Rara Rasputin Prospect Scouting Report

[Victor 10,580]

Rara Rasputin Prospect Scouting Report

 

Rara Rasputin came from nowhere, a complete unknown becoming the chosen successor to Raymond Bernard in Moscow. He had one season to hone his skills in the VHLM before being thrown into the deep end and after a shaky start he performed very well and was a key part of Miami's Cinderella run to the Founder's Cup, even earning 4 votes for playoff MVP. Miami's roster by the time they won Game 4 against Mississauga was nearly unrecognizable from the one Rasputin joined in pre-season, so what does this dream sequence of a season tell us about the rookie Russian netminder?

 

What is Rasputin good at?

 

Adaptability: More than ever it felt that the leap of faith of adding Rasputin to the Victor agency was more about psychology than any particular skillset. The early journey of Rasputin in the VHL is something of a social experiment – can you teach someone with no hockey background how to be an elite hockey player purely based on their mentality? So far, so good in terms of being a quick learner. We said Miami was unrecognizable by the end of S74 but the same can be said about Rasputin – from a liability to posting regular shutouts and stealing playoff games. He'll have to keep learning on the fly in the VHL.

 

Leadership: Almost by default, Rasputin earned the Marauders' captaincy when he joined the team. He seemed to get lost in the shuffle as the roster grew over the season but then stepped up in a big way, urging the team on and being a good motivating force. Both Miami's management and his teammates noticed, leading Rasputin to take home two awards from the team's end-of-season party – one for leadership and one as team MVP. That's a good sign as Rasputin's predecessor as GM player, Vladimir Pavlov, was a more reserved type while it seem that Rasputin could be a leader on and off the ice in Moscow.

 

What is he bad at?

 

A lot of things: Let's not beat around the bush, the man affectionately known as Rara may have the intangibles nailed down (ironic considering they're, you know, intangible), but he's a long way off what we'd expect from an over-30 goalie entering the VHL. One season of VHLM success is promising but won't paper over all the cracks and bridge the gap between a newcomer to hockey and literally any of his opponents, in net and otherwise, who will have years of experience in the game. His skating is still shaky and his stick-handling virtually non-existent. Yes, Rasputin is big and fairly agile, and will be protected by arguably the league's best defence in S75 in the few games he's wheeled out for. But if Moscow wants to stay competitive after Bernard retires, Rasputin will need to step up in a big way between now and the start of S76. Let's hope that famous mental fortitude makes the difference.

[Gustav 6,149]

1 hour ago, Victor said:

What is he bad at?

 

A lot of things