild as their ‘best’ forward, in regards to TPE. The youngster joined S62 during week five, and by the end of the season he had shown rapid development, yet surprisingly dropped into the second round of the VHLM dispersal draft.

His final position in the entry draft supports his accelerated improvement, but what if Peace had an entire season to develop his skills... would he have landed in the VHL entry draft’s first round alongside similarly developing players like Tzuyu or Crosby?

If Peace earned 150 TPE before the draft, would it be so far fetched to predict he’ll be between the 250 - 300 TPE mark by the end of S63? Only time will tell, but I’d say it’s a pretty fair bet - in fact we asked Peace if he thought he could make it.

“When it comes to TPE - I suppose the stat everyone uses to track improvement and ability - my goal was to reach 150 before the draft. I accomplished that, so I’m going to push myself to be around 300 be the time the VHLM season ends.” Peace stated.

That’s good news for Riga, right? Every GM - we assume - wants to hear that the players they draft will push themselves to improve their abilities. When it comes to Peace, he’s certainly put in a decent amount of individual work to improve his ratings.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s a team sport.” Peace stated. “When it comes to individual improvement, however, a teammate can’t make you fundamentally better. They can show you tricks and give you the tools to improve yourself, but you have to have the motivation and dedication to comprehend what you’re being taught and apply it the best way for yourself.”


 

[SlapshotWrangler 784]

Review:

First of all, congrats on going to Riga! First of all, your article is great. The quotes sound like real quotes, and I love the organization. It's just the little things that get me. The spacing, it's great. For the city thing I'm gonna try your version. In most articles I don't see much of use of the term TPE of a real, plausible thing. I mean, it's kinda weird, and it does bother me a bit, but you can keep going with that, not too much of a problem.

 

Edited October 26, 2018 by SlapshotDragon