Prospect Info: At 24th Overall the Jets Select Kristian Vesalainen

[KingBogo]

Nice to here Vesalainen played so well today. Too bad the Fins were eliminated, it would have liked to see another game from him.

 

[puck stoppa]

Would be a great complimentary player on any line. Unselfish good hands like Armia ,he will need to continue to work on his quickness and explosive skating though. Plays a pro game at 18 years old patient and poised with some real good size.

I think skating is one of his biggest assets.

 

[BigZ65]

Haven't seen him aside from the WJC but hits me as a guy who could follow a Lowry-esque trajectory, but likely spend more time with the Moose learning how to play that "heavy" game and retrieve pucks.

 

[boydkc]

I think skating is one of his biggest assets.

Explosive quickness is important ,he is smooth but watching him in the WJC he needs to get more explosive.

 

[StiffSquid]

Explosive quickness is important ,he is smooth but watching him in the WJC he needs to get more explosive.

I think that's the case with most 18 year old ice hockey players.

 

[cneill4]

Assuming his season in Finland ends ahead of the Moose regular season, what are the odds we sign him at the end of this year and he joins the Moose (or possibly Jets but Moose more likely) for the Moose playoff run? Or would he be better off playing for Finland in World hockey championships over a Moose playoff run.

 

[Zhamnov5GoalGame]

Assuming his season in Finland ends ahead of the Moose regular season, what are the odds we sign him at the end of this year and he joins the Moose (or possibly Jets but Moose more likely) for the Moose playoff run? Or would he be better off playing for Finland in World hockey championships over a Moose playoff run.

My guess is the Jets won't want his ELC kicking in. But I could be wrong.

 

[ffh]

Assuming his season in Finland ends ahead of the Moose regular season, what are the odds we sign him at the end of this year and he joins the Moose (or possibly Jets but Moose more likely) for the Moose playoff run? Or would he be better off playing for Finland in World hockey championships over a Moose playoff run.

My guess is he is not good enough to play in world championships yet . With about 20 teams of nhl teams fins to choose from added to the more experienced fins playing around the world.

 

[Calendal]

Assuming his season in Finland ends ahead of the Moose regular season, what are the odds we sign him at the end of this year and he joins the Moose (or possibly Jets but Moose more likely) for the Moose playoff run? Or would he be better off playing for Finland in World hockey championships over a Moose playoff run.

I would be very surprised to see him in NA this season, but then again rumors about Tolvanen maybe coming over are also being floated around. And it’s Olympic year so that makes things extra unusual.

 

[DRW204]

could he be the eventual Wheeler replacement in 4-5 years? His comparables if i recall were Wheeler and Nash

 

[cneill4]

My guess is the Jets won't want his ELC kicking in. But I could be wrong.

Can he sign an ATO to play for the moose during a playoff run similar to when Scheifele and Morrissey played for the Ice Caps a few years ago after their CHL seasons ended? Is it different for players who played in Europe compared to players who do this after the CHL season.

Upon thinking of it i dont remember if Scheifele and Morrissey actually had to sign ATO's to play for AHL Playoffs. Can players play in AHL playoffs after the CHL season is finished under their regular NHL Contract?

 

[cneill4]

My guess is he is not good enough to play in world championships yet . With about 20 teams of nhl teams fins to choose from added to the more experienced fins playing around the world.

Fair enough. Your probably right

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

could he be the eventual Wheeler replacement in 4-5 years? His comparables if i recall were Wheeler and Nash

I see him listed as a C in some places. EliteProspects has him as LW/RW. So, I assume he can play all 3 positions. But he is a left shot and I expect PMo will at least start him on LW, just like all the other 'backwards' Euros. Most likely he is a LW in the NHL although lots of other coaches allow the Euro players to stay on their accustomed wings and even Maurice seems OK with vets on their Euro side.

 

[csk]

My guess is the Jets won't want his ELC kicking in. But I could be wrong.

