Prospect Info: Jonathan Lekkerimaki, #15 Overall, 2022 NHL Draft

[me2]

Im not going to derail this thread with more rhd nonsense.
I dont subscribe to that obsession.

Happy to get the BPA at 15 who was clearly ranked highly and not reach for "need".
(again we need everything)

100%. Lek was the right pick. The prospect pool is empty get the best prospects. Even the left D we drafted today won't be ready for NHL duty until about the time oel's contract ends. No reason not to draft them. The the we need now we can find another way, UFA or trade.

 

[StreetHawk]

100%. Lek was the right pick. The prospect pool is empty get the best prospects. Even the left D we drafted today won't be ready for NHL duty until about the time oel's contract ends. No reason not to draft them. The the we need now we can find another way, UFA or trade.

Nhl outside the top5-10 picks are pretty much 2 years to 4 away from being everyday players.

Not nfl where 1st rounders and some second rounders are your opening day starters.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

“Our scouts were pounding the table; they really wanted to pick him,” general manager Patrik Allvin said. “It was an easy decision. We've liked him the whole year. We like his ability to score goals. He's a dynamic, offensive player that has scoring ability but also is able to make plays. He's a lighter version maybe of Lucas Raymond and how he plays in Detroit. There's a lot of similarities here with Jonathan.”

Obviously, the Canucks really wanted the 17 year old Swede.

 

[Kryten]

“Our scouts were pounding the table; they really wanted to pick him,” general manager Patrik Allvin said. “It was an easy decision. We've liked him the whole year. We like his ability to score goals. He's a dynamic, offensive player that has scoring ability but also is able to make plays. He's a lighter version maybe of Lucas Raymond and how he plays in Detroit. There's a lot of similarities here with Jonathan.”

Obviously, the Canucks really wanted the 17 year old Swede.

Wait is this where the people here got the idea that he was being compared to MASON Raymond?

 

[Grub]

The people complaining we didn’t draft a C and D are the folks that logically would have drafted Olli Juolevi. You always draft the BPA. I know the situation is different, but lets not draft a D based on need in the first round if all the good D have been taken.

 

[StreetHawk]

The people complaining we didn’t draft a C and D are the folks that logically would have drafted Olli Juolevi. You always draft the BPA. I know the situation is different, but lets not draft a D based on need in the first round if all the good D have been taken.

BOA is not set in stone. Whatever your draft list says is what you should go by when it’s time.

I’m fine with the pick. The guys with some size had less upside or we’re not good skaters. Lekkey sounds like his skating should be better given his size and shooting. Not a power slapped like Stamkos or Ovy. Better skating will help give him more separation which will help him.

 

[logan5]

He also grew like 4" in his draft year. He is still 17. Sky is the limit here, really like this pick from management.

If that's true then he is a physically immature 17 year old, as it's unusual for that kind of growth spurt at that age. His biological age would seem to be more in the 15 to 16 range. Maybe that's why he didn't interview so well. lol

 

[arttk]

The people complaining we didn’t draft a C and D are the folks that logically would have drafted Olli Juolevi. You always draft the BPA. I know the situation is different, but lets not draft a D based on need in the first round if all the good D have been taken.

I think BPA really doesn’t apply after round 3.

I think a problem with draft list is that prospects are judged based on floor, ceiling and likelihood of hitting either. I wish that we would draft based on ceiling and position after the 2nd round. If you take a RHD with every single pick, you have to at least hit one right even if it’s only a 3rd or 2nd paring guy.

 

[alternate]

So we drafted a one dimensional winger who can really rip the puck.


Meet the new boss, ....

 

[Grub]

People are also forgetting that he is one of the youngest player in the draft.

 

[Aphid Attraction]

I think BPA really doesn’t apply after round 3.

I think a problem with draft list is that prospects are judged based on floor, ceiling and likelihood of hitting either. I wish that we would draft based on ceiling and position after the 2nd round. If you take a RHD with every single pick, you have to at least hit one right even if it’s only a 3rd or 2nd paring guy.

I like the idea of drafting only RHD and atleast 1 goalie, even with every pick after the first. But I think the odds of hitting an NHLer is probably hitting one every 3 or or 4 drafts. The idea is that when you get one, its the most valuable position in terms of market needs.

But I would also be happy to trade picks after the fist round for forth liners

 

[Tomatoes11]

What defense prospects? Our highest touted D prospect Jett Woo was used as a winger last year. Do you mean Beeeezbahhhh?

