I just have a gut feeling this guy is going to be really good. I haven't seen him in the later half of the season now, so maybe I'm talking nonsense. But I really felt like he projected as a solid top 4 guy with more offense than originally billed.
LD Juuso Valimaki (2017, 16th, CAL)
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MackAttack26
Registered User
After watching him in both the WHL and WJC this is exactly what I was thinking. He has shown promising offensive abilities in junior but with mishaps with his defensive awareness, and showed well defensively at the WJC but didn't let his offensive game loose.
If he was able to put both together at once, and be a constant two-way threat, he would be a top-5 pick for me no doubt.
Added another two assists tonight, he now has 58 points in 54 games played this year.
This kid is not getting a lot of publicity, but I think he is going to go very, very high in the draft when it is all said and done.
This kid is not getting a lot of publicity, but I think he is going to go very, very high in the draft when it is all said and done.
DudeWhereIsMakar
Bergevin sent me an offer sheet
leaflover
Stanley Cup 2022
He doesn't have the all around game Provorov has but he's definitely earned his rise up the rankings. Earlier i saw him ranked in the 2nd rd well behind Foote but i see as the scouting services actually started to pay attention Valimaki has risen to an appropriate ranking.
I had kind of hoped the Leafs would slide in and scoop him up while everyone else was hung up on the Foote brand name but unless the Leafs falter badly i think he's gone.
BB88
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- Jan 19, 2015
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I wasn't trying to suggest he's better on on the same tier as Provorov today, if he was he'd likely be fighting for 1st overall.
I was just surprised/impressed by the numbers he has put up.
There's not a lot of talk about this draft so it's more difficult to get the read where these guys will go.
Hockeyisl1fe
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- Dec 8, 2016
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He is outproducing Virtanen at the same age, yet no scouting site has him higher than #10. What gives?
Meh.
Look at any draft from 5+ years ago....then re-draft. Name one that isn't quite a bit different. Scouts are very, very imperfect.
I had Valimaki as first d man and a top-3 to 5 pick since the summer of 2016. That could easily be a better pick than the bigger public scouts have. I also had Drouin top-10 when scouting sites had him as a 2nd rder. But then, I had plenty of picks that really missed the mark too.
For some reason, probably because I am not a professional, my lists are always quite different from the main sites, which tend to always be identicle except for a few variances :/
Just cuz all those pro scouts end up all similar, doesn't make any of them super credible.
Patrik Barkov
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- Jun 25, 2016
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Virtanen was scoring goals at a high-end rate, and had ridiculous physical tools. He was also one of the most divisive prospects in recent memory to people on here, and to scouts in general.
AuraSphere
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supermann_98
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By whom? Sergachev was considered the best offensive D last year and it wasn't even close
Frk It
Mo Seider Less Problems
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I suppose you're right, although Bean got quite a bit of praise on his offensive game as well. But was considered more of a boom or bust type.
But Valimaki has a better PPG than both of them had in their draft year, so point is kinda the same here
It still doesn't make any sense, they play 2 different positions. Defense is obviously much more important to dmen than it is to wingers. You can't just make a black and white comparison based on points, it doesn't work that way.
Not being able to be an adequate defender will hurt your stock much more than it would if youre a winger. Exhibit A: Liljegren.
Also Virtanen was a risky pick and many said so at the time, he was drafted high because he's a power forward, not because he had Ehlers or Nylander's level of offensive talent.
Same here.
Watched this kid a month ago and I said wow, there wasn't alot of talk about him.
I don't think the Leafs are going to have a chance to draft him.
- Mar 10, 2010
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Probably not with your playoff appearance but this year could be really crazy. Who would have guessed Chychrun would have dropped so far last draft.
I'm saying you can't compare a ****ing offensive dman's point total to a power forward who was drafted for his goddamn physical tools. Ceci was also a ~PPG dman in his draft year, look at where he got picked and all the dmen who went ahead of him. MDZ was PPG in his draft year, look at where he got drafted. Jeremy Roy was PPG in his draft year, he went in the 2nd round. Rasmus Andersson was PPG in his draft year, he went late 2nd~~~!!!!!! Woopty doo.
Scouts obviously have other factors they have to consider apart from point totals. Use your brain, this should be common sense.
Or do you think every dman who puts up good offensive numbers should be an automatic high draft pick? De Haan was a PPG player in his draft year, do you think he's an offensive dman in the NHL? Ryan Murphy was a PPG++ dman in his draft year, do you think he's a good NHL'er now?
Nylander and Ehlers both got picked after Virtanen and they were both high-end offensive players. Virtanen got picked for his tools, in hindsight it was obviously a bad pick but there are examples of other players (Johansen, Scheifele, Horvat etc.) who ended up being great picks despite their lack of production in their draft year. For your sake i hope you get it this time.. or are you just new to this scouting thing?
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