Rookie Profile: Ben Hafkey [1/2]

[McLovin 389]

 

Ben Hafkey Rookie Profile:

 

 

Ben Hafkey, born in Denver, Colorado came out of the USA National Development Program as a scoring winger looking to prove himself in the VHL. The 19 year old signed with Philadelphia almost immediately after coming out of the program and is looking to become a crucial piece of @BladeMaiden's future cup runs.

 

STRENGTHS:

SPEED:

As a scoring winger, Hafkey has worked on his speed quite a bit to make up for his lack in size to evade and maneuver around his opponents and create open space for him or his teammates to use. At 5'9'', he is great at putting his head down and carving up ice to get a nice play going.

 

SHOT:

Naturally you would hope that for being a "scoring winger," Hafkey would have a decent shot, and that he does. He is almost able to score at will, whether it be unloading a one timer from near the hash marks or blue line, cutting close and beating the goalie and defense with a split second wrister, or shooting from a difficult angle, Hafkey makes the shot count and is definitely one of the strongest aspects of his game.

 

SCORING:

His natural offensive awareness to recognize plays and create chances is most likely the best part of his skill set. He will see holes in the defense and send a pretty pass through the legs of the defender, bank a pass up or around the boards to an open teammate or fire a shot for a rebound. He is dangerous with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone, and will always have a trick up his sleeve for an unprepared defender.

 

WEAKNESSES:

SIZE:

Standing at only 5'9'' 172 lbs, Hafkey's physicality and body presence on the ice is below average to put it simply. When it comes to checking one of the larger this league has to offer, he will in most cases lose that battle and be forced to use his agility to get himself out of sticky situations, which can land you flat on your back in some cases. Obviously as a scoring winger, don't expect many physical plays like heavy hits or board plays to come often due to his size.

 

DEFENSE:

He sacrificed smart play in the defensive zone for smart play in the offensive zone, so he will occasionally make a bad play in his zone that can result in a turnover, goal against or really anything else. That mixed with a smaller size makes it easy for him to get caught with his head down defensively and get leveled, giving up a potential odd man break or scoring chance later on. This is definitely a category he'll need to work on to become more of a two-way forward.

 

PUCK HANDLING:

Hafkey will find himself losing the puck on a play a little too nifty for him to make, causing turnovers and embarrassing plays. This seems to be one of the key factors he is improving on, however, so that his game can be completely offensively based. So time will tell how long it'll take him to learn to make the smart, simple, and pretty play all the time.

 

 

[BladeMaiden 1,807]

Hafkey has been doing well on Philly, It is interesting to see what you think are your player weaknesses and strengths.  This give a great glimpse the the player you are trying to make!

[HenrikZoiderberg 469]

Review:

 

Holy text size batman. Maybe bring that down a bit, this is supposed to be a scouting report brought to a GM by their scouting team, not a poster on a size of a building.

 

That said, good formatting.

 

Needs a summary to wrap things up.

 

On 4/8/2019 at 1:41 AM, ItsMcLovin said:

and is looking to become a crucial piece of @BladeMaiden's future cup runs.

 

 ...the Reapers....

 

On 4/8/2019 at 1:41 AM, ItsMcLovin said:

Standing at only 5'9'' 172 lbs, Hafkey's physicality and body presence on the ice is below average to put it simply.

 

Would you say Gaudreau is a comparable?

 

On 4/8/2019 at 1:41 AM, ItsMcLovin said:

This seems to be one of the key factors he is improving on, however, so that his game can be completely offensively based.

 

Didn't you just say he was working on being a better two-way forward?

 

Looks pretty nice overall. Make your text stop yelling out of the screen and you'll have a real winner here.