LD Olli Juolevi - TPS, Liiga (2016, 5th, VAN)

[93LEAFS]

I think Juolevi's ceiling is a 40-50pt 2-way Dman. That would make him a #2 or in a really positive outcome (stellar D game) a #1 Dman for his team.

Vancouver does have some nice pieces in D but none of the really strike as a sure future #1. Tanev is told to be one, but I would wait the offence to light up first. Tryamkin, Stecher, Hutton make a pretty good future for them. I think Juolevi will the guy to have steady D and offence. So he could be their future #1, although not the best around the league. He has that 2-way game that could provide them stability and he could earn a letter some day who knows, he seems that type of a guy.

It's not easy to draw ceilings for players, especially for Dmen. When I watched Ristolainen in the FEL, he never struck me as an offensive guy, his highlights were pretty lame. So I thought okay, he's gonna be a defensive guy pretty much. As of now, Ristolainen has lit it up and his offence has been the better part of the game. Not that he's bad on defence but he has really grown into a good offensive guy and is becoming a good 2-way player, a poor mans Shea Weber some would say.

So it's funny how players develop and really anything can happen. Also it's easy to see how the 'Nucks fans and some others underrate Juolevi. The fans mostly due to picking him before Tkachuk or that he doesn't provide enough offence or whatever. But in Juolevi I see a very reliable Dman who's smarts are off the charts. That's something you shouldn't underrate. Tkachuk in your future TOP6 is nice, but Juolevi in your future first pairing is going to be even better, in my honest opinion.

40-50 points would put him 13th to 25th in dmen scoring last year. If he is a 2 way D as well, that's easily a #1 dman...

Yea 40-50 point 2 way dman would be considered close to a top 10 dman in the NHL

40 to 50 point D-man who plays Juolevi's style game is basically Ryan Suter without the additionial description of insane stamina added. That is a perenial top 10 NHL defender over a long-time period (Suter has finished top 10 in Norris voting for 5 consecutive years).

Suter never wowed people with his stats coming up, and many thought the defencemen with more flash than him were the better players from the 2003 draft for quite a long time (see Dion and Weber). Now, Ryan Suter may be near his ceiling as a 2-way player (but potentially lower than his offensive ceiling) is at worst the 2nd best defender from the 2003 draft, with an argument as the best one.

I'd take Tkachuk over him for two major reasons, firstly, that forwards in general are much easier to project, so if they are close on talent I would lean towards the forward in most cases. Secondly, Tkachuk is already proving it at the NHL level, and, due to this he has a much higher floor before even factoring in the difficulty projecting young D. But, say both reach their ceiling which is potentially a Ryan Suter type defender or a Cory Perry type power-forward, or maybe more realistically a Vlasic vs Landeskog. I'd probably lean to both defenders in those scenario's.

 

[Canucks LB]

Looks like he just took it up another level since the wjc.

Looking dominant on most nights, putting up good numbers

 

[M2Beezy]

Hold your horses lets see him do it for the rest of the year before we get carried away. Hes trending well lets hope he keeps it up. Mind u he did do this last year too

 

[Canucks LB]

Hold your horses lets see him do it for the rest of the year before we get carried away. Hes trending well lets hope he keeps it up. Mind u he did do this last year too

Big difference tho.

No tkachuk and marner.

 

[Aceboogie]

Jueolvi is a very interesting pick. He has primarily about smarts (but also good physical tools). Wheres Sergachev was the opposite.

I like the gamble on OJ because if he turns out, hell be a franchise D (as will Sergachev)

Ill say this for Canuck fans- just gotta be patient with him. Ill bet a ton of fans look at Tkachuk and start to question the pick, but given it 3/4 years and youll see why the pick was made. Slightly different but similar thing when Oilers picked Nurse and Flames got Monahan. For 2 years everyone was saying "if only we sucked for a few more games and moved ahead of the games to get him." It became almost inconceivable Nurse could be just as important or even more so. Then 4 years post draft and Nurse has his break out year where you start to see why he was picked and you trust the process

 

[BB88]

He looks great defensively, looks more aggressive offensively compared to past and point production is improving, he scored 9 goals last year and now stands at 8.

