RD Julius Honka (2014, 14th, DAL)

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I really doubt that. JYP love veterans and Vatanen is like only youngster in recent years that has seen over 20 minutes.

What veterans? They have 3 guys that are over 22 years old in D. Näkyvä got pretty decent minutes in JYP as well, though he wasn't as young as Vatanen or Honka.
 
What veterans? They have 3 guys that are over 22 years old in D. Näkyvä got pretty decent minutes in JYP as well, though he wasn't as young as Vatanen or Honka.

Yep. With Välivaara gone they only have Luoma, Viitanen and Kalteva.

Viitanen can't play more than 20 games anyway and Luoma and Kalteva aren't really anything special.

So plenty of icetime in JYP if Honka decides to go there.
 
Yep. With Välivaara gone they only have Luoma, Viitanen and Kalteva.

Viitanen can't play more than 20 games anyway and Luoma and Kalteva aren't really anything special.

So plenty of icetime in JYP if Honka decides to go there.

Yeah, he'd easily get plenty of icetime there. None of those older guys are offensive specialists either.
 
Yeah, he'd easily get plenty of icetime there. None of those older guys are offensive specialists either.

Exactly. Viitanen is at best #6 stay-at-home defender with plenty of PK time. Luoma and/or Kalteva will get some powerplay time with the D being so weak at the moment, but I don't consider either one of them to be good enough to be the #1 guy on powerplay. Both are overall decent guys, nothing flashy but solid on 5vs5, PK and for PP as well.

And if you look at how JYP treated Vatanen when they had him, they gave him plenty of PP time from the get go. Don't think they ever benched him if he ****** up.

JYP needs Honka more than Honka needs JYP. And marketing wise having a 1st round pick returning home to play a season or two would be huge boost for JYP.
 
Exactly. Viitanen is at best #6 stay-at-home defender with plenty of PK time. Luoma and/or Kalteva will get some powerplay time with the D being so weak at the moment, but I don't consider either one of them to be good enough to be the #1 guy on powerplay. Both are overall decent guys, nothing flashy but solid on 5vs5, PK and for PP as well.

And if you look at how JYP treated Vatanen when they had him, they gave him plenty of PP time from the get go. Don't think they ever benched him if he ****** up.

JYP needs Honka more than Honka needs JYP. And marketing wise having a 1st round pick returning home to play a season or two would be huge boost for JYP.

With 60 regular season games plus min. 6 CHL games, there wouldn't be that big of a drop in games, but still enough to leave more time for training and bulking up.
 
Any Swift Current Fans Out There?

I'm looking for some people who watched a lot of Honka this past year to give me scouting report on him. Thanks!
 
All signs are pointing to Dallas trying to have Honka play in the AHL this year despite being drafted out of the WHL. Will be interesting to see how this develops and moves forward.

Honka did not attend the Swift Current training camp prior to Traverse City like every other CHL prospect. Jim Nill is looking to use the argument that:

"Is he a CHL player or a European player on loan to CHL? If the latter, he'd be eligible for AHL or EUR loan."
 
All signs are pointing to Dallas trying to have Honka play in the AHL this year despite being drafted out of the WHL. Will be interesting to see how this develops and moves forward.

Honka did not attend the Swift Current training camp prior to Traverse City like every other CHL prospect. Jim Nill is looking to use the argument that:

"Is he a CHL player or a European player on loan to CHL? If the latter, he'd be eligible for AHL or EUR loan."

How is it possible that not a single reporter or even their GM has a clue if he can play in AHL/Finland. :shakehead
 
I'm looking for some people who watched a lot of Honka this past year to give me scouting report on him. Thanks!

Effortless skater who gets himself/team out of trouble in own zone by using good acceleration/edgework to avoid checks. Make good first pass out of zone, though he often skates it out himself. Has a plus shot and good vision on powerplay. Notably undersized, but uses smarts/good stick to compete in battles. Often simply outmuscled though. Honestly, lots of high end tools. Reminds me (and others) of Tobias Enstrom.
 
