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

[racerjoe]

Unfortunately from our outside perspective he has not looked very good. There is no way around this. We can say it is early, or that he is young, but he absolutely needs to turn this around and the holes in his game need to be shown that he can overcome them.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

So far, an absolute waste of a pick.

 

[krutovsdonut]

My take was always that you couldn't evaluate any of the core players correctly when Jim Benning was the GM because the atmosphere around the team was so toxic and everyone was under-performing.

My take on Pettersson was that if his play didn't right under the new management then we'd be in a position where we had to look at the Barzal-type stuff. And I don't think that was unreasonable given the information at the time. Like, holy f*** was he bad - and not even trying to be good - for the entirety of 2021.

But this isn't the Pettersson thread.

i think the atmosphere is far more toxic right now. very difficult to evaluate players in this conufsing mess.

i got to the point of srsly entertaining ep being traded briefly early this season. i also adjusted my ceiling downward on him, albeit only to aho, which is not a bad ceiling.

 

[Great Makohead Shork]

Lots of us Shorks fans tracked Lekkerimaki very closely in his draft year because of the Eklund connection. So far, it seems Lekkerimaki's D+1 season is trending eerily close to his former linemate's. Djurgardens is in shambles. Both took a nasty hit to the head. Both played with much lower confidence than in their draft year. Only now, nearly half-way through his D+2 season, is Eklund starting to find his rhythm.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Lekkerimaki lights it up in Abbotsford after getting settled in. If that's where management sends him. Hopefully, he's healthy enough to light it up in the world juniors before that, and regain some of his confidence. His deadly shot isn't going anywhere. There was a reason he was a favorite on a lot of our pre-draft boards.

 

[Jay26]

Lots of us Shorks fans tracked Lekkerimaki very closely in his draft year because of the Eklund connection. So far, it seems Lekkerimaki's D+1 season is trending eerily close to his former linemate's. Djurgardens is in shambles. Both took a nasty hit to the head. Both played with much lower confidence than in their draft year. Only now, nearly half-way through his D+2 season, is Eklund starting to find his rhythm.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Lekkerimaki lights it up in Abbotsford after getting settled in. If that's where management sends him. Hopefully, he's healthy enough to light it up in the world juniors before that, and regain some of his confidence. His deadly shot isn't going anywhere. There was a reason he was a favorite on a lot of our pre-draft boards.

Appreciate this post. A bit of perspective.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Lots of us Shorks fans tracked Lekkerimaki very closely in his draft year because of the Eklund connection. So far, it seems Lekkerimaki's D+1 season is trending eerily close to his former linemate's. Djurgardens is in shambles. Both took a nasty hit to the head. Both played with much lower confidence than in their draft year. Only now, nearly half-way through his D+2 season, is Eklund starting to find his rhythm.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Lekkerimaki lights it up in Abbotsford after getting settled in. If that's where management sends him. Hopefully, he's healthy enough to light it up in the world juniors before that, and regain some of his confidence. His deadly shot isn't going anywhere. There was a reason he was a favorite on a lot of our pre-draft boards.

It’s great to have a shot.

But if you don’t have the wheels, effort or motor, it unfortunately won’t make a lick of difference when it’s time to come up against better competition.

 

[Raistlin]

It's like groundhog day. I've been having the same discussions with people here for over 20 years dating back to players like Josh Holden and Nathan Smith and nothing ever changes. The vast majority of fans are consistently far to patient and far too optimistic with prospects pretty much across the board.

LOL, I have my fights with NFiTO/Pauser, but generally a portion of the fanbase is kneejerk, and the other is too lenient. I was super lenient on Juolevi and Sedin, but called out Jensen and Gaunce pretty early. Lekkerimaki is too early. esp after Ohgren nets a trick.

 

[Yultron]

Canucks Army just reported that he is practicing with Swedens World Junior team so that is welcoming news .

With the way Klimovich is playing in his D + 2 Season it gives me hope JL will progress in his season next year and hopefully he will be in Abbotsford next year but he is far from a bust . Only 18 and sometimes players don’t progress as fast as we want and Klimovich is an example of that .