His ELC will slide unless he plays in the NHL

 

[puck stoppa]

His ELC will slide unless he plays in the NHL

Moose run plz and thx.

 

[csk]

Moose run plz and thx.

Is there even room for him though?
If everyone is healthy:

Petan Roslovic Appleton
Lemieux Cormier Robinson
DeLeo Sgarbossa Lipon

Who do you take out of that top 9? Or are you willing to play him on the 4th line: Vesalainen Harkins Spacek maybe?

Again, that's assuming everyne is healthy (including with the Jets) so it's a big if.

 

[Atoyot]

Is there even room for him though?
If everyone is healthy:

Petan Roslovic Appleton
Lemieux Cormier Robinson
DeLeo Sgarbossa Lipon

Who do you take out of that top 9? Or are you willing to play him on the 4th line: Vesalainen Harkins Spacek maybe?

Again, that's assuming everyne is healthy (including with the Jets) so it's a big if.

Vesalainen or Lipon to the 4th line, Maclise out, run 4 very good lines.

 

[DRW204]

I see him listed as a C in some places. EliteProspects has him as LW/RW. So, I assume he can play all 3 positions. But he is a left shot and I expect PMo will at least start him on LW, just like all the other 'backwards' Euros. Most likely he is a LW in the NHL Although lots of other coaches allow the Euro players to stay on their accustomed wings and even Maurice seems OK with vets on their Euro side.

never seen him listed as a C, pretty sure he has always been noted as a Winger if i recall from articles dating back to 2016 and other pre-draft material. I think he was playing LW up until this year when he moved to RW

 

[csk]

never seen him listed as a C, pretty sure he has always been noted as a Winger if i recall from articles dating back to 2016 and other pre-draft material. I think he was playing LW up until this year when he moved to RW

He was listed as Finland's top line C by TSN early in the WJs but I think it was just a typo, as he was definitely playing wing

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

never seen him listed as a C, pretty sure he has always been noted as a Winger if i recall from articles dating back to 2016 and other pre-draft material. I think he was playing LW up until this year when he moved to RW

He was listed as Finland's top line C by TSN early in the WJs but I think it was just a typo, as he was definitely playing wing

HockeyDB lists him as a C - only. No idea why.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Is there even room for him though?
If everyone is healthy:

Petan Roslovic Appleton
Lemieux Cormier Robinson
DeLeo Sgarbossa Lipon

Who do you take out of that top 9? Or are you willing to play him on the 4th line: Vesalainen Harkins Spacek maybe?

Again, that's assuming everyne is healthy (including with the Jets) so it's a big if.

Even if all are healthy I expect the Jets to call up 1 or 2 Moose players for the play-off run. That might create some room for KV but there also might be an NCAA or Jr. player or 2 for the Moose. I'd like to see Foley there.

 

[puck stoppa]

Is there even room for him though?
If everyone is healthy:

Petan Roslovic Appleton
Lemieux Cormier Robinson
DeLeo Sgarbossa Lipon

Who do you take out of that top 9? Or are you willing to play him on the 4th line: Vesalainen Harkins Spacek maybe?

Again, that's assuming everyne is healthy (including with the Jets) so it's a big if.

Someone will be up with Jets for there run. They'll find room for him.

 

[10Ducky10]

could he be the eventual Wheeler replacement in 4-5 years? His comparables if i recall were Wheeler and Nash

Does he have better numbers than Armia?
I think some people have their expectations set too high.

 

[Halberdier]

HockeyDB lists him as a C - only. No idea why.

I did run quite a lot searches in Finnish and found absolutely nothing about him playing as a center. All listings as a center should be then just errors. He is a winger, playing either LW or RW.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

I did run quite a lot searches in Finnish and found absolutely nothing about him playing as a center. All listings as a center should be then just errors. He is a winger, playing either LW or RW.

K. thanks. But he can presumably play either wing.