Movember 89 Ryan O'Reilly Review

Hello all tonight I'll be giving my best try at a MOV Ryan O'Reilly review! He's currently at 89 overall from his recent TOTW.

All games have been D1.

Line: LW: 87 Justin Schultz C: MOV Ryan O'Reilly RW: 92 Bobby Hull

Skating: 7.25/10 He's pretty slow at his current overall. While he's agile and can stay on the ice for a good amount of time his straight line speed is not so good. Definitely need some speedy wingers to compliment him. I really believe if he gets a 90 overall card the +1 to all his skating stats would make a really big difference but for now his speed is by far his biggest flaw.

Shooting: 8.5/10 ROR's shooting was such a big surprise to me in the best way possible. I had his WW active and even with is on his shooting stats don't look so great but somehow I was potting a good amount of genos with his wrister. While he's not picking corners and making goalies look dumb I scored often enough with him to take notice. In classic bottom 6 forward fashion he cleans up the trash around the goalie well as well.

Hands: 8.5/10 I have every team passing synergy active at the moment so this is at least on a objective level skewed but he passes very well. Without any boosts passing, dekeing and puck control is 89, hand eye a 90. For a two-way defensive forward those are some pretty good stats. He can sneak by defenders well enough that he can keep but with the rest of my team, his dekeing is definitely not a liability. His general puck handling ability is about what I expected from him, good enough to keep up with the rest of the team.

Checking: 9/10 He throws the body very well as expected from a player like him. When lining up most players no matter the body type he lays a good hit on them. He also doesn't get thrown off the puck easily unless it's a near perfect hit. I wouldn't call him a tank but he can take a hit and give one right back. This is one of his better categories of play.

Defense: 9.25/10 This is 100% his best area of play. I got him as a Brad Richards replacement because I wanted to activate Tape to Tape and he doesn't disappoint. Sticking checking and positioning is outstanding. As a bottom 6 and PK forward he excels. Even though his faceoffs are an 85, to most I feel that is on the edge of usable at center it's okay I win a solid amount of faceoffs. If you know how to counter it really shouldn't be an issue.

Overall: I bought him as a replacement bottom 6 and PK player and he has not disappointed me. He's definitely a well rounded player not elite offensively but can keep up with high rated players. If you put two speedy guys on either side of him you have no problem with his speed. His shot was a pleasant surprise while his hands and checking were what I expected. Even though FM is kind of a throwaway synergy he's still a very solid card. For 40k he's a really good price especially with the prospect of future upgrades.

TL;DR: very slow, surprising shot, regular hands, very good in the defensive zone

Thanks for reading/ skimming/ clicking on this I appreciate it!