Effortless skater who gets himself/team out of trouble in own zone by using good acceleration/edgework to avoid checks. Make good first pass out of zone, though he often skates it out himself. Has a plus shot and good vision on powerplay. Notably undersized, but uses smarts/good stick to compete in battles. Often simply outmuscled though. Honestly, lots of high end tools. Reminds me (and others) of Tobias Enstrom.

As a Jets fan I can tell you if the stars landed a slightly taller and bigger Enstrom they have themselves a home run prospect.
 
This kid has been very impressive in Stars camp! Played a lot of minutes in the preseason game last night and was good.
 
The Blues brought absolutely NO ONE of relevance to Dallas last night but even so this kid looked really really good. Could be a special one IMO.
 
The Stars are still sorting through issues on where defenseman Julius Honka could play this season. Juniors may not be an option due to rules involving the IIHF which could restrict Honka going to Swift of the WHL, where he played last season. That would leave Texas and Europe as the possibilities and Texas appears to the be leading candidate, unless something changes on the IIHF front. Stars hope to have issue sorted out in a few days.

Going to be cool seeing someone drafted out of the WHL play in the AHL the following season.
 
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Going to be cool seeing someone drafted out of the WHL play in the AHL the following season.

I don't see how he would be restricted from going back to junior, he was drafted out of the WHL so it's either there or the NHL for him.
 
I don't see how he would be restricted from going back to junior, he was drafted out of the WHL so it's either there or the NHL for him.

Well he isn't going to Swift Current and he isn't making the NHL, so you would be wrong.
 
Well he isn't going to Swift Current and he isn't making the NHL, so you would be wrong.

They're not going to bend the rules for him, as he is under 20 he can only be assigned to junior not the AHL. Or he can be loaned to a team in Europe like Jensen was if he doesn't make the NHL.
 
He didn't have a contract with any Finnish club when he left to Swift Current so I don't think this is correct.

Did he have a junior contract even if it wasn't a pro contract. Similar to what Mikael Granlund had with Kärpät prior to signing the pro contract to HIFK. The bag of pucks and a pair of skates kind of contract :laugh:
 
With the IIHF moving the bluelines to match NA dimensions, he'd have less problems playing in Finland. JYP have their own issues still but it's pretty much certain he'd get good minutes and plenty of powerplay time with them.
 
They're not going to bend the rules for him, as he is under 20 he can only be assigned to junior not the AHL. Or he can be loaned to a team in Europe like Jensen was if he doesn't make the NHL.

It isn't bending a rule, the IIHF rule takes precedent over the CHL/NHL agreement. He never attended Swift Current training camp and hasn't be reassigned there despite being "cut" from Dallas. Texas Stars or Europe, we shall find out in a few days.

Interesting scenario.
 
It isn't bending a rule, the IIHF rule takes precedent over the CHL/NHL agreement. He never attended Swift Current training camp and hasn't be reassigned there despite being "cut" from Dallas. Texas Stars or Europe, we shall find out in a few days.

Interesting scenario.
So, wait... if a European player never attends a CHL training camp and is drafted, then they'll be immediately AHL eligible post-draft even if they play their draft year in the CHL?

That seems odd. Wouldn't be surprised to see imports start refusing to come to training camp in order to go pro sooner.
 
So, wait... if a European player never attends a CHL training camp and is drafted, then they'll be immediately AHL eligible post-draft even if they play their draft year in the CHL?

That seems odd. Wouldn't be surprised to see imports start refusing to come to training camp in order to go pro sooner.

No, sorry to confuse you. My post talking about not going to training camp or being reassigned is confirming that he isn't going back to the WHL, not the reason.

The reason seems to be he had a junior contract with JYP, they loaned him for 1 year to Swift Current. His rights are now held by JYP so he is free to play where assigned by Dallas?

Maybe I am explaining that wrong.
 

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