I think BPA really doesn’t apply after round 3.

I think a problem with draft list is that prospects are judged based on floor, ceiling and likelihood of hitting either. I wish that we would draft based on ceiling and position after the 2nd round. If you take a RHD with every single pick, you have to at least hit one right even if it’s only a 3rd or 2nd paring guy.

Definitely should shoot for the moon with every pick we have if we want to eventually escape our cycle of mediocrity. It’s our only out. Playing it too safe doesn’t really move the needle.

Go big or go home. No pain no gain that type of thing.

At least we drafted multiple D and one Center with our later rounds. I would prefer RHD and C but any D is also fine.

 

[Orca Smash]

My questions with Lekkerimaki's hockey sense have less to do with playmaking ability and more with just processing the game. The EP rinkside scouting reports aren't flattering.

David St. Louis: "The doubts about Lekkerimäki's hockey sense are back. He rarely makes the best play unless it is evident and that's problematic. Thinking on the fly, IDing on the fly, and recognizing where his advantages are...These elements are not strengths of his game."

JD Burke: "You watch a game like this one, though, and the questions about his overall sense and ability to read the game cast a shadow over the rest of his game that his tools can’t escape. He missed at least two or three obvious breakout reads as a passer in this contest that resulted in his team defending far longer than they should’ve had to in either instance."

Etc ... Just not optimistic, but I guess we'll see.

Please try to find your own footage on said player, people really need to do this. I keep pounding my head on this, the amount of bs i read in 2017 about pettersson vs glass was astounding and really stood out, pettersson who should be a pronman type player for some unexplained reason just didnt like him at all. You really cant rely on alot of these scouting reports, I dont see lack of hockey sense, maybe they do, but please try to find some footage or follow his progress. Dont ever let people make you optimistic or not optimistic about a prospect without watching him. And I certainly dont agree with alot of JD burke takes. Sounds like hes honing in on a play and making broad judgement about a player over a single game.

A 17 year old doesnt put up numbers in the SHL without hockey sense. I learned quickly following nylander one game I watched sweden vs usa, usa dominated and nylander tried to dangle by himself and do way to much, he was constantly dangling into traffic. I honed in on that one game, never again, nylander today would be a home run for us. And for lekkerimaki since he was ranked consensus much higher in most other media outlets anyway, not sure why your focused on just EP who had him ranked lower then anyone by a pretty big margin.

 

[Tomatoes11]

I think the Nashville, maybe ducks, and Carolina drafting models are ones we should borrow from if we can.

Nashville is just a D factory with Weber, Josi, Girard, Ellis, Jones, hamhuis etc. Carolina can trade deangelo and bear without breaking a sweat because they drafted morrow a few drafts ago and a bunch of promising ones every draft. Ducks had Manson, have Fowler, drysdale , and now their new D toys from this draft.

I am jealous to be honest and would love to borrow from their philosophies when drafting.

 

[lousy]

Im not going to derail this thread with more rhd nonsense.
I dont subscribe to that obsession.

Happy to get the BPA at 15 who was clearly ranked highly and not reach for "need".
(again we need everything)

I think they meant by drafting a RHD now it does not help their current need of one. That draft pick only helps a few years down the line which is too late. So the alternative is to trade for a young-ish RHD

 

[Bleach Clean]

I find that lazy and he does not lack hockey sense. Drance own ego at times makes him think of things that suit his argument only. What is boeser, what is debrincat? What is Caufield?

His stickhandling is also a strong point.

Always do your own research, I learned in the Pettersson draft quickly how little media often know or see when it comes to prospects. Infact sometimes I'm not sure what they see.

Drance is probably parroting Cam Robinson, who I think has made the most astute comment when evaluating JL: "[paraphrase] He tends to struggle with making the optimal decision every time he has the puck. Most of the time it works out because he's so skilled, but he misses plays that could have been better".

That, I think, is JL's greatest weakness. His speed is good enough, and his 2way game is satisfactory, but it's his read to utilize his teammates that could be better. Sometimes he salvages things by finding mates later on in the play, but ideally, he should have gotten rid of the puck sooner.

I don't see it as a huge detriment. Other shoot first players have done this in the past and have still had great careers. He will develop this over time, IMO.

