Very clumsy skating on that goal.
Very clumsy skating on that goal.
He should for sureAt this rate I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the WJC team in December.
At this rate I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the WJC team in December.
Sure. I only hope he has time to do some strength training in the fall. Wouldn't hurt to be a bit more explosive against the best U20 players in the world.Heimosalmi, Vilen and Suomi are the only d-man who are regulars at Liiga level at the moment. Hard to think they will find 5 more defenders better than Kiviharju from the weak 03 and 04 age groups.
Fair point, Kiviharju also missed an entire season with a knee injury (not ACL) when he was 14-15 years old, which obviously interrupted his development physically and skating wise, i think it's hard to say how well he'll catch up once he gets more muscles on his legs etc, but there is alot of potential gain in the explosiveness in his skating.This doesn’t show the arguments against his skating at all. He lacks explosiveness. His edges and feet are elite, as shown on that goal.
That is also abysmal on the Slovakian player
Yep, after seeing how much Donskoi, Granlund, Rantanen and Barkov etc. have developed their skating, I don't see any reason why anyone should worry about Kiviharju at this point. And Kiviharju is much better skater than any of them at the same age.This is a "trademark" move of his and one of the reasons why I disagreed with the assessment that Kiviharju couldn't make rushes off the blueline the way Makar can.
Blah blah Makar's a better skater, but how much better a skater was he at 16, anyway? If I think of Kiviharju's 21-22 season, Makar's 14-15 would be equivalent, where in U18 AAA he scored at a lower pace than Kiviharju in Finland's U20 SM-Liiga. And it's not tough to imagine that Finland's U20 is a far stronger level than AMHL U18.
If we're going to say "23 yo Makar is a much better skater than a 16yo Kiviharju" then, duh? But there's more to skating than straightline top speed or whatever the criticism is, especially when you've yet to even begin strength training.
You must be confusedWell it was anyway mentioned in a biograph about him that he was 5’8 and 165. That biograph was written in fact only December 2021.
No one ever said that lolI don't think it's fair to say it's impossible to look like a great skater even at 16...
This is McDavid skating at the same age Kiviharju is now. I don't think it's fair to say it's impossible to look like a great skater even at 16...
Just about every clip of McDavid skating is more impressive than Kiviharju in any way. These clips even from when he was 14 are on a whole another level.This goal is showing the type of great skating that Kiviharju has not shown? Well okay, then. He doesn't even attempt these more than like 1 time per season. Playing the role of lowest D is a bit different from being a forward.
But surely McDavid had much better highlights, I mean that goal's not that crazy in any way.
Just about every clip of McDavid skating is more impressive than Kiviharju in any way. These clips even from when he was 14 are on a whole another level.
Not really, I guess in that biograph it was then info a year late, as in the case of what infoYou must be confused
Just about every clip of McDavid skating is more impressive than Kiviharju in any way. These clips even from when he was 14 are on a whole another level.
Kiviharju would be able to go end to end if he had explosive skating, that is the entire point. His speed holds him back from doing so.Just the clip from 0:54, but in terms of Agility I'd say Kiviharju's pretty competitive. Can tell they have some differences in skating style, though. Problem with comparing them is that Kiviharju very rarely skates all out, whereas McDavid does all the time. However, something like the goal Kiviharju scored today is a display of some very fluid skating.
And do you really have to use McDavid when the talk was Makar, anyway? I'm pretty sure McDavid was the best-skating 14-15yo of all time. Not only is he genetically gifted, he's gone through insane skating training since he was like 3 years old.