Claimed:Rookie Profile - Travis Boychuk

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Rookie Profile for Travis Boychuk

 

Name: Travis Boychuk

Hometown: Dvirkivschyna, Ukraine

Birthday: February 5th

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 190lbs

Position: Center

Jersey: 23

Team: Turku Outlaws

 

Summary:

Boychuk was a relatively unknown forward before the VHLM, but it was not because of his game. Many scouts were just not looking in the right places to find a player like Travis Boychuk. He hails from Ukraine, and it had taken some hard work to travel out of the country and get noticed for the big stage. All of that hard work paid off, and he found himself claimed by the Ottawa Lynx of the VHLM. Travis was walking on quite a rough path in Ottawa, playing for a mediocre team while at the same time trying to develop himself as a player. At the end of it all, he had a good season in the M with 44 points in 56 games. Those are some decent numbers for a guy who did not ring a bell to most. He developed fast as a rookie and ended up gaining attention from all around the league. After his first VHLM season, he was then drafted to the Turku Outlaws. 68 games in, he has surpassed his previous year's point totals with 74 points thus far. Not too shabby for Ukraine's so called golden boy.

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Boychuk carries the puck across the blue line

 

Strengths:

 

Passing: 

Travis Boychuk is a top tier play maker. His vision with the puck is on a completely different level than most in the game of hockey. His quick reaction time and pinpoint accuracy when locating his teammates is what separates him from the average player. If you are on his line, you should know what to do: you get open. On many occasions it has become obvious that Boychuk has a knack for threading the needle, much like Joe Thornton or Henrik Sedin in the NHL. He will go to all efforts to find you if you are in the slot, and he is not afraid to take a hit in order to make the perfect dish. 

"It is like I am playing a video game when I have the puck. I almost have a bird's-eye view and can see all of the open lanes. It's a lot of fun." - Travis Boychuk

 

Face Offs:

When one thinks of the perfect centerman, they think of a guy who can win a face off in key situations. Boychuk comes through the fold in a big way in that category. Face offs are an area that Travis Boychuk thrives to work on every single day, and it is very important to him to excel there. While in the juniors, he was one of the most dominant players in the league in the face off dot. His strength and technicality in the circle put him in his own league on that regard. While his skill in the area has not been amazing so far in the VHLM at 57.83%, those are still numbers to be proud of. If anyone knows the kid on a personal level, then you can no doubt look forward to him getting even better on the dot.

 

Getting Shots On Net: 

He might not be the best shooter in the league, and you can not always count on him to score a goal in key situations. There is one thing he can do as a sure thing though, and that is get the puck on net. On his team so far at 68 games in, he has the most shots on his team with 256. Boychuk is a player who knows what to do with the puck when a chance at making a play is gone. Whenever Boychuk is about to lose to puck, he throws it at the net. Doing so can create plenty of chances for other teammates to score and it will never hurt to get a shot on goal. You never know what can happen in any situation as there is always a chance for success. If there is traffic in front, it makes it difficult even more so for the goaltender to make the save. His shot percent is less than 10, but with 25 goals on the season he has a knack for finding the net. Travis Boychuk can spot garbage with his vision and jam it in when he needs to. These are the kind of things many teams look for. 

 

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Travis breaks through a defender

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Weaknesses:

 

Defence:

Travis is not your typical superstar centerman that is also great at defending. While he is a relatively good defender, he is not your Jonathan Toews or Pavel Datsyuk, Selke Trophy kind of two way forward. There is something to be looked at here though, because he is only getting better as time goes on. He is continually working on his weaknesses every single day. Right now, you can see him getting burned on one on one's if there is a gifted forward coming his way. He might miss a pass block or two which would lead to a takeaway. You won't be seeing him block many shots, at least not this early in his career. This season, he has a whopping 4 shot blocks. While it might not be what a coach asks for in a number one center, sometimes it is a risk worth taking. 

 

Skating:

Take a second to think of all the players who can fly by defenders in the best leagues of hockey. Players like Pavel Bure or a Matt Duchene kind of leg speed. That is not Travis Boychuk. He just does not have the foot speed to blow by anyone. That is why he resorts to being a play maker. Skating is his weakness. He can skate fluidly and is not the kind of guy to be falling over, but the quickness is not there. Scouts do not know where he missed out when he was a developing youth, but the speed was left behind in his growth. 

 

Checking: 

Travis Boychuk simply put does not have the size to take on the biggest of the VHL. If you are looking for a man who will knock the big boys off of the puck and lay out a big hit, look elsewhere. For a player of his size he definitely has great strength, but he is not much of a fighter. Thankfully, where he lacks in the checking category he makes up for it with his play making and puck handling. Boychuk will stand up for his teammates if he has to, but the tough guys are there for a reason and that is to stop him from doing just that. Taken mostly as a negative, there are some things to be gained from this. While not being able to make big hits, that leaves him from taking more penalties. He does not skate to the box very often. 

 

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This is a player you might find has weaknesses right now, but as a rising star he hopes to eliminate all his cons. In seasons to come, fans may be seeing some of these weak spots get crossed off the list. Boychuk is working extremely hard to become an all-around great player for his future in the VHL.

[Guest Svoboda_3]

Content: 5/5

A very well-written Rookie Profile. I liked that approach you took with the Strengths and weaknesses. It was a bit different and well, obviously written so well. A ton of effort put into this was apparent.

Grammar: 1/1

68 games in = Sixty-eight games in (spell out the numbers at the beginning of a sentence)

is = are

face  off = face-off (x3)

can not = can't

two way = two-way

make big hits, that leaves him = make a big hit, leaving him taking

 

Appearance: 1/1

Looked great.

Over 500 Words? 1/1

1,213 words.

Overall 8/8

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