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[jRuutu 2,426]

 

 

Good day! My name is Jim Bob, I play for the Seattle Bears. As some maybe know -  I like to hit, there is nothing that brings me joy more than hitting a player who controls the puck and then taking the puck as the player is collecting their equipment from the ice. A lot of modern hockey fans say that players who like to hit also take a lot of penalty minutes, that is the reason why we perhaps don't see as many physical players in VHL as back in the day as coaches actively try to limit the time their teams spend killing penalties. Smart and makes sense of course, but hitting and physicality, cmon?!  Players who hit do not get enough love in the overly tactical environment where we live today, for that is the reason I'm going to talk a little bit about the best hitters in the current VHL.

 

Phil Marleau - 90 CK - Winger - 386 hits - 28.33 minutes per game

 

Let's start from the top, Phil Marleau, what a player! Currently leading the league in hits by a fair margin. As I'm writing this he has 386 hits in 63 games. If things go well for Marleau he could even set a personal hitting record this year as his best season so far shows 404 hits in 72 games. What makes Marleau an interesting player is the fact that he can play both in the middle and in the winger position, during the ongoing year Marleau has spent playing as a right-winger, but that 404 hit career-high came while playing as a center.

 

Chad Magnum - 94 CK -  Center - 335 hits - 29.24 minutes per game

 

Marleau is the only player closing in on the 400 hit mark, meanwhile the second place in the hitting rankings is a lot more closer, I like to call them the 300+ hitters. Currently holding the second position is Toronto center Chad Magnum. ''Another'' center, typically when thinking about the best hitters they are wingers or defenders as they can go for the hits somewhat safely. If a center starts running around, the middle of the ice quite often could end up having too much space. Players like Magnum and Marleau however are masters on picking their spots, not a surprise to see Magnum second in the list as he gets to play a lot and he is known for his physicality, 250+ hits in every single season so far in his career. A cool fact about Magnum is that he is also Toronto's best scorer with 51 assists and 77 points.

 

Markus Nygren - 99 CK - Winger - 326 hits - 29.15 minutes per game

 

The second player in the 300+ hits group, Nygren plays as a winger for the Los Angeles Stars.  Nygren is perhaps the ultimate example of a power forward, he keeps it simple. His job is to create space with his body, he is going to finish every check. I found it to be interesting that 99 checking has so far ''only'' resulted in 326 hits, Nygren plays over 29 minutes in a Stars team that is currently last in the NA side, so in theory he could have plenty of opportunities to hit. Still Nygren is one of the four players who has collected over 300 hits so far, 400 might be a reach as there are so few games left, but above 350 is a fair and realistic goal for Nygren.

 

Jungkok - 80 CK - Winger - 311 hits - 29.05 minutes per game
Malmo Nighthawks winger Jungkok has the fourth-most hits in this year's VHL, in many ways Jungkok is a similar player to Nygren, Jungkok is more of a scorer as Nygren can do a little bit of passing and scoring, but the main theme for both players is the physical play. The 311 hits so far are the career-high for Jungkok, previous best was last years 284 hits. Jungkok by the way is the youngest of the four players, so when going forward Jungkok could be the one who fights with players like Nygren on who has the most hits!

 

Now that the best of the best have been briefly analyzed, what can we say? Well, three of the four players play as a winger. Magnum is the only player who is a center, but Marleau has shown in the past that you can get over 400 hits while playing in the middle, so perhaps Magnum can inspire more centers to add some checking into their game? Surprising factor, no defenders in top-4 and among players with 300+ hits.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm going to next take a quick look at the 300+ hits hopefuls.

 

Jim Bob - 90 CK - Winger - 294 hits - 25.64 minutes per game

 

My player, not much to say. Fifth place right now and almost 300 hits. Never managed to hit over 300 times in a season, so potentially a record season going on for me as well.