But there's really no talk about him here, no hype, no mentions really in any prospect threads.

I hope if he keeps this up he won't spent the next year in London, I don't think it pushes him enough, compared to NHL or playing against men in Europe.

 

[Snippit]

Looks like he just took it up another level since the wjc.

Looking dominant on most nights, putting up good numbers

Agreed, his play has really picked up of late.

Very good defensively and he's been very efficient.

 

[CherryToke]

Hold your horses lets see him do it for the rest of the year before we get carried away. Hes trending well lets hope he keeps it up. Mind u he did do this last year too

Did what last year? He matched last years goal total tonight in 25 less games.

 

[93LEAFS]

He looks great defensively, looks more aggressive offensively compared to past and point production is improving, he scored 9 goals last year and now stands at 8.

But there's really no talk about him here, no hype, no mentions really in any prospect threads.

I hope if he keeps this up he won't spent the next year in London, I don't think it pushes him enough, compared to NHL or playing against men in Europe.

He can't go back to Europe. He's not on loan, so its CHL or NHL. He has to be offered back to the Knights if he isn't on the NHL roster.

 

[BB88]

He can't go back to Europe. He's not on loan, so its CHL or NHL. He has to be offered back to the Knights if he isn't on the NHL roster.

Dammit if true. I don't think +2 year in juniors gets the max out of him.

Why were there then rumours of him going to Europe for this year, where did they come from?

 

[93LEAFS]

Dammit if true. I don't think +2 year in juniors gets the max out of him.

Why were there then rumours of him going to Europe for this year, where did they come from?

I don't remember them, but my guess would be an uninformed source speculating. I don't know the standard of sports journalism in Finland, but I could easily see not very reputable writers of any demographic not knowing the CHL-NHL transfer agreement unless they were familiar with it. I don't think this situation has really existed for any big name Finnish prospects outside of Maata. Guys like Nattinen and Kuokannen went to the CHL post draft, and I can't think of a talent who existed in the borderline area like Juolevi.

I'd say the absolute worst situation for Juolevi isn't actually going back to the Knights, it is actually what happened to a fellow Knight in Nikita Zadorov. Zadorov said he would refuse to report to the Knights and Buffalo, therefore, they couldn't send him back without him threatening to go to Russia. It was a complete disaster for all involved. He ended up getting limited ice-time on a bad team and not developing much.

The rare exception is when guys are on-loan in their draft year to the CHL and therefore are technically drafted out of the CHL. The most notable case of this being exploited is Honka (which is why some people over there might be confused on Juolevi's situation) and recently William Nylander.

 

[Canuck Luck]

Dammit if true. I don't think +2 year in juniors gets the max out of him.

Why were there then rumours of him going to Europe for this year, where did they come from?

I'm fairly certain players can go to Europe if they want, idk what the other poster is on about; all they have to do is sign a contract with a European team. Former Canuck Nicklas Jensen did just that. He didn't want to go back to Oshawa as at the end of the previous Generals season he suited up n the AHL for the Wolves and potted 4 goals in 6 games. I believe the team was also in a rebuild the next coming season and he felt that would hurt his development as well.

He felt he was better served playing against men in Sweden and went on to do decent there in his 1 season before coming back as he was now eligible to play in the AHL as he was now 20. I don't think he was on loan as he spent 2 seasons in Oshawa

 

[93LEAFS]

players can go to Europe if they want, idk what the other poster is on about; all they have to do is sign a contract with a European team. Former Canuck Nicklas Jensen did just that. He didn't want to go back to Oshawa as at the end of the previous Generals season he suited up n the AHL for the Wolves and potted 4 goals in 6 games. I believe the team was also in a rebuild the next coming season and he felt that would hurt his development as well.

