Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen Rookie Profile [1/2]

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Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen

Birthplace: Philadelphia, PA

Height: 6'3"

Weight: 200 lbs

VHLM Rights: Ottawa Lynx  

VHL Rights: S65 Prospect

 

Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen (also just known as "Smitty") is a rugged, two-way, traditional defenseman hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Known for his good, solid, all-around play, Smitty can pair with an offensive or defensive defenseman to form a balanced pairing. While he may not ever lead the league in points or lead the league in hits or shots blocked, he will provide any team with a good combination of all three and can be relied upon in all three zones and all situations of play.

 

Pros:

 

Skating - Every year, hockey is becoming more and more a skating man's (or woman's) game, and the VHL is no different. Gone are the days of goon players who can't skate. Smitty can hold his own with the better skaters in the league. While it's unlikely that he ever wins any fastest skater awards, Smitty's skating and positioning are good enough to keep up with those who are elite and not look out of place.

 

Hitting - Some defensemen don't hit all all. Some defensemen prefer to block shots. While Smitty is more than willing to put his body on the line to shot block, there's no secret that his preferred way to separate the puck carrier from the puck is with a good, solid body check. Smitty hits often and hard. Opposing forwards will definitely have to keep their head up when coming across the blue line.

 

Passing - Nowadays, every defensemen is expected to be able to complete an outlet pass from their defensive zone. Smitty is more than comfortable doing this. Of all of his "pros", his passing is most likely the most underrated. While preferring to keep it simple, don't be surprised to see more creative passing out of Smitty once he plays with more talented players.

 

Cons:

 

Discipline - In the pros section, we talked about how much Smitty loves the physical aspect of the game. However, with a large quantity and quality of hits comes a large number of penalty minutes. Smitty is no stranger to the penalty box, and whichever team drafts him will have to learn to live with his physical play. While this may be something that Smitty can tune down over time as he becomes a mature player, it's not something that will ever be eliminated from his play

 

Shooting - For as good as his passing is, Smitty's shooting is that bad. Smitty can definitely be defined as a "transition defenseman" who excels at moving the puck between zones, but doesn't excel once inside the offensive zone. Once teams figure him out, they start to cheat towards his D partner, expecting a cross ice pass. If Smitty can improve his shooting to even "passable", he'll be a much improved player.

 

"Average" - Every scouting report lists Smitty as a good, all-around player. Depending on your point of view, that could be alarming. While most players have at least two "elite" skills that are highly transitional to the VHL, Smitty does not have that. He is "very good" at everything, but may not be "elite" in any one thing. This is something that could change depending on how his training goes for the rest of his career, but it is a red flag for some scouts.

 

[eaglesfan036 4,602]

Another word for rugged is gritty

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Review:

Solid pros and cons. Good little intro there.

Definitely a nice write-up.