 

Mikko Lahtinen - 80 CK - Center - 275 hits - 28.80 minutes per game

 

The second center in the list and not just any player, Lahtinen leads the league in goals scored with 54 goals in 64 games. He is one of two players with over 100 points, but still he has managed to collect almost 300 hits! That is impressive and shows that you can be a true superstar in this league even if you have physicality as part of your game.  The fact that Lahtinen indeed plays in the middle makes his season even more impressive - if possible. As I mentioned before, if the center is aggressive that requires high hockey IQ from the players around to cover for Lahtinen, but everything has worked well for Lahtinen and for Moscow, they are first in the league.

 

Cinnamon Block - 87 CK - Defense - 250 hits - 28.82 minutes per game

 

Finally a defender! Ranked seventh right now in hits. Block as many know is a physical defender, Block has over 200 hits in five different seasons, the ongoing season is the best for Cinnamon. Once again slightly surprised that 87 checking combined with big role and position has not resulted in even more hits? One explanation could be the fact that Prague as a team is first in hits, four players with 200+ hits. Do other players in the team simply take Block's hitting opportunities away? Anyways, Block is the first among defenders.

 

John LeClair II - 80 CK - Winger - 240 hits - 20.15 minutes per game

 

The answer to the question above, maybe? Leclair the second has 240 hits while playing just over 20 minutes per game for The Prague Phantoms. Efficient hitter, someone could say one of the most aggressive players this year as he plays in a relatively small role compared to the rest of the top hitters in the league, but John has still been able to collect well over 200 hits. Making it to 300 hits this year might not be possible, but in the future Leclair II is going to be a name to remember.

 

  Benny Graves - 80 CK - Center - 240 hits - 30.74 minutes per game

Graves is the leading scorer for D.C with 73 points. Just like Magnum in Toronto and Lahtinen in Moscow, the centers who play physically are also usually high in the scoring. Of course, Lahtinen is the not so typical example of that, but having some physicality while playing in the middle might not be a bad idea. Graves has not always been a hugely physical player, only in the last three seasons he has managed to get over 200 hits. The best season for Graves in hits was S72 with 269 hits.

 

Lincoln Tate - 89 CK - Defender -239 hits - 29.48 minutes per game
To end it this list we get a second defender in Lincoln Tate.  Similar player to Graves above, Tate did not come into the league as a player who likes to hit a lot, but over the years the physicality has been bigger and bigger part of Tate's game. Tate who has announced his retirement still has a chance to set a new record in hits, current 250 hit record came last year. Eight games to get 11 hits, can he do it?

 

Quite interesting, both Block and Tate play in teams that have physical players, Block with the three other 200+ hit players and Tate with Marleau for example, could the case indeed be that despite both defenders having high checkings and playing a lot, other players in the team also playing physically is going to have an effect on the hit totals? Makes sense of course.

 

I realize that the numbers are going to be incorrect and the top-10 hitting ranking as well, I'm writing this before Sunday's sim, but we can still take something out of this. First of all, if you want to hit a lot, playing in the same line or even in the same team with players who also hit is going to show in your hit totals. Obvious to most, but something that I for example did not even really think about with my defender build some time ago. The second point, seems like you can get high into the hitting ranking with 80's in the checking,  top-3 currently have at least 90 on it though, so could be that to truly go for the top hitter award you also need to really invest in it. Third and final point, am I wrong to think that it's wild that there are more center players higher in the hitting category than defenders? Tactically it sounds terrible to have the centers be so physical.

 

That is all for a while, to the end a message from our sponsors: MCGA - Make Checking Great Again.

 

Thank you.

 

(1620)

 

19.10 - 25.10

26.10 - 1.11

2. 11 - 8.11

 

[Ledge 1,131]

Review: Good job spreading news about something that’s so underrated in the VHL, checking. There aren’t enough rough and tumble guys anymore, so we should recognize the remaining few. Nice images and paragraphs, and the logos next to the names are a nice touch. 

9.5/10

[jRuutu 2,426]

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[jRuutu 2,426]

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