Good things will come in due time

 

[Raistlin]

Canucks Army just reported that he is practicing with Swedens World Junior team so that is welcoming news .

With the way Klimovich is playing in his D + 2 Season it gives me hope JL will progress in his season next year and hopefully he will be in Abbotsford next year but he is far from a bust . Only 18 and sometimes players don’t progress as fast as we want and Klimovich is an example of that .

Good things will come in due time

if he fizzes out this WJ, I cannot imagine how pessimistic this thread will be. Boldy was also not tracking well early, look at him now.

 

[Diversification]

Maybe he's going to have a similar career trajectory to Markus Naslund where it takes years for him to figure it out. Of course, if that's the case, he would first have to be traded for a young power forward drafted earlier than him. So that would be Conor Geekie?

 

[racerjoe]

Maybe he will be an outlier, but I just don't think we can bank it. We are better to expect how he trends.

 

[Raistlin]

Maybe he's going to have a similar career trajectory to Markus Naslund where it takes years for him to figure it out. Of course, if that's the case, he would first have to be traded for a young power forward drafted earlier than him. So that would be Conor Geekie?

We would be over the moon if he blitzed WJC the way Naslund did.

 

[RobertKron]

Maybe he's going to have a similar career trajectory to Markus Naslund where it takes years for him to figure it out. Of course, if that's the case, he would first have to be traded for a young power forward drafted earlier than him. So that would be Conor Geekie?

Huh? Naslund led his SEL team in scoring and was like 5th in goals, 11th in points in the league in his D+1.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Canucks Army just reported that he is practicing with Swedens World Junior team so that is welcoming news .

With the way Klimovich is playing in his D + 2 Season it gives me hope JL will progress in his season next year and hopefully he will be in Abbotsford next year but he is far from a bust . Only 18 and sometimes players don’t progress as fast as we want and Klimovich is an example of that .

Good things will come in due time

SHL for Lekkerimäki.

I want him to learn how to play within systems and not have to have the AHL travel schedule.

He needs to get stronger and faster to be in position to go to the AHL and start adjusting to the smaller rink.

 

[Yultron]

SHL for Lekkerimäki.

I want him to learn how to play within systems and not have to have the AHL travel schedule.

He needs to get stronger and faster to be in position to go to the AHL and start adjusting to the smaller rink.

In the AHL he will get more playing time and will get acquitted to the North American style of play faster and I believe it will be better for his development opposed to him being buried on the depth chart .

Podkolzin has struggled miserably and has lost his spot on with the big club and is now in the minors and I don’t wanna see JL have that same struggle

 

[PuckMunchkin]

In the AHL he will get more playing time and will get acquitted to the North American style of play faster and I believe it will be better for his development opposed to him being buried on the depth chart .

Podkolzin has struggled miserably and has lost his spot on with the big club and is now in the minors and I don’t wanna see JL have that same struggle

Podkolzin should be in the NHL lineup based on his play.

He is a big strong fast guy he can handle the AHL game, I doubt it will do him much good.


I really dont see Lekkerimäki developing a grinder type game, so I see no point in sending him to grinder school in AHL.

 

[Diversification]

Huh? Naslund led his SEL team in scoring and was like 5th in goals, 11th in points in the league in his D+1.

It's not a perfect comparison, I admit. But there are some parallels between them stylistically and where Naslund probably had more raw skill, which allowed him to crack an NHL lineup in his D+3, he also found that he needed to up his level of engagement and it was a years-long, multi-coach, multi-team journey for him to do so. All I'm saying is that if Lek is ever to reach his potential (not comparing him to Naslund's ceiling), he will likely need to make a similar journey and the results can often look pretty ugly while he's doing so.

 

[RobertKron]

It's not a perfect comparison, I admit. But there are some parallels between them stylistically and where Naslund probably had more raw skill, which allowed him to crack an NHL lineup in his D+3, he also found that he needed to up his level of engagement and it was a years-long, multi-coach, multi-team journey for him to do so. All I'm saying is that if Lek is ever to reach his potential (not comparing him to Naslund's ceiling), he will likely need to make a similar journey and the results can often look pretty ugly while he's doing so.