He felt he was better served playing against men in Sweden and went on to do decent there in his 1 season before coming back as he was now eligible to play in the AHL as he was now 20.

That was a unique situation and it is still unclear exactly what happened. It is believed his contract with Oshawa had expired. In almost all cases the player has to be offered back to the CHL team, and usually, they have long term contracts. So unless someone knows what Juolevi's contractual status is, it is unclear if he could go back next year.

Maybe Juolevi can pull this maneuver but most likely I think he ends up on the Canucks. Also, I don't know how much teams want to try this with their big name prospects right now. The most notable examples of guys going back to Europe from Juniors to play on big ice are Yakupov, Jensen, and Goldobin, and they aren't really shining examples of player development.

Granted, the CHL is way less likely to heavily fight an import doing this than a homegrown player. A bunch of this is in a gray area, but in general, it is quite a rare situation for a player to go back. It didn't appear to be a viable option for either Zacha or Zadorov.

 

[SoupyFIN]

Juolevi did sign a KHL contract with Jokerit (discussion about it at the end of the first page of this thread) before he committed to London, so idk if that plays into it in any away? But I guess that's nullified now that he's signed his ELC..

I'd say he'll be better off playing big minutes with the Knights.

 

[Enel]

How is he doing?

 

[ihaveyuidonttouchme]

How is he doing?

it's been up (beginning) down (before wjc) up (after wjc) and down again (last few week or so). discouraging to say the least for a top 5 pick guy for the last 2-3 games especially
having some real trouble with "speedy who can use body well ish" fowards to contain them outside. when they have body position on juolevi? , ay ay ay.

 

[ottawa]

How is he doing?

Doing well offensively, inconsistent defensively and sometimes caught out of position or flat footed. Good transition game.

 

[lawrence]

How is he doing?

good.

Its been almost 4 weeks from your post to the most recent one which means he's good enough that hfboards.com does not have anything bad to say about him. compare this to the jake Virtanen thread. Liotered with haters with from Ontario with random excuses to drop by the thread with hate. disgusting.

 

[FinPanda]

Nothing really good, nothing really bad I would think.

 

[PKWeber]

Juolevi is not even the best dman on his team, Victor Mete is. I would be concerned if I was a Canucks fan.

 

[lawrence]

Juolevi is not even the best dman on his team, Victor Mete is. I would be concerned if I was a Canucks fan.

straight from Canucks.com

I recently had the opportunity to watch a few knights games as I have been watching my cousin on the team. It was amazing watching Ollie control the pace of the game. He made very few if any mistakes. Made crisp accurate passes in stride and really drove the offense. He put up numbers in all the games. Talking to some staff, players and player parents they all agreed he was as smart as they come and smooth as butter. His shot could use work buy it should improve with weight and strength. My cousin says off the ice Ollie is a real quite well mannered kid who really likes Canadian culture. I was very impressed. Other players that stood out were; mete (montreal) and crawley (un drafted 19 year old). Also rasannen on kingston skates like a newborn deer.

only on hfboards.com does Canucks prospects get this much hate.

telling us to be concerned. pfft.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

I still think he's going to be more of a great/elite #3 than a 1st pairing guy. Should've picked Tkachuk.

 

[Loffer]

Juolevi might have motivational issues. Chill, guys. He will be fine once he gets something to chew on again. The kid is too good and too lauded to play still some immature junior hockey in Ontario.

 

[93LEAFS]

Juolevi might have motivational issues. Chill, guys. He will be fine once he gets something to chew on again. The kid is too good and too lauded to play still some immature junior hockey in Ontario.

I doubt he has motivational issues. His team is going for consecutive OHL championships and Memorial cups. If he does, that would be a concerning issues.

 

[Advanced stats]

straight from Canucks.com




only on hfboards.com does Canucks prospects get this much hate.

telling us to be concerned. pfft.

Shocker that a Canucks website/writer would write something positive about a Canucks prospect.

That's never happened before has it?