LD Aron Kiviharju - TPS, FIN JRS (2024 Draft)

[ijuka]

All I said was that he looked green in the defensive end and you got triggered because you’re Finnish and have been trumpeting him as a potential No. 1 pick. Nothing wrong with seeing the pros and cons, and in two years, he may very well be a lock for No. 1. But he wasn’t dominant by any stretch, made mistakes every game that led to scoring chances, turned pucks over under pressure, and looked slow. You yourself admitted he played better in league play because the competition was tougher, etc etc.

And stop with the “everybody else says so…” bullshit. I don’t care what others think, especially when most on this board just statwatch anyway. If I’m right, I’m right. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. World keeps spinning regardless.

I mean, please. Want me to pull up all your bullshit about Hughes that went on for two years, when EVERYBODY said he’d eventually be a star? Or the crap you gave me for being the ONLY guy to put Svechnikov ahead of Dahlin?

Take a lap.

Because he didn't look green in the defensive end. I "got triggered" because you're wrong, not because he's Finnish. If you said that about Laakso for example, I'd have agreed. Or Salin. It really does get a bit old pulling this "Finnish"-card every time, but when you have no real argument I guess you would resort to ad hominem.

Here by Lassi Alanen:

Pikkuleijonien pelaaja-arviot: alaikäiset Kiviharju ja Uronen pelasivat nappikisat, useammalla puolustajalla oli vaikeuksia kiekollisessa pelaamisessa - EP Rinkside FI

EP Rinkside Suomen Lassi Alanen arvioi läpi Pikkuleijonien pronssijoukkueen pelaaja pelaajalta.

fi.eprinkside.com

Kiviharju had the highest expected primary assist generation on the entire team(including forwards) and had the highest expected primary point generation out of all defensemen. His and Kulonummi's pairing was the only one which was consistently able to exit the zone under pressure, and they also did very well in transitions. He also said that Kiviharju probably was Finland's best player.

By the way, according to this, Kulonummi himself had rather low expected primary point generation. And that's in line with me saying that Kiviharju should have been on PP1 instead of Kulonummi.

Also included that playing with Kiviharju benefited Kasper Kulonummi. This, by the way, is what Scott Wheeler also said, and he also had nothing negative to say about Kiviharju, only praise. But that's behind paywall. Here regardless:

Wheeler: U18 Worlds notebook, quotes, tournament all-star and MVP ballot

Scott Wheeler shares his notes on the biggest scouting event of the hockey season over the last two weeks in Germany.

theathletic.com

While it's not an amazing source, The Hockey News had Aron Kiviharju as a top performer:

U-18 World Hockey Championship: The Top Performers

The U-18 World Championship always provides scouts and analysts an excellent view on what the upcoming NHL draft class is capable of against other top talents. Here's a look at some of the top players.

thehockeynews.com

You could simply admit you're wrong.

 

[FinLurker]

I watched all the games from finnish television and I understand if casual fans have the impression that Kiviharju was a demigod which dominated the tourney and could do nothing wrong. The hype was real. I expect more from self proclaimed finnish 'experts' here. Kiviharju had good moments and bad moments and he is spectacular player when you consider that he is so young. I don't like when some posters tend to throw other team members under the bus when they promote their new shiny toy.

The first pairing of Kulonummi and Kiviharju was good when Finland had the puck in the offensive zone, but not sound defensively. They had also quite a lot of bad passes under pressure.

 

[AlternateSideParking]

I’m sorry, but how is your analysis objective if it’s based on gut feeling and guessing? That’s literally the opposite of objective. And saying “like it or move on” is some kinda really funny “do as I say not as I do” advice.

In fact, I have some advice for you: knock off this “zero” and “take a lap” nonsense, especially when you depend on the posters on this site to give you clicks.

I responded to this and the mods deleted it, so I’ll give it another shot.

1. Guessing and gut feeling is in regards to projecting NHL potential and rankings. Reporting and analyzing in-game behavior, plays, and decision-making is 1000 percent objective and facts-based. There’s no “guessing” when I write down in my game notes “horrid turnovers” or “timid” or “rushed clears under pressure”. Hope that clears it up.

2. My blog is free. There are no ads. I gave away a draft guide for free. I haven’t posted an article in almost two months. So hopefully that answers your whole “clicks” claim.

