Movember Kessel Review - LlamaViews Review Series pt 3

What's up guys? Llama here, getting in my third review today. Again, I'm trying not to review guys who have already been reviewed to death (we all know how great Linden and Shanahan are, right?) but here is my review of a real offensive powerhouse in MOV Kessel. This one's for our new mod-friend (why not both, right?), u/Arthurp428

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

okay, here we go!

Movember Phil Kessel (1OJ, 1OT, 1TT) Reviewed at 89 overall

Usage: 102 games, 27 G/23A – Disclaimer, this is as good as it gets on my team. I run 4 full, solid lines that I give play time to pretty evenly, and my best point scorers average about .6 PPG for me, but most everyone who produces averages about or close to a half PPG. I just have 10 or 12 of them in the lineup that average that.

Recommended Position: LW

Line: Mov Kessel – Mov Thornton – Mov Marchand

Skating – 9.3/10. The dude flies. Plain and simple, he flies. With TW on, his acceleration is 95 with a top speed of 98. Agility buffs out with SB, TW, and CG to a whopping 103. Feed him the puck up the wing and watch him tear up 9 out of 10 defenders without even having to get close. Lay on the hustle and the he just burns. Then he can stop on a dime and turn along the tops of the circles to create space to rip a shot. The only thing holding him back from a perfect 10/10 in this category is his size and balance. A base balance of 86 (SB buffs to 90) means that while you usually don’t have to get near defenders, you really shouldn’t let him get touched by anyone either. He will get dropped on his ass if you get tagged by anything that can hit hard....and also by plenty of things that don’t really hit all that hard. That said, at 6 ft and 202 lbs, he’s not the smallest guy on the ice, and he holds his own fine against smaller guys. He’s so f’ing fast and shifty that it hardly matters, though.

Shooting – Sweet Jesus/10…I mean, 9.6/10. This mother fucker can SHOOT! Bombers and OJ bring his clappers to 97/99 Accuracy/Power, and he plays to every bit of those stats. He’s a threat to tuck a slap shot from literally anywhere that you can aim from (which, unfortunately, means inside the o-zone in this game…facepalm..). Seriously, he’ll rip clappers from the blue line, goal line, half boards, tops of the circles, cross crease, off the rush…you name it, he’ll tuck it. Sometimes I’ll enter the zone hard up the left side, slam on the breaks to open up some space and just rip a clapper from the blue line – no traffic, clean shot to the net, and I’ll half expect to score. Just laser beams for slap shots. His wrister doesn’t quite live up to that much hype, but at 92/92 A/P, he certainly knows how to rip a wrister too. Enter the zone from the left side, hang a hard right along the blue line/tops of the circles and let them fly short side. I’m better with him this year than I was with Ovi last year (haven’t used Ovi this year for reference, sorry boys).

Puck Skills – 9.1/10. Yep, he can dangle alright. 95 deking and hand eye means he’s like a damn ghost through traffic. I mentioned earlier that you don’t want to let him get tagged by a defender, but the truth is, he’s kind of tough to tag. Couple that with 93 base puck control (CG buffs out to 95), and he is not likely to lose a puck in traffic if you can avoid allowing a clean hit to land. I tend to hang on to the puck with him and try to mostly use him as a goal scorer, but the truth is he can pass pretty damn well too. A 93 base passing rating buffs out to 98 with TT and CG, which isn’t quite elite, but certainly gets the job done. He gets his fair share in the helper column as well.

Defense – 6.8/10. Well, he couldn’t be perfect, right? He’s noticeably weak on defense – he doesn’t stick check all that well (base 87 rating reflects that), and his shot blocking is not great either (base 82, SB buffs to 86), but that hardly matters, because he’s never in the right place to block a shot unless you’re controlling him. That’s about it for his defensive skills…couple this section with the bit about him getting knocked around a little too easily, and you’ll get an idea of what he’s like in your own zone.

Physical – 7.5/10. Again, physicality is certainly not his strong suit, but it doesn’t have to be, because he makes up for it in other areas. That said, he can’t effectively hit anything that weighs more than maybe 180 lbs, because his checking is trash and he isn’t very strong either. He has a very low aggression rating as well (81), so his AI doesn’t exactly go looking to lay people out either. He has just enough strength and balance/puck control to stay on the puck and shrug off oblique hits from lesser hitters, but I don’t try to hit with him much. He doesn’t get hurt on me though, so I guess his durability isn’t a concern.

Intangibles – 9.0/10. Again, a mixed bag with him. Offensively, he is always in the right place, and has the puck/shooting skills to finish. A 91 base offensive awareness rating buffs out to an even 100 with TT, B, and OJ, and it’s noticeable. If you roll out of a corner with space and look up, he’ll be right where you want him. Defensively, don’t expect too much, and you won’t be disappointed. Well, at least you won’t be too disappointed. I find he gets burned for point clappers even running Tight Point for a d-zone strategy. I’m not sure about his discipline rating of 92, he seems to take an average amount of penalties for me.

Overall Impressions – 9.3/10. I love him, he’s on my roster to stay, and unless he doesn’t get another upgrade all year (entirely possible with my luck, sorry guys!) AND I end up with a completely loaded team, he’s not going anywhere. I have him working with MOV Thornton, and I find that he benefits from having a big, defensively competent body around him at C. I ran him with a small, quick center and a small, quick RW for a bit (MOV Steen and MOV Marchand), and while they were absolutely deadly in the offensive zone – no one could catch them and they would just dart around until they tucked, I found that line to be a defensive liability.

Questions? Comments? Agree? Think I'm full of shit? Let me know! Cheers guys, thanks for reading!