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D Teemu Kivihalme - Colorado College, NCAA (2013, 140th, NSH)

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DoctorDoak

Registered User
Mar 21, 2006
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Ontario
Colorado College defenseman Teemu Kivihalme has left the Tigers one year early, coach Mike Haviland confirmed on Thursday.

...

The Minnesota blue-liner gave his 30-day letter of notice to the NHL earlier this month, meaning he would become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 if Nashville does not sign him beforehand. He had said in past interviews he did not intend to stay at CC past his junior season.
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http://gazette.com/report-lone-seni...lorado-college-hockey-program/article/1605231

Didn't see a thread about Kivihalme. Skilled blueliner who has been buried on a terrible Tigers team for three years, and may not sign with the Preds either. Not quite a Vesey situation, but still... anyone have any thoughts on where he ends up, or if he can grow his game any in a less brutal environment?
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Does he speak Finnish? I think he would be a good signing for most Liiga teams if he doesn't get an NHL deal.
 
He'd be better of there than most North American imports with no Finnish roots. He's probably been there a few time too.
 
Noma said:
He understands Finnish and speaks some amount, but English is really a lot stronger for him. Similar to Kai Kantola.
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Not to the slightest same situation, Kai Kantola actually spoke/understood quite (relatively) well Finnish from season one
- because he kept using the language every now and then while living in the US and he visited Finland every summer
(wasn't comfortable to speak at first, that's why he asked to be interview'd in English)

I remember him already speaking perfect Finnish next season (intermission interview's + pregame close up thingies)
and with perfect i mean, like any Finnish born would.

Teemu Kivihalme understands Finnish, some. I presume he understands the sport lingo well,
probably couldn't play much if he wouldn't, the coaching language is Finnish in both national team & Kärpät

His spoken Finnish is poor. Something like 10-20 words.
 
Not much hype for this kid. Absolutely brilliant season for him. Been on fire on the playoffs with 6 points in 5 games.

Think he will step into NHL as top4 d-man without much issue.
 
Holy moly, i wonder,... do the Leafs fans realize how good d-man they actually signed here.
Wouldn't be surprised at all, if he plays entire next season in the top 4 for them.

Most likely will get selected to the Worlds.
 
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Is there actual proof that he signed with the Leafs? I can’t find anything.
GeorgeLeafer12 said:
Holy moly, i wonder,... do the Leafs fans realize how good d-man they actually signed here.
Wouldn't be surprised at all, if he plays entire next season in the top 4 for them.

Most likely will get selected to the Worlds.
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He was our whole breakout when he was on the ice, the only player capable of skating the puck out of our zone alone.

And he has signed with the Leafs. f*** off. That's the only place I didn't want him to go. I don't know why I dislike the team. Hope the best for him though.
Signing info on Leafs nhl page
 
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Crazy how little talk there is about this kid here, since some college UFAs get hundreds of pages of talk.

And since people like comparing him to Kaski, Kivihalme only scored 20% of his points on the powerplay, while Kaski scored 53% there, in fact both Kaski and Kivihalme scored 24 points on 5vs5.

Should replace Gardiner easily.
 
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JJTT said:
Crazy how little talk there is about this kid here, since some college UFAs get hundreds of pages of talk.

And since people like comparing him to Kaski, Kivihalme only scored 20% of his points on the powerplay, while Kaski scored 53% there, in fact both Kaski and Kivihalme scored 24 points on 5vs5.

Should replace Gardiner easily.
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Sort of a argument for Kivihalme is that Kärpät's PP percentage was abysmal throughout the whole season and I bet he would have done better in a better powerplay system. He also wasn't used on the powerplay for some reason during the season while everyone wondered why, and Kukkonen took 'his' spot regularly.. as a net-front guy. Koblizek played on his place where he would have been posted up.

Doesn't mean anything, just that the PP was utterly crap.
 
I’m guessing he has a very real chance to crack the top 6 going into camp, I would suspect he ends up in the AHL to start but with already being very well acclimated to the NA style of game and ice size, it’d probably be more just to get up to speed.
 
JustaFinnishGuy said:
Sort of a argument for Kivihalme is that Kärpät's PP percentage was abysmal throughout the whole season and I bet he would have done better in a better powerplay system. He also wasn't used on the powerplay for some reason during the season while everyone wondered why, and Kukkonen took 'his' spot regularly.. as a net-front guy. Koblizek played on his place where he would have been posted up.

Doesn't mean anything, just that the PP was utterly crap.
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Kärpät had avarage PP percentage so abysmal is not quite the word.
 
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