LlamaViews Review Series pt 2 - Movember Alex Steen, or The Most Pleasant of Surprises

For this series, I'm trying to review some players on my team that haven't already been reviewed to death (everyone knows Linden is a beast, ect, ect). Here is the second player from my current team that I wanted to review - MOV Steen. A really, really, pleasant surprise.

About me: I am currently a D1 mainstay, but I have yet to win a league title – I’m just good enough to consistently miss out on any sort of title packs. Therefore, I’m not bad at this, but I’m certainly not the be-all end-all of advice givers. My team currently runs CG, B, TT, TW, and SB for team synergies, and PP, WW, OJ, DR, HH, and IS for individual synergies.

I like to play a possession oriented attack game that focuses on cycling the puck down low and looking for the slot 1t or the point clapper. I also like to keep skaters fast enough that if I get a step or two on the defense that I have a real chance to score on the rush – you know, like literally everyone else’s playstyle.

That said, my reviews are biased towards my playstyle. Here we go, thanks for reading!

If you want to request a review, my team is here – let me know, I’ll review any one of them! https://hutdb.net/17/builder/169992

Movember Alexander Steen (1PP, 1CG, 1T)

Usage: about 100 games, will double check when the servers come back up

Recommended Position: RW

Viable Alternative Position: C

Line: Shanahan – Linden – Steen or MOV Kessel – Steen – MOV Marchand

Skating – 8.5/10. Steen is a decent skater, especially with some synergy buffs helping him out. His 91 Acceleration and 90 Speed place him firmly into the “acceptable” camp. He’s not going to be naaaaaang’ing his way up the boards coast to coast, but with TW activated, if you can feed him the puck in space with a step or two headstart, he probably isn’t going to get caught either. His base 88 balance is also firmly entrenched within the bounds of “acceptable”, with the SB bump putting him to 92, which works for me in a RW.

Shooting – 9.1/10. His shooting was one of the most pleasant surprises of the year for me. With B activated, his 95/94 slap shot accuracy and power allow him to be a threat from anywhere on the ice. His real niche, however, is in the wrister. I feel like he plays waaaay above his 93/90 acc/power ratings. He routinely finds twine on those “throw it at the net because I can’t get by this defender” shots. I can’t really explain it, other than that he just tucks when I’m not expecting him to.

Puck Skills – 8.9/10. He’s very good with the puck, especially with TT, CG, and PP active, which brings his base passing from 92 (good) to 100 (great), and his base puck control from 92 to 94. His deking is acceptable (92), but don’t expect Patrick Kane hands from him by any means. He really is an accomplished passer though, and if you set him up with a guy like Shanahan on the other wing, he’ll feed those 1Ts all day.

Defense – 8.0/10. His shot blocking and stick checking are nothing to write home about, even with SB activated (base 87 and 89, respectively), however, one very pleasant surprise is his 82 faceoff rating. This means that at 212 lbs, he can hold his own on the dot if you find yourself needing a center. He’s not my go-to guy, but I’ve run him as a 3C/4C in D1 with no issues.

Physical – 7.0/10, Another weak area for him. His 88 Strength and 88 Balance mean that he’s not the easiest guy to move off the puck, but I wouldn’t go looking for trouble with him. His body checking definitely leaves something to be desired, and his middling aggressiveness (85) doesn’t exactly have his AI stepping up all the time either. Haven’t had any injury issues with him at all.

Intangibles – 9.0/10. His base offensive awareness is of 92 is very respectable, and buffed with TT, B and PP gets him up to 101, and it shows. He does a great job of finding open ice and can really hammer home the 1T with the best of them when you give him the chance. Defensively he is a bit more lackluster – I don’t have any glaring issues with his defensive awareness, but I don’t find myself going out of my way to praise his d-zone play either. He is the very much acceptable in that area.

Overall Impressions: 8.9/10. A very, very solid player for the price tag. I picked him up as much as an investment as anything else, not really expecting much, but he has blown me away. He was about 120k when I nabbed him 2 or 3 weeks back, I think he’s up to about 150k on xb1 right now, and worth every penny. I’ve run him in D1 as my 3C, 4C, and currently as my 1RW with Shany and Linden, and they put in work together. Surprisingly effective wrister coupled with the ability to find open ice in the o-zone, and his skating doesn’t leave too much to be desired. Would recommend.

questions? comments? lay 'em on me!