3. Posters who insult my integrity get insulted back. It’s quite ridiculous When someone uses the whole “Did you even watch the game” nonsense when it’s pretty friggin obvious I not only watch the games, but then take notes on it and then report in it the next day or week via a blog or podcast.

Have a nice day.

I watched all the games from finnish television and I understand if casual fans have the impression that Kiviharju was a demigod which dominated the tourney and could do nothing wrong. The hype was real. I expect more from self proclaimed finnish 'experts' here. Kiviharju had good moments and bad moments and he is spectacular player when you consider that he is so young. I don't like when some posters tend to throw other team members under the bus when they promote their new shiny toy.

The first pairing of Kulonummi and Kiviharju was good when Finland had the puck in the offensive zone, but not sound defensively. They had also quite a lot of bad passes under pressure.

Spot on.

 

[jonlin]

Aaron Kiviharju will be playing Liiga with TPS the incoming season. Let`s see how the 16yr old will compete against men at Finlands highest level. The kid is the best D-prospect Finland has had. IMO, he is better than Heiskanen and I have pretty high hopes for him.

 

[BB88]

Aaron Kiviharju will be playing Liiga with TPS the incoming season. Let`s see how the 16yr old will compete against men at Finlands highest level. The kid is the best D-prospect Finland has had. IMO, he is better than Heiskanen and I have pretty high hopes for him.

Couldn’t you say the best prospect we’ve ever had?

Just wish he won’t run into injury problems going against men

 

[MarVell]

My thoughts exactly.

 

[jonlin]

Couldn’t you say the best prospect we’ve ever had?

Just wish he won’t run into injury problems going against men

He is in the mix, thats for sure. Dont wanna bump him to high 2yrs before his draft. We`ve had other promising youngsters that regressed.

 

[Rengorlex]

It'll be fun to see if he can match what Rasmus Dahlin did at the same age in the significantly better SHL. He was a dominant force in the playoffs in his draft minus one season.

 

[Jukurit]

Next overhyped Finnish prospect.

 

[BB88]

He is in the mix, thats for sure. Dont wanna bump him to high 2yrs before his draft. We`ve had other promising youngsters that regressed.

But that’s we got so far to compare.

For his age group I can’t think of a more promising propect, that was a real #1 candidate for years prior to getting drafted

Next overhyped Finnish prospect.

Why would you say that?

 

[jonlin]

Next overhyped Finnish prospect.

He`s nowhere near overhyped. He is probably the best D at his age atm. We just have to hope he will keep progressing. Somehow you seem quite pessimistic about our players - are you a Swedish Jukurit fan by accident?

 

[Ippenator]

He is in the mix, thats for sure. Dont wanna bump him to high 2yrs before his draft. We`ve had other promising youngsters that regressed.

And no use to really start praising a youngster as the best ever Finnish prospect when we haven't even seen him play against men. If he shows the similar class of play already the upcoming season while playing against men, then there is real reason to maybe start those kind of talks.

Brad Lambert was very promising as a junior, but he has been terrible against men and for sure he isn't even close to the best prospects Finland has ever had, although even these kind of comments could be seen when he was a very promising player in the juniors.

Of course a relieving thing about Kiviharju is that it is very easy to see that his hockey IQ is absolutely magnificent, which should make it pretty sure that he does become a very good player. But there are question marks about him too. First of all, he was last season recovering from a quite nasty knee injury, so how will it be in the future? Will he get into problems with the same knee still? It’s always a possibility, although I of course hope that there will not be any of such problems in the future.

Anyway he is physically smallish and a big part of how successful he will become eventually, will be how well he develops physically and how well he will be able to avoid serious injuries while developing. He definitely needs strength and explosiveness to his legs - a lot. And the general strength and his shot have a lot to work on too. But if he developes well with these things, then I believe we will have the best defenceman (and maybe even the best player) that Finland has ever had. It’s just a really long way to that at the moment.

 

[jonu]

It'll be fun to see if he can match what Rasmus Dahlin did at the same age in the significantly better SHL. He was a dominant force in the playoffs in his draft minus one season.

"significantly better" is a bit of a reach tbh.

Theres too many variables to do any comparisons to begin with.

 

[Jukurit]

He`s nowhere near overhyped. He is probably the best D at his age atm. We just have to hope he will keep progressing. Somehow you seem quite pessimistic about our players - are you a Swedish Jukurit fan by accident?

