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(WPR #5) Ryan Smyth is a HUT Hero and there is no Wayne Gretzky card, EA get your licensing department figured out. (Ryan Smyth Review)

Discussion

Check out Ryan Smyth below!

https://hutdb.net/17/view/11408

Tested on the 2nd Line/2nd PK

Lafontaine/Modano/Smyth (2nd Line)

Brind’Amour/Smyth (2nd PK)

  • Skating 5.5/10: There are several hockey related moments that bring a tear to my eye. Ray Bourque finally raising the cup, the National Anthem being sung at the Garden before Buffalo v Boston, Ryan Smyth’s teary farewell to Edmonton, and Ryan Smyth’s in-game skating. If Keith Tkachuk is the Prince of Plodding, Ryan Smyth is the Sultan of Slow. He legitimately feels slower than Keith Tkachuk, and I NEVER thought I was ever going to play with a slower hero card. Ryan Smyth skates like people in retirement homes fuck. It’s slow, dry, nobodies really enjoying themselves, and when it’s over you wish you hadn’t witnessed it. Smyth has the same Speed (87) and Acceleration (89) as Tkachuk but he really does feel slower. Multiple times Smyth was burned on the fore and back check. The number of icing races Smyth lost with a skating lead makes me wish there was a sled dog consumable you could unlock after 7 hits or something (RIP COD 2003-2009). As with all of the slower players I’ve reviewed so far, Smyth can take a hit with Balance (94) and Strength (95), but with his slow speed it doesn’t really matter. If Smyth takes a hit and skates through it, he loses all of his speed, and then the next four defenders catch up with him and your offensive rush is over. With Agility (91) he moves around the ice just fine, but for a hero card, his skating is just disappointing.

  • Shooting 7/10: Smyth’s got himself a pretty decent slap shot with SSP (92) and SSA (93), and if you activate the Bomber synergy his shot is a V2 Rocket and the net is London. If you can run him at the point on your PP you’re guaranteed one of four things. Goal, Rebound, Injury, or the puck completely out of play, and none of those are bad options. His WSP (93) and WSA (91) is a thing too, but he’s more of a turret than a mobile shooter. I’m just gonna go ahead and assume that Smyth skips leg day every day, and instead spends that time curling the money sacks that EA keeps our pack money in. Come for the slapper, stay because it hit you and broke your shin.

  • Hands 6.5/10: Smyth’s got the hands of a butcher, who cuts against the grain, and gets his meat from a dog kennel, basically Smyth is a shit butcher. With Hand-Eye (95) and Puck Control (96) Smyth, like Tkachuk before him, has no issues holding onto the puck, but like I said above, it doesn’t really make a difference when there’s four defenders draped all over you. Deking (88) is passable, he’ll lose pucks deking at high speed and the time it takes for him to complete dekes is slow. He’s basically the last girl/guy at the bar for last call, he’s sloppy and gross and your gonna wake up and regret it, but it seems like a good idea at 1:30 AM. Passing (89) and Offensive Awareness (93) has some pretty smooth passing, and next to none got intercepted. I was surprisingly happy with his saucer passes in particular.

  • Checking 8/10: With Aggressiveness (94), Strength (95), Body Checking (96), Smyth is a hitter. He can lay some people out, but his issue is getting tangled up in hits. The times when he made solid contact his hits were clean as can be and almost always ended up in a lose puck. Unfortunately if you come in at an odd angle or you don’t have enough speed, Smyth will bumble and stumble his way into the hit and it’ll end up being more of a tackle.

  • Defense 7.5/10: Going from Nystrom to Smyth was quite a jarring change honestly. He’s not bad defensively by any means, but I figured with little redeeming offensive skills he’d had a serious defensive upside like Nystrom. My assumption was most definitely not right at all. Defensive Awareness (93), Blocking (92), and Stick Checking (93) are all pretty purty stats, and when used correctly Smyth is great in his own zone. His issue is that he’s basically a toddler on ice with Disciple (82) and Poise (86). If you need a guy who’s gonna rack up penalty minutes and lose you game, Ryan Smyth is the man for the job.

  • Synergies: Long Range Bomber X2 / Net Front Presence X2

Long Range Bomber X2: A wonderful team synergy that’ll have your team duck hunting in no time. +3 SSP, SSA, and Offensive Awareness means you’ll be maiming opponents left and right. Costing 8 points to fill, Smyth gets you 1/4 of the way there, it’s legitimately the only reason to own this card in my opinion.

Net Front Presence X2: Player Synergy that gives +3 Hand Eye, Aggressiveness, Balance, and Strength. I have it activated and don’t really notice it at all, but it’s not Offensive Juggernaut, so that’s nice.

  • Overview: I really don’t see any reason to get Ryan Smyth at all unless you desperately need him to turn on Long Range Bomber. I’m pretty sick and I’m at work on a Saturday so I’m gonna be pretty blunt about my opinion on Ryan Smyth the Hero Card. For a 94 overall card he is complete dog shit and you should most definitely pass. If he were an 88-89-90 card I’d give him a thumbs up, but as a hero card I wonder what EA was thinking. Since I’m at work adulting I can’t look up to see how many are on the market, and EA fucked us all out of LPS so pour one out for a dead homie in that regard.

10 GP

3 Goals

0 Assists

3 Points

(All games were played against a similarly skilled friend who is helping me test out cards.)

Since Ryan Smyth is just a much shittier Bobby Nystrom the Comparable Players from last week still stand, plus I’m at work doing stuff that gets me paid and lets me go home and complain that it was a stressful day so maybe there’s a chance that wind down sex is on the table, welcome to adulthood kids.

  • Comparable Players

On the Cheap

  • Tomas Tatar: Speedy for a quick sell price card, more offensive upside than defensive, but still good in both ends.

  • Sean Couturier: Slow and not a lot of offense, but a cheap shut down TWF.

  • Brendan Gallagher: Average offensively, but good checking and defense.

Mid Range

  • MS (87) Marian Hossa (LPS Unavailable): Solid offensive stats and great defense, gets tuckered out pretty easily.

  • Joe Pavelski: Great all around player, solid choice for any lineup, Face Offs (85) is a plus.

  • POTG (88) Ryan O’Reilly: Slow, but good hands and shot, decent checking, built for defensive play

High Tier

  • POTG Brad Marchand: Great combination of speed, shot, hands, and defensive play, only downside is small stature.

  • Rod Brind’Amour: Great all around player who excels defensively, Face Offs (87) downside for a hero center.

  • Kirk Muller: Another solid all around player, in one of sports most storied franchises he’s the hero card no one asked for, but as a Bruins fan, HAHAHAHA FTHs.

https://hutdb.net/17/builder/38026 (Updated Squad)

POTG Brad Marchand

Keith Tkachuk

Trevor Linden

Pat Lafontaine

Bobby Nystrom

Ryan Smyth

I’ve already picked who I’m going to review next week, but after that it’s open to anyone again. Next Review is Friday/Saturday by 10PM EST.

Posted Nov 26, 2016, 6:19 PM UTC · edited

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