He is not in their class as of yet, I expect big year from him next year, he made our team coming out of camp, straight from WHL to NHL, and was playing a regular shift this year until suffering a high ankle sprain, that sidelined him for over half the year, when he came back he spent 20 games in the AHL, racking up 14 points. He got called up for last 2 regular season games, and then games 4 and 5 of the first round where he looked very good, he has ice water in his veins, does not panic at all. Coach Bill Peters was asked about Valimaki after the Flames were eliminated, he mentioned how when Juuso came back from his injury he was stronger and leaner that before it, and how they actually did tests on him that showed that. Basically said Juuso is a workhorse who constantly tries to improve his game, and that Juuso mentioned in his exit meeting how he expects to be getting PP and PK time next year, that was Juuso's expectations of himself. My impressions was Peters is very impressed with Juuso and his ambitions. I've heard several times now, from both the Stockton coach (AHL) and Bill Peters how Juuso is one of those players you have to tell to take a break, he goes all out all the time trying to improve. It's those reasons I expect a lot from him, he passes the eye test and his attitude is what coaches wish all players had. We'll see how far that takes him.Haven't ever seen Valimaki play. Is he really that good? I haven't heard much about him at all.
So much this. He’s not in the same tier as the other guys currently but he looks like an absolute beauty. Same with Andersson.He is not in their class as of yet, I expect big year from him next year, he made our team coming out of camp, straight from WHL to NHL, and was playing a regular shift this year until suffering a high ankle sprain, that sidelined him for over half the year, when he came back he spent 20 games in the AHL, racking up 14 points. He got called up for last 2 regular season games, and then games 4 and 5 of the first round where he looked very good, he has ice water in his veins, does not panic at all. Coach Bill Peters was asked about Valimaki after the Flames were eliminated, he mentioned how when Juuso came back from his injury he was stronger and leaner that before it, and how they actually did tests on him that showed that. Basically said Juuso is a workhorse who constantly tries to improve his game, and that Juuso mentioned in his exit meeting how he expects to be getting PP and PK time next year, that was Juuso's expectations of himself. My impressions was Peters is very impressed with Juuso and his ambitions. I've heard several times now, from both the Stockton coach (AHL) and Bill Peters how Juuso is one of those players you have to tell to take a break, he goes all out all the time trying to improve. It's those reasons I expect a lot from him, he passes the eye test and his attitude is what coaches wish all players had. We'll see how far that takes him.
Just to give you an idea of his skating/style, this was from young stars game i believe, couple years ago.
Heiskanen
Makar
Dahlin
Hughes
Chabot
Jones
McAvoy
Dumba
Byram?
Probably forgetting someone
Ahh the nature of HF boards...Provorov quickly went from overrated to underrated around here.
I completely understand that you wouldn't rank Hughes over Chabot and McAvoy with their trajectory. However Hughes certainly had an amazing draft year +1 season.Id love to hear how Hughes and his 5 NHL games and a good but not amazing draft +1 season puts him higher than Chabot/McAvoy who are #1D at the age of 21?
I don't remember the last time a defenseman was hyped as much as Dahlin. I'm eager to see how he pans out. I'm sure he'll be a solid NHL defensemen - but i wonder if he lives up to the hype.
It's so much easier to hype forwards. McDavid, Crosby, Ovechkin....they can score a zillion points or goals in juniors and people say "wow they'll be good". It's generally rarer to see defensemen hyped so much.
I agree that there are a lot of young defensemen that look great. Which is exciting because as recently as 2 years ago there didn't seem to be that many top end guys in sight.
After Lidstrom, Niedermayer, Zubov, Pronger ecc in the late 90's and the beginning of the new millenium and the current stars like Karlsson, Doughty, Hedman ecc. it looks like the players mentioned above will be the future on the blue line.
That's a fantastic new generation of elite defensmen.
What are your thoughts about them?
No, Hughes is a much better prospect.If you are adding Hughes there, you should add Boqvist too.
I completely understand that you wouldn't rank Hughes over Chabot and McAvoy with their trajectory. However Hughes certainly had an amazing draft year +1 season.