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Prospect Info: G Topias Leinonen -- Selected 41st overall in 2022

Gras

Gras

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sabresfan129103 said:
Can they sign him and send him down to Jacksonville next year? I don't even know if they can do that or not. There may be room in Rochester for him depending on what they do with Levi, but IDK if he's ready for the AHL.

He needs to play though. 6 games is just not enough for a 20 year old. He needs reps at this point.
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Probably depends on his contract situation in Europe for next year and they would need to get him signed to his ELC.
 

RefsIdeas

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sabresfan129103 said:
Can they sign him and send him down to Jacksonville next year? I don't even know if they can do that or not. There may be room in Rochester for him depending on what they do with Levi, but IDK if he's ready for the AHL.

He needs to play though. 6 games is just not enough for a 20 year old. He needs reps at this point.
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Nobody wants to play him. He’s been the worst goalie on every team he’s played for this year. I don’t know why we would bother signing him. He’s been terrible.
 
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CaliSabresfan24

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RefsIdeas said:
Nobody wants to play him. He’s been the worst goalie on every team he’s played for this year. I don’t know why we would bother signing him. He’s been terrible.
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They're going to do whatever they can to justify picking him in the 2nd round.

At the time I thought it was Adams worst pick and its continuing to look that way but I don't have a problem with getting him to NA and see what he can do here first
 
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Chainshot

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CaliSabresfan24 said:
They're going to do whatever they can to justify picking him in the 2nd round.

At the time I thought it was Adams worst pick and its continuing to look that way but I don't have a problem with getting him to NA and see what he can do here first
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They hold his rights for two more years, there isn't a necessity to waste a contract spot on the guy until he gets himself righted. Part of that might be getting out of JYP's cesspool of an organization.
 
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Gras

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CaliSabresfan24 said:
They're going to do whatever they can to justify picking him in the 2nd round.

At the time I thought it was Adams worst pick and its continuing to look that way but I don't have a problem with getting him to NA and see what he can do here first
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Someone has to play in ECHL, Houser can't play forever.
 
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Djp

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Chainshot said:
They hold his rights for two more years, there isn't a necessity to waste a contract spot on the guy until he gets himself righted. Part of that might be getting out of JYP's cesspool of an organization.
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He can come over and sign an AHL/ECHL contract

sabresfan129103 said:
Can they sign him and send him down to Jacksonville next year? I don't even know if they can do that or not. There may be room in Rochester for him depending on what they do with Levi, but IDK if he's ready for the AHL.

He needs to play though. 6 games is just not enough for a 20 year old. He needs reps at this point.
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They can sign him to an ahl only contract and still hold his rights and not count as a contract. Glotov they did that with iirc.
 
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Djp said:
He can come over and sign an AHL/ECHL contract
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He needs to see pucks and get games. That's unlikely to happen in the AHL and most ECHL teams with affiliations aren't going to be keen to take on an overhaul like this. They'd be better off seeing if they can get him into the net somewhere outside of Finland, like into HockeyEttan the third tier in Sweden and not signing him until they get some sort of consistency out of him.
 
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Old Navy Goat

Old Navy Goat

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MarkusKetterer said:
Goalies are voodoo. Unless they’re a top 15 pick, I wouldn’t say anyone is a bust.

That being said, I hope he can stay healthy in the future even if he decides to never try to come to North America.
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You hope to at least get something out of a high 2nd, even if they only top out as a tweener. Fortunately being an Euro you don't have to roll the dice and give him a contract now
 
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Dingo44 said:
So he's signed to one year in Sweden, and then if he finds his game and shows something we run with Leinonen / Ratzlaff in Rochester in 2025-26?
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They have another year after to decide if he's in their plans. Show something with Mora, then another year in Europe, and then make a decision to sign or not sign. He might even be someone following the Jonas Johansson route and needing a few ECHL seasons first before even getting to Rochester. At this point, until he shows what he can do for Mora, penciling him into anything, do so lightly.
 
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Jim Bob

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This summer, Leinonen was able to participate in Sabres development camp fully for the first time since he was drafted. Kotyk said he showed up to camp at a “significantly” lower weight than he had the past two years. He’s working with a personal trainer who doubles as his goalie coach, and it’s evident in his body composition and the way he’s moving on the ice.

Leinonen also changed teams. Rather than getting stuck in a murky playing time situation in Finland’s top league, he moved to Sweden to play for Mora IK in Sweden’s second division. In the preseason, he’s played two games, winning both and allowing just one goal total.
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This was an interesting article.

I hope the changes that Leinonen is making help his development.
 
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Dingo44

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Chainshot said:
Of all of their prospects, he seems like the one who could move the most on my list.
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The article really lets you how how much it was a lost season last year.

Last season, in particular, was a struggle. He showed up to Sabres development camp with a stress fracture in his ankle. The Sabres weren’t sure how he got it, but he couldn’t practice. Then Leinonen got to training camp with JYP of the Finnish elite league in August where he was competing for a spot in the lineup.

“So he misses so much time over the summer and then gets to camp and the urgency to get in the lineup is there so he goes from zero to 100 and in three weeks the stress fracture came back,” Kotyk said.

That put Leinonen out of action for three months. When he returned to the ice in November, he was, understandably, not sharp.

“Everyone’s been playing for months and now you’re putting a 19-year-old kid in a pro league to play a game,” Kotyk said. “What do you expect the result to be?”

Leinonen then broke his finger in practice, which meant more missed time. As a result, his statistics haven’t been pretty. He played only six Liiga games last season and went 0-4-1 with a .844 save percentage and 4.14 goals against average. At the U-20 level, Leinonen played four regular season games with a .871 save percentage and 3.28 goals against average. But Kotyk wasn’t getting tied up in the statistics. Sometimes he wouldn’t even look at them. He knew with inconsistent playing time, Leinonen would have up-and-down results, especially with him being so inexperienced. What he wanted to see was one of the attributes that drew the Sabres to him in the first place. His size and mobility were appealing, but so was his competitiveness in the crease. That’s what Kotyk harped on in his regular conversations with Leinonen the last couple of seasons.
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Kicked the Mora-Oskarshamm game on to catch a bit of Leinonen over lunch and I don't think Mora's been in their own zone more than 30 seconds through the first 7 minutes. He has three saves thus far, not a lot of work yet.
 
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