Prospect Info: 122nd Overall 2024 Draft, LHD Aron Kiviharju

[Circulartheory]

I like it. We went great with Buium.
We went safe with Soini.
Adn we went for home run with Kiviharju

And we have depth bottom pairing in Hunt/Lambos.
It's a nice mix of everything

 

[Albatros]

We didn’t learn our lesson with midget defenders obviously.

All Wild 4th round picks in franchise history that have played at least one game in the NHL:

2017 Mason Shaw
2016 Brandon Duhaime
2014 Kaapo Kähkönen
2009 Kris Foucault
2007 Justin Falk
2004 Ryan Jones
2004 Patrick Bordeleau
2001 Tony Virta

 

[Jbcraig1883]

I like it. We went great with Buium.
We went safe with Soini.
Adn we went for home run with Kiviharju

And we have depth bottom pairing in Hunt/Lambos.
It's a nice mix of everything

Don't count on Lambos

 

[MNRube]

Kivi, Lambos, Peart, Hunt & ROR — surely one of these borderline LHDs will turn into a player, right?

 

[Jbcraig1883]

Kivi, Lambos, Peart, Hunt & ROR — surely one of these borderline LHDs will turn into a player, right?

Define player, haha. D man 5-7? Probably. Top 4, haven't seen anything from those guys yet to make me believe.

I think Hunt will play on a bottom pairing for sure. Peart has a chance. Lambos and ROR haven't shown much thus far, so I am doubtful. Kivi is far away.

 

[Garl]

Define player, haha. D man 5-7? Probably. Top 4, haven't seen anything from those guys yet to make me believe.

I think Hunt will play on a bottom pairing for sure. Peart has a chance. Lambos and ROR haven't shown much thus far, so I am doubtful. Kivi is far away.

Kiviharju can easily have a breakout season in Liiga in 24-25, he has 2 year experience by now

 

[Wasted Talent]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807275372288864519

Kiviharju to Guerin at 1:30: "Let me tell you one thing man, you just made the biggest steal of the draft"

 

[Arturia Pendragon]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807275372288864519

Kiviharju to Guerin at 1:30: "Let me tell you one thing man, you just made the biggest steal of the draft"

I LOVE the confidence, and knowing Guerin…he just ate it up. Hope it comes true!

 

[Jbcraig1883]

Kiviharju can easily have a breakout season in Liiga in 24-25, he has 2 year experience by now

I hope he does. It would still be hard for me to put him up high until he does something in NA that would make him jump beyond a few D. Buium and Brodin will make it hard for his skillset to be a near term solution, assuming he makes it at all.

If he turns out to be a Spurgeon and outplays everyone early on, I'll love it.

 

[DANOZ28]

i'll be rooting for this young gun , that takes guts to say that.

 

[AKL]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807275372288864519

Kiviharju to Guerin at 1:30: "Let me tell you one thing man, you just made the biggest steal of the draft"

He just shot up 10 spots in my prospect rankings for that

 

[MuckOG]

I hope he does. It would still be hard for me to put him up high until he does something in NA that would make him jump beyond a few D. Buium and Brodin will make it hard for his skillset to be a near term solution, assuming he makes it at all.

If he turns out to be a Spurgeon and outplays everyone early on, I'll love it.

Almost zero chance he doesn't spend AT LEAST 2-3 years in Europe before he comes over...then another 1 or 2 in the AHL before he gets a sniff.

But he sounds like someone who is a low risk, high reward type of prospect

 

[57special]

Getting Matt Hasselback vibes from him after that statement to Guerin. Just shut up and play, kid. Do your talking on the ice.

 

[Digitalbooya]

I hope he does. It would still be hard for me to put him up high until he does something in NA that would make him jump beyond a few D. Buium and Brodin will make it hard for his skillset to be a near term solution, assuming he makes it at all.

If he turns out to be a Spurgeon and outplays everyone early on, I'll love it.

Spurgeon 2.0 is the last thing this team needs. I’d get rid of Spurgeon 1.0 if I could. Maybe he will turn out to be what everyone hoped Addison would be (3rd pair PP QB). Doesn’t really seem likely with Buium in the mix.

 

[AKL]

Spurgeon 2.0 is the last thing this team needs. I’d get rid of Spurgeon 1.0 if I could. Maybe he will turn out to be what everyone hoped Addison would be (3rd pair PP QB). Doesn’t really seem likely with Buium in the mix.

If at any point it looks like Kiviharju will make it as a player but we don't have a roster spot for him, we could flip him for more than a 4th. It's a great pick because there's a ton of upside and virtually no downside. Maybe with hindsight in 5 years we can look back and say we should have taken someone else, but as of now, it's a no brainer pick.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Spurgeon 2.0 would be incredible for this team from a 4th rounder.

 

[Jbcraig1883]

Spurgeon 2.0 is the last thing this team needs. I’d get rid of Spurgeon 1.0 if I could. Maybe he will turn out to be what everyone hoped Addison would be (3rd pair PP QB). Doesn’t really seem likely with Buium in the mix.

I think I look at it as AKL said - if a 4th rounder actually makes it, its either a) someone contributing to your team, or b) an asset that can be used to obtain someone else to contribute to your team. Either way, that is better than never doing anything for the team.

 

[Circulartheory]

I got my fingers crossed for a #4 puckmoving defenseman - so kinda like how Spurgeon is utilized now. But he's a 4th rounder and more chances of not making it than making it. That said, we got enough safe prospects who top out as #6 guys (Hunt was our best D prospect and he's never going to be more than a "poor man Nick Schultz" so why not gamble on the guy who was considered a top 10 talent to start the season at #122

And by the time he makes it to the pros, Spurgeon will be on his way out so its good timing if all goes well.

 

[Wabit]

It's a 4th rounder, so whatever.

I'm not upset about the player. It's the choice of picking yet another LD that annoys me. They had already spent a 1st and a (future) 3rd on LD in the draft.

 

[Digitalbooya]

5'10" defenders that were regulars on the last 10 Stanley Cup Winners.

Panthers: N/A
Golden Knights: N/A
Avalanche: Girard
Lightning: N/A
Lightning: N/A
Blues: N/A
Capitals: N/A
Penguins: N/A
Penguins: N/A
Blackhawks: Timonen (0pts, 8:39 TOI in the playoffs)

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

5'10" defenders that were regulars on the last 10 Stanley Cup Winners.

Panthers: N/A
Golden Knights: N/A
Avalanche: Girard
Lightning: N/A
Lightning: N/A
Blues: N/A
Capitals: N/A
Penguins: N/A
Penguins: N/A
Blackhawks: Timonen (0pts, 8:39 TOI in the playoffs)

How many 5'10" defenders are in the league at a given time?

Edit: I answered my own question. 3 saw notable time, would've been 4 if Spurgeon would've been healthy.

Basically, there's just a league shortage of them.

 

[Digitalbooya]

How many 5'10" defenders are in the league at a given time?

Nobody cares. The point is that teams rarely win with even one small defender on their d-core.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Nobody cares. The point is that teams rarely win with even one small defender on their d-core.

People that want context might. Anyway, I found the answer.

 

[DANOZ28]

at some point you have to trust in judd that he and his gang know what their doing.

 

[Digitalbooya]

People that want context might. Anyway, I found the answer.

The answer is one Cup winning team had a legitimately important 5’10” or smaller dman in the last 10 years.