David O'Quinn's Rookie Profile [1/2]

[David O'Quinn 115]

David O'Quinn

POS: LD/RD

SHOOTS: L

Height: 6ft, 3In

Weight: 200 lbs

Birthplace: Cape Breton County, Cape Breton

 

In such a fast, exact,  modern game, speed, smarts and stickhandling, a player who excels in all of these qualities is bound for greatness. This next player doesn't hit all of those marks, but he hits one of them very, very well.

Raised to play a hard working, slow, smart game, but with the inspirations of the likes of the greatest playmaking defensemen in VHL history, it's no wonder why O'Quinn evolved into the player he is now. Having been to a few Senior's game's to watch O'Quinn, the player he is comes down to three qualities: Leading, Playmaking, and an intimidating Defense. Let's lay it out.

 

Pros

- Playmaking

          When O'Quinn has the puck, you never know what he's going to do with it. His laser-accurate passing, quik decision making and consistent creativity are complimented by a great patience, selflessness. The mistake many budding playmakers make, is passing too quickly, and not waiting for the right pass. It's a pitfall that can easily lead to plenty of turnovers, which is a quality so negative it can entirely 'disqualify' a player from his prospective employers. Not only does O'Quinn not enter this pitfall, he excels at the qualities an effective playmaker needs. 

- Leadership

         Whether or not it comes from experience, its fair to say his quality of leadership is rare, and more importantly, it's valuable. He leads in two ways, first by example, as all leaders must. He gives his all every single game, not backing down, not giving but a second of relaxation on his part to the skaters the opposite side of the ice, for if he did he would give them a second to score, and that's just one too many. He also leads by word, rarely speaking about himself. He will speak to his team, his teams staff, the people who helped him get to where he is. He will not speak as if he is proud of himself, he will speak as if he is proud of everyone around him, if he believes they are all trying their best. When his team falters, though it rarely does, he never loses his spirit or his drive, and he will push his team for as long as his legs will allow him.

- Defense

        David's skill and consistency on defense may be what one calls silent, but deadly. Then again, that's exactly what you want in a defenseman's defensive game. O'Quinn will be there when it matters, jumping infront of the net to block a shot, taking a hit in the corner so his teammate can grab the puck, and with his long reach, being able to stop flashy forwards in their tracks. O'Quinn defends like he's 6'3, using his size to the fullest of its potential. O'Quinn will be a danger for years to come, if not for his passing or leadership, for the simple fact that it's going to be so much harder to score a goal when he's on ice.  

      

 

Cons

- Speed

        While he is certainly not slow enough to keep him from playing at the level of his competitors, his speed will never win him a competition. Though we may see him fix this in months and years to come, as it stands, he isn't a defenseman that will lead the rush, like some do. He is effectively a pointman, making plays from the back of the offensive zone, never rushing through his opponents to score on the breakaway, though he may very well create the opportunity for someone else with his playmaking abilities. 

- Stickhandling

          As with the previous con, it's important to note that I'm not saying O'Quinn is a bad stickhandler. But, out of all his ascertainable qualities, it's again one he needs to improve upon. Maybe it's a lack of experience in the situations where precise stickhandling is important, but outside of passing and shooting, O'Quinn needs to improve his stickhandling. Thankfully, his lack of skill in this area isn't due to any debilitating injury, but rather likely to the lack of a need in skill for it, which means he can still improve.

- Scoring

        Though this isn't necessarily a key skill for a defenseman, if you see O'Quinn score a goal it's much more likely to be from a good pass or a good opportunity created by a teammate than one created by himself off the rush. That can be a skill in and of itself, but in O'Quinn's case I believe it's more of a fallback than a claim to fame. When at the point, it's much more likely O'Quinn will pass the puck than shoot it, or shoot it in an attempt to pass it. This can be a detriment to a team that doesn't take enough shots, but to a team with plenty of goal-scoring this may not become as big of an issue as it could be.

 

 

Conclusion

While O'Quinn needs to improve in the physical and stickhandling aspects of his game, he excels as a playmaking pointguard. He doesn't make many mistakes defensively but doesn't do anything amazing, however defense often comes with age and experience, and isn't a silent defenseman what you want anyways? He holds a sound mind for leadership, and motivating his team mates. It's hard to project his future, but he'll make an impact wherever he goes. His lack of speed, and hesitance to shoot may not make him the perfect fit for every team, but he certainly will go far.

 

-Reporter and Journalist, Roger Pennies.

Edited October 9, 2019 by JohnOQuinn

[HenrikZoiderberg 469]

Review:

 

Formatting could use some work. Player name/title should be at the very top of the doc and centered, followed by stats/summary. The fact that we can't see your player's face is also kind of weird to me.

 

The actual body of the text is pretty good and meets word count, but you need three of each pros and cons, minimum. 

 

On 9/17/2019 at 11:58 AM, JohnOQuinn said:

Pro's

 

"Pros"

 

Also what you've done with the formatting here with italics and hypens stands out as weird. Either use a bulleted list if your'e going to do that, or don't use the hyphens at all. I'd also reccomend using italics to accentuate specific parts of your text, not use as headers. The forum tools are robust enough that you can have

 

Multiple

 

Sizes

 

of

 

Headers

 

To differentiate between orders of importance. You're off to a good start, but this one needs to be cleaned up a bit. Let me know if you'd like some help.

[David O'Quinn 115]

10 hours ago, HenrikZoiderberg said:

Review:

 

Formatting could use some work. Player name/title should be at the very top of the doc and centered, followed by stats/summary. The fact that we can't see your player's face is also kind of weird to me.

 

The actual body of the text is pretty good and meets word count, but you need three of each pros and cons, minimum. 

 

 

"Pros"

 

Also what you've done with the formatting here with italics and hypens stands out as weird. Either use a bulleted list if your'e going to do that, or don't use the hyphens at all. I'd also reccomend using italics to accentuate specific parts of your text, not use as headers. The forum tools are robust enough that you can have

 

Multiple

 

Sizes

 

of

 

Headers

 

To differentiate between orders of importance. You're off to a good start, but this one needs to be cleaned up a bit. Let me know if you'd like some help.

Fixed it a bit, changed the sizes of some headers and whatnot. I'm not a fan of centering things like this though, I find it makes them hard to read.

 

However, about not being able to see the players face in the pic: This player is based off a real person, and there isn't any pictures of him playing for this team, by himself, while he's wearing that Jersey.

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

On 10/4/2019 at 6:57 PM, JohnOQuinn said:

Fixed it a bit, changed the sizes of some headers and whatnot. I'm not a fan of centering things like this though, I find it makes them hard to read.

 

However, about not being able to see the players face in the pic: This player is based off a real person, and there isn't any pictures of him playing for this team, by himself, while he's wearing that Jersey.

Add 1 more Pro and 1 more Con, and you'll be good to go.

 

The rubric asks for 3 each.

[David O'Quinn 115]

On 10/7/2019 at 4:07 AM, DollarAndADream said:

Add 1 more Pro and 1 more Con, and you'll be good to go.

 

The rubric asks for 3 each.

all fixed!