F Joakim Kemell - JYP, FIN JRS (2022, 17th, NSH)

[Ippenator]

Seems like there are a very wide range of opinions on this kid.

Read his profile in The Black Book and was pretty underwhelmed, but then you have Craig Button putting him #3 on his ranking.

I don't think I have a really good read on him, personally.

The problem here is exactly what I have been repeating here already many times: He was a way better and clearly more dynamic and intensive player before he got injured with a shoulder injury after a couple of months of excellent play in Liiga. He was leading the whole Liiga in both goals and points just before he got injured, which is completely unheard of before from a 17 year old.

Then first of all he was quite long recovering from the injury before he played again, and when he finally returned, he was just a shadow of the player that he was in the beginning of the season. There was not the same intensity and confidence that he had before, and he was clearly not skating as quickly and not being at all as physical as he was before the injury. And this all affected also his productivity, which took a steep nosedive after he returned from that shoulder injury.

Even his play at the U18 WJC wasn’t even close to the level of play that he had before the injury. But it was still enough to get pretty good production against kids of his own age instead of playing against professional men.

With how he played after his injury, I would have a hard time seeing him as a top ten pick in the draft, but on the other hand if he played the whole season like he played before the injury, I would probably see him as the number one pick in the whole draft. I’m quite sure Button is emphasizing Kemell’s play from before his injury, and that’s why he has him that high on his list.

For me the problem is right now that I’m not completely sure if he will be the same player that he was before the injury? Could it be that he still has somekind of a nagging injury after that big hit? Shoulder injuries can be quite nasty sometimes. Also could it be that he got just scared of physical and intensive play after the injury? That would of course be a bad thing for his career as well, but at least that could maybe be eventually tackled with some sports psychologists help.

Anyway, I can quite well see why he is such a polarizing pick at the moment. Even a bit risky pick at the moment, in my opinion.

 

[Petes2424]

Don’t see him getting past Ottawa and likely goes to Columbus at 6th overall. It would be interesting if he ends up sitting there at 8th overall and Lekkerimaki is still there too. Both players are exactly the types Detroit loves. If Gauthier is there too, it would get really interesting.

 

[Goldenhands]

The problem here is exactly what I have been repeating here already many times: He was a way better and clearly more dynamic and intensive player before he got injured with a shoulder injury after a couple of months of excellent play in Liiga. He was leading the whole Liiga in both goals and points just before he got injured, which is completely unheard of before from a 17 year old.

Then first of all he was quite long recovering from the injury before he played again, and when he finally returned, he was just a shadow of the player that he was in the beginning of the season. There was not the same intensity and confidence that he had before, and he was clearly not skating as quickly and not being at all as physical as he was before the injury. And this all affected also his productivity, which took a steep nosedive after he returned from that shoulder injury.

Even his play at the U18 WJC wasn’t even close to the level of play that he had before the injury. But it was still enough to get pretty good production against kids of his own age instead of playing against professional men.

With how he played after his injury, I would have a hard time seeing him as a top ten pick in the draft, but on the other hand if he played the whole season like he played before the injury, I would probably see him as the number one pick in the whole draft. I’m quite sure Button is emphasizing Kemell’s play from before his injury, and that’s why he has him that high on his list.

For me the problem is right now that I’m not completely sure if he will be the same player that he was before the injury? Could it be that he still has somekind of a nagging injury after that big hit? Shoulder injuries can be quite nasty sometimes. Also could it be that he got just scared of physical and intensive play after the injury? That would of course be a bad thing for his career as well, but at least that could maybe be eventually tackled with some sports psychologists help.

Anyway, I can quite well see why he is such a polarizing pick at the moment. Even a bit risky pick at the moment, in my opinion.

He started to play better at the end of his liiga season and had a strong U18 carrying the team on his shoulder, so his prior injury play + his end of season pretty much reassured me personally. I still see him as a top 5 talent in this draft and Im pretty sure NHL scouts value his prime performances pretty highly. Has the potential to become a top line scoring winger and is easier to project than a kid like Caufield at the same age since his all around game is much more advanced than it was with Caufield in his draft year and he is bigger and faster than Caufield was. Both have pure goalscoring abilities and scouts love pure goalscoring players.

