I really wish he could spend a year in the CHL the part of his game that needs the most work is stickhandling in tight areas.Playing in the CHL would really help his offensive game and give him an opportunity to be a dominate player playing against kids his own age and playing a NHL like schedule then turn pro in the AHL.
Prospect Info: At 24th Overall the Jets Select Kristian Vesalainen
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Grind, I gotta remind you that the Sham Charron model was beaten by the large majority of NHL teams, despite only taking forwards. It got better when focusing only on players ranked in the next 30 of the CSB list.
Have you other more advanced stats that are more clearly better than scouts? Are they adjusted for position?
garret9
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Sham Sharron wasn't the only model that has existed though... I mean it wasn't even a model.
Sham Sharron was a baseline floor, saying: no team spending money on scouts should be comparable to this.
BB88
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But there you run the risk of him just dominating with his strenght, bullying competition, and in the end not working his skills enough.
There are still a number of kids in the CHL that are as big as him. I still think he should try Liiga out and if it's not working for him to come to NA.
BB88
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There are, but I consider him as a poweforward type, who's played against men. We saw the U18's a month ago.
I don't want him to learn wrong things next year, I want him to become a skill powerforward. I like HPK for him.
StatisticsAddict99
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He can still do that here. The CHL has produced a number of skilled big boys. Which team he would go to would be very important. But I do think he needs to try Liiga. If that doesn't work out for him I think CHL is not a bad route at all depending on where he goes.
Maybe he should try and join them Moose Heads
Would be pretty insane. I think he'd be better off in the Dub myself. But we don't have any powerhouse teams outside of Regina who likely only has this coming season and then they are back to being an average CHL team. OHL could be good for him too if he can get in with Barrie or Owen Sound.
Lempo
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Deif
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JetsFan815
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He got ~16 minutes a night on his Liiga team in his draft year, granted it was only 9 games. He should atleast be able to get around the same amount this year. Why is then there the consideration to have him play in juniors? If you have an 18 year old getting 16 minutes a night in men's league that happens to be high quality, I don't see the reason to play him in juniors. The only reason for him to come over to NA this season would be if things don't work out for him in Finland.
Lempo
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His agent probably has gone through with him the difference that there is between a 'salary' and a 'weekly allowance'.
Mostly if he's not producing. He had some issues producing last year given his ice time. If he has issues producing again junior could have been a good option but if Flint owns his rights it's probably not the best place to go. They are pretty much the worst organization in the entire CHL.
Huokaus
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Even though Vesalainen didn't get much done last year in Liiga, the draft summer usually does wonders for development. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him stick up and be a decent contributor this season. I'm not that knowledgeable at all about HPK's roster, but I did check the stats their forwards had last season and Vesalainen definitely should get a good chance to be a top 6 forward.
A lot can happen in a summer. Just because he had issues producing last season as a 17-year-old doesn't mean that he won't be able to do well this season. It'd be quite surprising in my opinion.
I absolutely agree. But it is still quite open to me what kind of a season he could have in HPK. I would say that anything between 20-40 points could be possible. If he gets under 20, I would honestly be disappointed. And of course around 40 or even over it would be absolutely amazing, but definitely not very likely. Very interesting to see anyway how he will do.
Hockeyisl1fe
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Otto Koivula scored 30p last season. Vesalainen is superior as a prospect in every way; I could definitely see him cracking 40p. Predicting 37p for him.
I like to also be usually an optimist on Finnish prospects, so I predict that Vesalainen could get 35 points. I also don't see even over 40 as completely impossible, just not very likely in my opinion. Who was the latest 18 year old to score over 40 points in a season? Was it Olli Jokinen? Anyway, it has been happening extremely rarely. And I would still say that Koivula seems to be a pretty well built prospect for FEL. His size (weighs more than Vesalainen) and his play style seem to fit very well for playing in FEL's defensive and static play style. I believe Vesalainen is a better prospect than Koivula, but it might still not guarantee that he will yet be more productive in Liiga play than Koivula. Very interesting to see how it goes for sure.
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Agree. Even Laine was struggling in Liiga early in his draft year season. Vesalainen's gonna be a force here this season.
Constable
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I have a few qualms with this pick.
One: We do not need Left Wings. At all. It's probably our deepest area and drafting one in the draft doesn't make a lot of sense. I understand BPA and all, but...
Two: He arguably wasn't the best player there. Tolvanen is a great scorer, the only knack on him is size and actual shot strength (he's more of a volume guy- but that would fit great on our third line; tolvanen and dano generate shots and move the puck, Lowry crashes the net for rebounds) and Ryan Poehling+Aleksi Heponiemi, one of which I personally had ranked 11th in terms of pure skill were still there. One of the centers or Tolvanen would have given us better depth on our worse forward areas.
Veselainen was a good pick, I'm just not sure he was the BPA in my mind. He also shows some flaws in Hillier's scouting department, but I'm going to wait until next year to fully flesh out my opinions on that.
One: We do not need Left Wings. At all. It's probably our deepest area and drafting one in the draft doesn't make a lot of sense. I understand BPA and all, but...
Two: He arguably wasn't the best player there. Tolvanen is a great scorer, the only knack on him is size and actual shot strength (he's more of a volume guy- but that would fit great on our third line; tolvanen and dano generate shots and move the puck, Lowry crashes the net for rebounds) and Ryan Poehling+Aleksi Heponiemi, one of which I personally had ranked 11th in terms of pure skill were still there. One of the centers or Tolvanen would have given us better depth on our worse forward areas.
Veselainen was a good pick, I'm just not sure he was the BPA in my mind. He also shows some flaws in Hillier's scouting department, but I'm going to wait until next year to fully flesh out my opinions on that.
Sorry, but you are very much wrong in that, that Tolvanen is only about shot generating. The dude has exceptional shooting technique and very quick and strong hands for his age and size. His shot is extremely hard compared to even many veteran adult players. He is a volume shooter because with his shooting skills it is simply the wisest way to play.
But in my opinion Vesalainen was at that moment the BPA over Tolvanen and all the others. Tolvanen is a bit one sided and he is also not too big and strong in general. Vesalainen has exceptional skills combined with great size and strength for his age. With him it is just about having a toolbox for all of his tools. Sure he can also still get stronger and develop his shooting and many things about his play. He just has so many good things going on with that size that I see a real chance for him becoming even a real star player with time. Of course it can go even the other way around and he doesn't pan out as he has been hoped for. But if he pans out he will be a much more versatile player than Tolvanen could be at his best.
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Conspiracy Theorist
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