Eero Somervuori

[montreal]

You're right, Jarvis is going to tell Montreal, the team that pays him, his boss, "I'm not going to play your 1st round pick, I'm going to play Tampa's 7th rounder instead." No wait, nope. He's not going to say that. He's going to play Perezhogin and keep his mouth shut because he enjoys having gainful employment.

Olvestad couldn't find his way in the offensive end of the rink with a map. That's why its not entirely fair to say Eero is a "piece of trash" when he's only getting 14 mins a night and almost all of them have been with a guy like Olvestad. Eero is great on the power play, always was with HPK. Its his bread and butter because he gets a little more space to operate with which is good for a little guy. That's why its so detrimental to his numbers he never gets PP time from the Bulldogs... and why I think if he were to move over to Hershey right now and get that PP time it would really help his numbers.

Holmqvist IS pretty terrible defensively but he's great on the power play, as evidenced by his 3 preseason goals. If Tampa had its own affiliate he'd get IT but right now I understand why Jarvis pressboxed the guy rather than playing him... because it makes no sense for a Montreal coach to try and ride out the rough spots with a Lightning prospect. That's why the Lightning need their own affiliate.



The one promising thing about Eero's play in Hamilton is that he HAS been playing the checking line and PK roles nobody thought he could play and he's doing pretty well at them. I thought Eero's career was dead 3 years ago but every time you count that little booger out he rises back up. I won't be stupid enough to bet against him again... and I would recommend you all not count him out either.

-Pete Choquette

Well you have your opinion, but indeed Jarvis has done just that. He has benched Perezhogin and he has cut his ice time in games where he has taken a bad penalty or not backchecking as hard. I know that he's was sat out for 1 game, after a poor showing, and he saw limited ice time in another game cause he took a stupid penalty and never saw much ice after that. Jarvis seems to me to be a strict coach so far, but I've only been to 3 games, and a couple tv games.

I'm just trying to add what little I know, but I do speak with members of the organization (although they haven't been overly helpful), and I can asure, Jarvis will have no problem telling his former teammate Gainey, I had to bench him cause he wasn't doing what I wanted him to. But if you know something I don't I'm all ears.

 

[petec1978*]

Benching him from time to time is one thing... I'm talking night in and night out there's no way in hell Jarvis is going to give a Tampa prospect more IT at the expense of one of the Habs' highly touted 1st rounders.

-Pete Choquette

 

[Team_Spirit]

Somervuori play 3rd line and PK time in Hamilton . But it mean nothing , Hamilton is still the best team in the 'A' this year and we have 3 great center : Gratton , Higgins and Plekanec . Also Svitov was there few weeks ago .

 

[montreal]

Benching him from time to time is one thing... I'm talking night in and night out there's no way in hell Jarvis is going to give a Tampa prospect more IT at the expense of one of the Habs' highly touted 1st rounders.

-Pete Choquette

Well you may be right, but I don't think so. If Somervuori was playing that good, Jarvis would be forced to move him up, IMO. I didn't see any reason as to why Jarvis would do this. But right now, the top line was playing very good hockey until Dagenais got called up and Gratton injured. Until then, that line wasn't going to be broken up unless someone really stepped it up. Higgins has been clutch so far, leading the team with 3 game winners already, so he's got Jarvis's attention. Plekanec has been the top young player on the team, and Perezhogin has created a lot of scoring chances, so it's tough for anyone to crack the top 6 right now. Somervuori got premoted when Gratton went down, so maybe if he shows something on the 2nd line he will get a chance, but with Perezhoign on the other side, that's a really small line with those two.

 

[petec1978*]

All hearsay.

If you want to debate the merits of his on ice play, fine. But spreading unsubstantiated, unsourced rumors about a guys character? No. That's got no place in the discussion.

-Pete Choquette

 

[petec1978*]

Well you may be right, but I don't think so.

This is something like the fifth year in the Lightning's existence I've had to watch them go through a joint affiliation set up. Trust me, I know so. Unless a guy is a proven veteran like a Brousseau was back in the Adirondack days or Willis, Perrin, Trepanier, and Keefe are now for Hershey, they're not going to get more IT than the main affilate organization's top prospects.

I remember getting a nasty e-mail from someone in the Springfield organization saying our prospects like Alexeev, Cibak, and Afanasenkov were "trash" and weren't fit for the ECHL and that there was no way they deserved more IT either. The funny thing is, whenever the Lightning would call up Alexeev or Cibak they'd always play better than the people would have you believe they could. All they needed was the IT in a positive setting.

And then this year Cibak and Afanasenkov made the team out of camp, the latter of which was really surprising given how he's bounced around because of the joint affiliation with Springfield. It just goes to show you always have to take a guy's situation into account and you always have to take the stats of a guy who is getting buried on another team's affiliate's checking line with a grain of salt because it isn't representative of what they can really do.

I'm anxious to see the Lightning get their own affiliate. There's enough depth in the ranks now they could really ice a reasonably good one and quit underdeveloping guys like Somervuori and Holmqvist this year or Afanasenkov etc in the past.

-Pete Choquette

 

[petec1978*]

Oh for crying out loud. Look at you DieHard. You're setting the bar very low for this board if you sit there and spread unsubstantiated and unsourced rumors about a guys character and then try to pass them off as gospel.