I get what you're saying, but at this point in the game Naslund had basically shown nothing but progress. If anything, the comparison is an even more cautionary one where even a massive talent like Naslund, who was able to absolutely stand out in his D+1, still ran into trouble when he hit the NHL (albeit a very, very different NHL of the era).

I understand the desire to make these connections, but I think there's often a serious underestimating of how much of a filter every year of hockey can be. For every player that struggles and then finally puts it together to great success in their mid-20s, there are literally thousands for whom those struggles are just evidence of them not making the next step, often for reasons outside their control. This becomes especially more so today with the league being so much younger and UFA coming up so much earlier than when Naslund was breaking in and teams retained control over a player until they were in their 30s.

This is by no means a judgment on Lekkerimaki as a prospect - it's obviously still early days, but just a comment that the urge to find those examples to say "look he figured it out" is often probably more an emotional response than anything.

 

[MS]

I get what you're saying, but at this point in the game Naslund had basically shown nothing but progress. If anything, the comparison is an even more cautionary one where even a massive talent like Naslund, who was able to absolutely stand out in his D+1, still ran into trouble when he hit the NHL (albeit a very, very different NHL of the era).

I understand the desire to make these connections, but I think there's often a serious underestimating of how much of a filter every year of hockey can be. For every player that struggles and then finally puts it together to great success in their mid-20s, there are literally thousands for whom those struggles are just evidence of them not making the next step, often for reasons outside their control. This becomes especially more so today with the league being so much younger and UFA coming up so much earlier than when Naslund was breaking in and teams retained control over a player until they were in their 30s.

This is by no means a judgment on Lekkerimaki as a prospect - it's obviously still early days, but just a comment that the urge to find those examples to say "look he figured it out" is often probably more an emotional response than anything.

As soon as you're pointing to outliers rather than looking at the bulk of the evidence and most likely outcomes, your opinion is probably going off the rails.

 

[Melvin]

It's like groundhog day. I've been having the same discussions with people here for over 20 years dating back to players like Josh Holden and Nathan Smith and nothing ever changes. The vast majority of fans are consistently far to patient and far too optimistic with prospects pretty much across the board.

the thing I find hilarious about it is that people just become attached to these players the moment they are drafted, and it doesn’t even matter who the player is! Like if we had drafted someone different, then you’d be attached to that player instead, you know?

And I guess I get it? Because I sort of operated that way when I was, like, 11, but then, you know …

 

[Melvin]

And just to expand on that, like, I liked this pick at the time. At the time it seemed like a very good pick to me. But, that was six months ago. I have received new information since then. And the new information is bad. And if you’re not adjusting your opinion continuously based on new information, you’re just setting yourself up to be a sucker, and that’s true in general in life.

 

[arttk]

SHL for Lekkerimäki.

I want him to learn how to play within systems and not have to have the AHL travel schedule.

He needs to get stronger and faster to be in position to go to the AHL and start adjusting to the smaller rink.

That’s if Djugarden makes it back up…

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

Scares me that this was the Canucks guy and target who everyone wanted including Todd Harvey. Does not give me confidence going forward in our amateur scouting department. Sucks honestly.

 

[mathonwy]

the thing I find hilarious about it is that people just become attached to these players the moment they are drafted, and it doesn’t even matter who the player is! Like if we had drafted someone different, then you’d be attached to that player instead, you know?

And I guess I get it? Because I sort of operated that way when I was, like, 11, but then, you know …

Fans get attached to drafted players just like drafted players get attached to the teams that drafted them.

Do you actually get it? It's ok if you don't.

 

[Yultron]

Scares me that this was the Canucks guy and target who everyone wanted including Todd Harvey. Does not give me confidence going forward in our amateur scouting department. Sucks honestly.

He was ranked to go in the top 10 in most mock drafts and draft experts. Again I don’t know why we are panicking , yea he is having an awful season but he is getting mainly bottom 6 minutes .

Let’s be a little patient , he’s 18 and once he tears up the world juniors we will be cheering for joy