 

[Tomatoes11]

Drance is probably parroting Cam Robinson, who I think has made the most astute comment when evaluating JL: "[paraphrase] He tends to struggle with making the optimal decision every time he has the puck. Most of the time it works out because he's so skilled, but he misses plays that could have been better".

That, I think, is JL's greatest weakness. His speed is good enough, and his 2way game is satisfactory, but it's his read to utilize his teammates that could be better. Sometimes he falls back to deferring to them instead of looking for his own shot first.

I don't see it as a huge detriment. Other shoot first players have done this in the past and have still had great careers. He will develop this over time, IMO.

I hope he is just wrong and the scouts optimal moves are in fact, not optimal and lekk is just a genius that plays 4D chess the scouts don’t see. Otherwise, that sounds too much like JV but smaller for my liking.

 

[Bleach Clean]

I hope he is just wrong and the scouts optimal moves are in fact, not optimal and lekk is just a genius that plays 4D chess the scouts don’t see. Otherwise, that sounds too much like JV but smaller for my liking.

He's nowhere near JV. Or Grabner. ElMaki lacks the physical tools those two relied upon to get by.

This is a smart player who is patient and deadly on the ice. That doesn't happen without extraordinary IQ. He just has to get better at deciding to push or pass on a dime. That's it. Everything else is fine, but that one change could catapult him to a new level.

 

[Bleach Clean]

More than that even.

You could do it by personal preferences in terms of skill. You could do it by productivity and statistics. You could do it based on looking at the Russian factor. You could do it based on looking at the biggest talent that dropped. You could do it based on closeness to the NHL.

There are 10 different players who the fanbase would have embraced as the BPA had we taken them. At least. It’s a nonsense construct.

________

One thing I’m coming to realize is that if you constantly identify the BPA as a talented smallish one-dimensional scoring winger, you’re going to get a very unbalanced team and system. And it’s easy to say ‘trade from strength’ but these types of player don’t carry value well and quality young C and D are virtually impossible to acquire without drafting them. Meanwhile decent scoring wingers are pretty easy to acquire via trade or relatively cheaply in UFA.

I’d argue it might be better to draft C and D in the first round every year and have 50% bust than hit 100% of the time on smallish skill wingers, when you look at the actual value proposition involved.

Fine to have that type of preference, but in reality, it's hard enough gauging whether any player will make it to the NHL, let alone have a great career when there. And so, no team is in a position to decide from an ideal perspective, year to year. You make the best call you can and hope.

On BPA: BPA by consensus (3rd party publications) exists. It's anecdotal by nature, and the weight you place upon it is up to you. So when people say BPA, I assume they are referencing the consolidating rankings from those publicized lists.

 

[Steamer]

“should have gone top 10”

Why did 14 teams pass on him? Who knows how many others after us would have passed on him. I’m not at all saying he’s a bad pick (I literally don’t know any of these guys that got drafted and haven’t watched them play) but there’s teams and teams of scouts that didn’t like something about him to pass on him.

The same scouts who passed on Hughes, Podkolson, Petterson and Demko?

 

[Steamer]

Tooooo be faaaaair, at the time he was seen as an absolute steal. Can't miss prospect. Leading scorer for the US in WJC history. His knock was his small stature and lack of footspeed, which eventually resulted in his inability to play in the NHL full time.

I never saw him as a steal. Looked liked an undersized centre to me.

 

[alternate]

I never saw him as a steal. Looked liked an undersized centre to me.

It was the Gillis model: why scout when you can just pick whoever is falling based on the consensus.

 

[StreetHawk]

Be interesting to go back to these scouting services or media people and review their lists form 2010-2016 to see how well they ranked players. Should we really be taking their word on anything?

 

[Steamer]

It was the Gillis model: why scout when you can just pick whoever is falling based on the consensus.

Outside of Horvath who he traded to draft, who did he ever draft of quality? Wasn't big on the Q or The Dub, outside of Shinkaruk! LMAO All the players on the the Presidents Trophy season were drafted by someone else except for Hodgson. Everyone else was a free agent or trade. I like Mikey but.

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

“Our scouts were pounding the table; they really wanted to pick him,” general manager Patrik Allvin said. “It was an easy decision. We've liked him the whole year. We like his ability to score goals. He's a dynamic, offensive player that has scoring ability but also is able to make plays. He's a lighter version maybe of Lucas Raymond and how he plays in Detroit. There's a lot of similarities here with Jonathan.”

Obviously, the Canucks really wanted the 17 year old Swede.

This is Great to hear.