 

[JabbaJabba]

Will be interesting to see where he goes. I think someone will take him between 5th-10th picks. This draft class is all over the place. Whoever takes him should be patient with Kemell. Let him work on his game before giving him NHL minutes. Let him find the game he was playing last fall because that's the player you want.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

I'd like to see him grind out a season in the AHL, get used to the small ice.

 

[MMC]

Welcome to Nashville

 

[BigRangy]

Double the production of the 1OA, goes 17th.

 

[Jukurit]

What I have watched of Liiga, it does seem strange that Slaf goes #1 and Kemell goes #17. I don't think the difference would be that big. But I'm just some idiot.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

future 40 goal scorer? Did we just get the steal of the draft????

 

[Flgatorguy87]

I'd like to see him grind out a season in the AHL, get used to the small ice.

David, was that you?

 

[Kaako Kappo]

What I have watched of Liiga, it does seem strange that Slaf goes #1 and Kemell goes #17. I don't think the difference would be that big. But I'm just some idiot.

Difference is around 15cm or 6 inches. Nashville got a good one, and Kemell will have Granlund there to mentor him. Quite nice.

 

[Hockeyfrilla]

Nice pick at #17

 

[HockeyHistorian]

What I have watched of Liiga, it does seem strange that Slaf goes #1 and Kemell goes #17. I don't think the difference would be that big. But I'm just some idiot.

Personally, based only on their play in Liiga, I'd rather have Kemell than Slafkovsky, but I'm just another idiot.

 

[Nate070]

Personally, based only on their play in Liiga, I'd rather have Kemell than Slafkovsky, but I'm just another idiot.

Pre-injury Kemell was really something special. Is he fully recovered now?

 

[jonlin]

Pre-injury Kemell was really something special. Is he fully recovered now?

Atleast close to it. He got better as the season went on. Before the injury he was superb.

 

[HockeyHistorian]

Pre-injury Kemell was really something special. Is he fully recovered now?

I have no idea. He seemed dominant in he U18s though.

 

[Necrobutcher]

He's the second coming of Teuvo Teräväinen. Could be a huge steal for Nashville.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

He's the second coming of Teuvo Teräväinen. Could be a huge steal for Nashville.

He's nothing like Teuvo as a player though?

 

[Necrobutcher]

He's nothing like Teuvo as a player though?

Yeah i meant in the draft projectory sense.

 

[scholl]

What I have watched of Liiga, it does seem strange that Slaf goes #1 and Kemell goes #17. I don't think the difference would be that big. But I'm just some idiot.

stepping up when it counts (Olympics, World Championships) sounds like a playoff player. After the Olympics I expected Slafkovsky to go first. Kemell got forgotten because he played for a very bad team JYP and suffered that injury.

 

[Michoulicious]

Kemmel at #17 is the Caufield at #15 of this draft IMO.

 

[NotProkofievian]

future 40 goal scorer? Did we just get the steal of the draft????

He was top of my list at 17, that's for sure. Not sure about steal of the draft, but at 17, you're getting a hell of a price on him.

 

[TheFinnishTrap]

Reasonable placing for Kemell, after that insane start I thought he was even top-5 material, but later in the season I started to doubt his ability to be someone to build a line around. His game looks a bit too straightforward for me to think he could be that line driver in the NHL, but give him a good playmaker and he could be a dangerous goal scorer.

 

[57special]

I think him measuring out at 1 1/2" shorter than his previously listed height caused him to move down a few spots.

 

[vildurson]

Double the production of the 1OA, goes 17th.

NHL still likes size over skill. Go figure.

Kemell needs at least a year in AHL / Liiga before he can hop in to the big game. Even though he did not look out of his place in Liiga this year anyway.

Kemell could easily be 30-40 goal scorer in NHL and that's good value at 17th pick if this happens.