Its as silly as me going through this topic saying "I hear Alex Perezhogin likes sheep, the equipment manager told me."

Unless you have something legitimate and credible you can back up with a source to put out, keep it to yourself. Otherwise you're just opening the door for more wild innuendo and BS about other players. Stuff like that has no place here.

-Pete Choquette

 

[montreal]

This is something like the fifth year in the Lightning's existence I've had to watch them go through a joint affiliation set up. Trust me, I know so. Unless a guy is a proven veteran like a Brousseau was back in the Adirondack days or Willis, Perrin, Trepanier, and Keefe are now for Hershey, they're not going to get more IT than the main affilate organization's top prospects.

I remember getting a nasty e-mail from someone in the Springfield organization saying our prospects like Alexeev, Cibak, and Afanasenkov were "trash" and weren't fit for the ECHL and that there was no way they deserved more IT either. The funny thing is, whenever the Lightning would call up Alexeev or Cibak they'd always play better than the people would have you believe they could. All they needed was the IT in a positive setting.

And then this year Cibak and Afanasenkov made the team out of camp, the latter of which was really surprising given how he's bounced around because of the joint affiliation with Springfield. It just goes to show you always have to take a guy's situation into account and you always have to take the stats of a guy who is getting buried on another team's affiliate's checking line with a grain of salt because it isn't representative of what they can really do.

I'm anxious to see the Lightning get their own affiliate. There's enough depth in the ranks now they could really ice a reasonably good one and quit underdeveloping guys like Somervuori and Holmqvist this year or Afanasenkov etc in the past.

-Pete Choquette

I understand what your saying, but in the games I was at Somervuori did little to nothing with a regular shift. I understand that it's only a regular shift on the 3rd line with limited skill to help him out, but he has to show something in order for Jarvis to move him up. He must have, as Jarvis placed him on the 2nd line, but I assume when Gratton comes back, Somervuori goes back to the 3rd line, cause he doesn't belong on the top 2 lines based on the limited games I was at.

I'm sure he's a great prospect and hopefully your team gets there own AHL team next year. Best of luck

 

[petec1978*]

Btw, according to latest rumors Somervuori is heading back to Finland after 15th of december when has received all of his signing bonuses (he stands to lose some of it if he leaves before then)

Would that be from the same iron clad Finnish rumor mill that said Eric Perrin had given the Lightning a January drop dead date to put him on the NHL roster or else he was going back to JYP?

Small problem(s) with that:

1.) Perrin told Feaster he was completely happy in Hershey and has given no ultimatum to the Lightning.

2.) Even if he did return to Finland IIHF rules prohibit him, and Somervuori for that matter, from playing for any team in Europe the rest of the season unless the Lightning release him from his obligation. The NHL team's contract takes precedent.

So chalk that rumor up to being total BS because he can't go back to Finland if he wanted to, which he doesn't btw because in the interviews he gave after he signed the contract he told the Finnish papers he was willing to play in the AHL and develop the way Niko Kapanen did his first year in North America. Now see, that would be straight from the horse's mouth. No rumor. No conjecture. No innuendo about barnyard animals.

I've seen him play for HPK and I watched him and was around him at Lightning camp this year and I saw zero indication of the phantom attitude you continue to whine about anywhere. He was cordial and joking with Coach Tortorella and always stopped to sign an autograph for a fan. If anything he had the opposite of an attitude because he looked a little bit awe struck at his first taste of NA hockey... which oh by the way he admitted in an interview with the local papers here. Again, objective source. And that makes me wonder, if Eero really had half the ego you say he has than surely there's no way he would ever admit he might have to start out in the minors or that he needed to adjust to the speed and rink sizes in North America and yet there it is in black and white!

Could it be that DieHard is simply pulling the whole "attitude" tag out of his favorite posterior orifice? Yep yep. Sure looks like it.

-Pete Choquette

 

[petec1978*]

so just because Somervuori currently has a NHL contract doesn't mean "he can't go back to Finland if he wanted to" as you so confidently put it.

Uh yes, it does, because we on the Lightning staff asked Jay Feaster this exact question about Eric Perrin. Quite frankly, unless the NHL club chooses to give their blessing to it, a player under their contract CANNOT simply pack up, go to Europe, and start playing for a club team over there for the rest of the season according to IIHF rules... and Feaster said if Perrin were to ever jump ship like that to Finland he would not allow him to play the rest of the season. I have no reason to believe he would approach Somervuori any differently, especially if Eero were to use the Lightning for a signing bonus, as you claim.

We'll see in two weeks though won't we??? The problem with your spurious rumor du jour is that it has an expiration date that is coming up very soon. I just hope you're man enough to own up to it when December 16th rolls around and Eero is still playing in North America.

-Pete Choquette

 

[petec1978*]

It doesn't mean they cannot play in Europe because they CAN if they can work out a deal with the NHL-team.

THAT'S WHAT I SAID!!!

Feaster said he wouldn't "work out a deal" with Perrin so I doubt like hell he'd "work out a deal" with Somervuori if what you said was even remotely true.

-Pete Choquette

 

[SneakerPimp82]

Bring out the measuring tape, let's see whose piss went the farthest. Don't forget to dribble boys, don't want any getting on the tape.