No. I'm just being realistic (or pessimistic as you say).

 

[Ippenator]

Double post. Please delete.

 

[ijuka]

Next overhyped Finnish prospect.

Way underhyped, in all honesty. Way, way underhyped.

People on Jatkoaika TPS section are routinely having him as a 8th defenseman or something. Whereas I was predicting that he'd probably be TPS's best defenseman. Shrug.

I guess we'll see how it goes in Pitsiturnaus. And well, Hlinka as well.

 

[Ippenator]

Way underhyped, in all honesty. Way, way underhyped.

People on Jatkoaika TPS section are routinely having him as a 8th defenseman or something. Whereas I was predicting that he'd probably be TPS's best defenseman. Shrug.

I really doubt that so far. He is that small and pysically weak, that he will have at least some problems defensively at Liiga level. I’m not saying that he can’t do pretty well already this season, or maybe even very well. But to expect him to be right away the best defenceman of his team in Liiga sounds to me that you might be having even way too big expectations on him. Let him show first how he really plays against men, instead of making such hyped expectations. If he really clearly is the best defenceman of TPS already this season, I will for sure join the hype. But I will definitely have to see it first to believe that it’s possible. Lets just wait and see - it’s not that long until the season starts.

 

[jonlin]

I really doubt that so far. He is that small and pysically weak, that he will have at least some problems defensively at Liiga level. I’m not saying that he can’t do pretty well already this season, or maybe even very well. But to expect him to be right away the best defenceman of his team in Liiga sounds to me that you might be having even way too big expectations on him. Let him show first how he really plays against men, instead of making such hyped expectations. If he really clearly is the best defenceman of TPS already this season, I will for sure join the hype. But I will definitely see it first to believe that it’s possible. Lets just wait and see - it’s not that long until the season starts.

I dont expect him to be on the first 2 pairings. I do expect him to be playing some PP and a regular on the 3rd with a defensively sound pair. He has an incredible eye for the game and his passes are almost always on tape.

 

[Ippenator]

I dont expect him to be on the first 2 pairings. I do expect him to be playing some PP and a regular on the 3rd with a defensively sound pair. He has an incredible eye for the game and his passes are almost always on tape.

I have quite similar expectations. And I also agree 100% about his strengths. But I just can’t see that he is physically enough for the top pairs. He lacks way too much general strength and also he doesn’t have (at least yet) good enough acceleration and speed on skates to compensate on not having strength in battles. I will gladly eat crow though, if he after all can prove that he is good enough for the top two pairs already this season.

 

[korski]

In last weeks episode of Kalju Corner podcast Ismo Lehkonen (Arsi Lehkonen's father) said Aron is practicing skating with figure skating coach Tiia Hurme. Hurme has trained Arsi Lehkonen, Mikko Rantanen etc. during previous summers.

 

[Jukurit]

In last weeks episode of Kalju Corner podcast Ismo Lehkonen (Arsi Lehkonen's father) said Aron is practicing skating with figure skating coach Tiia Hurme. Hurme has trained Arsi Lehkonen, Mikko Rantanen etc. during previous summers.

Hopefully he gets faster.

 

[Nate070]

Hopefully he gets faster.

Of course he will get faster. He´s still like 12 years old

 

[Jukurit]

Of course he will get faster. He´s still like 12 years old

I just have some concerns. He looked so slow at U18s. And also small. Small + Slow = bad combination for a d-man. Of course, I think Kiviharju was still Finland's best d-man and he's still obviously very young. So, really hoping he looks faster next season. Even if he never gets "fast", I think he would still be a really good player, since I think his high hockey IQ would compensate for the lack of foot speed (like it has so far).

 

[BB88]

I just have some concerns. He looked so slow at U18s. And also small. Small + Slow = bad combination for a d-man. Of course, I think Kiviharju was still Finland's best d-man and he's still obviously very young. So, really hoping he looks faster next season. Even if he never gets "fast", I think he would still be a really good player, since I think his high hockey IQ would compensate for the lack of foot speed (like it has so far).

He’s a 2024 pick.

He’s extremely smart and just hired a skating coach, exactly what you’d like to see so why the negative out view?
He’s not getting drafted in 2 years& by no means is he a bad skater

 

[MBrodeur]

I'd like to see Heiskanen's skating at the same age so we could get a comparison. Obviously development isn't linear, but it could give you an idea of how it might progress.