Hit or Miss, Guess They Never Miss, huh? [1/2]

[HenrikZoiderberg 469]

Kronos Bailey, Wlodzimierz Zajaczkowski, Randoms, & Leph Twinger

 

 

All of these players have one thing in common. While only Kronos and Leph were first overall picks, and Wlodzimierz is the only one at a far lower overall skill level at sub-600 TPE, there is a single thread that bound these four extraordinary players in the S65 season:

 

 

These four players were the only to register over 300 hits.

 

In a league where defense, fatigue, and the ability to handle the puck have become such prominent requirements, the big body player has become the new key to a team's success. In this week's article, we'll perform a deep dive into the emergence of the Power Forward in the VHL and what we can learn about their strengths, weaknesses, and dissect their keys to success.

 

 

Checking

 

The most obvious trait when it comes to hits, but surprisingly not the highest stat for all of our players under review except for Zajaczkowski, Checking is defined as not how hard a player hits, but how often a player goes for hit. All of our players are statistical standouts in this area, and have made it a focus of their game, but not the focus. It also seems that a player's size may not impact the frequency of their hits, as our most frequent hitter in Kronos is also the second-smallest at a mere 220 lbs; although he is the second-tallest at a whopping 6'4".  Randoms, the biggest chonk on the team both by height and weight, lands third on our list of frequent hitters, meaning it may not necessarily be the size of the horse that matters once a certain threshold is reached.

 

 

Defense

 

Unfailingly, the shared attribute between the four players under review is their extreme defense prowess. Defense affects a player's in-zone positioning and frequency to block shot and make the right defensive play. This is by far the highest statistic for each of our skaters, and shows across all of their stats, including plus/minus. While checking may be the precursor to a high number of hits, defense seems to be the catalyst. What this suggests when combined with the fact that our top-four are all forwards, is that forechecking and neutral-zone hits happen with far more frequency than defensive-zone hitting. Given that there are more opportunities for a forward to check a player before they're able to make it to the defenders, this would stand to reason, but it remains interesting that not a single defenseman cracked the top-four hitters in the league or even the three hundred hit marker.

 

 

Strength

 

The weakest among these four skaters is a second-tier Strength score, which is impressive considering their existing exceptional talents in other areas. Strength is a player's ability to stay on their feet with a check, to out muscle someone else for the puck, and their ability to knock an opponent off the puck. You can throw your body at an opponent as much as you want, but if there isn't weight behind the hit, your opponent may recover faster than you, leading to decreased posession and overall exhaustion. This often-overlooked statistic has proven to be essential in each of our players under review, and is necessary for any young men looking to make the jump to the VHL.

 

Who do you think will be the most important hitters of the S66 season? 

 

562 words, TPE for week ending May 12.

[Mr_Hatter 1,608]

Review: I really find the premise of this media spot interesting/funny, and I think you did a really good job coming up with this content. Additionally, great use of pictures and headers to space out the piece. Good analysis in your writing, and overall great job!

[diamond_ace 3,114]

I like the idea behind this. Players who aren't the traditional VHL builds are what keep the league interesting. I know my last guy broke 200 hits 3 times but never got that close to 300

[scoop 3,447]

I'm planning on making Rushmore into a power forward (and not the "I'm a TPE whore who has maxed everything else" way).

[HenrikZoiderberg 469]

Thanks for bumping this article back up to the front page everyone, it was one of my earlier ones but I'm pretty proud of it

[DollarAndADream 3,357]

I definitely had an Ovechkin kind of build in mind when I started with Twinger. Went high in Scoring right off the bat, I think I was already at 90 when I got to the VHL, and I also had lots of Strength and Checking.