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RW Teemu Pulkkinen (2010, 111th overall, Detroit) II

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warms the heart to hear his teammates worship his shot like that, I really hope he makes it in the NHL.
 
So what exactly happened here to turn Pulk from an average 3rd rounder to completely owning the AHL in such a short period of time? Just a very late bloomer? His play certainly doesn't seem flukey...
 
RickyR said:
So what exactly happened here to turn Pulk from an average 3rd rounder to completely owning the AHL in such a short period of time? Just a very late bloomer? His play certainly doesn't seem flukey...
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He had a shoulder injury in his draft year and his skating was concerning as he has an ugly stride. Well that ugly stride still gets him places and he always had offensive talent. It seems people forget he was a Top 10 player entering his draft year (usually in the Top 5) before that kind of conspired against him. His talent level never really reflected his draft position, that he went that late was surprising and probably over analysis by NHL teams along with NHL concerns.

As to a late bloomer, this is a guy that broke Selanne's assist record for a rookie in SM-Liiga and challenged his point record. He then put on too much weight while bulking up, but he was a big offensive talent from the word go in Finland, at the WJC and now another league in the AHL.

He is armed with one of the Top 10 shots that I have seen in person. That includes my family being season ticket holders to the Wings growing up. Only guy that I would debate from a Wings organizational standpoint in all these years watching is Fedorov. He has shortened the delivery a great deal since arriving in NA, but that thing is ferocious. Mike Knuble (now a Griffins assistant) recently said the player whose shot it reminded him of most was his former teammate Alex Ovechkin. It is deadly and not flukey at all. His wrist shot is incredibly underrated because of his Holy Slapper, both are A+ in terms of pace and accuracy.
 
The Zetterberg Era said:
He had a shoulder injury in his draft year and his skating was concerning as he has an ugly stride. Well that ugly stride still gets him places and he always had offensive talent. It seems people forget he was a Top 10 player entering his draft year (usually in the Top 5) before that kind of conspired against him. His talent level never really reflected his draft position, that he went that late was surprising and probably over analysis by NHL teams along with NHL concerns.

As to a late bloomer, this is a guy that broke Selanne's assist record for a rookie in SM-Liiga and challenged his point record. He then put on too much weight while bulking up, but he was a big offensive talent from the word go in Finland, at the WJC and now another league in the AHL.

He is armed with one of the Top 10 shots that I have seen in person. That includes my family being season ticket holders to the Wings growing up. Only guy that I would debate from a Wings organizational standpoint in all these years watching is Fedorov. He has shortened the delivery a great deal since arriving in NA, but that thing is ferocious. Mike Knuble (now a Griffins assistant) recently said the player whose shot it reminded him of most was his former teammate Alex Ovechkin. It is deadly and not flukey at all. His wrist shot is incredibly underrated because of his Holy Slapper, both are A+ in terms of pace and accuracy.
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Thanks for the overview. I just spent the last hour reading back through all the posts to 2008. This is one of the most intruiging threads and prospects out there! The diversity of opinions on Pulk are astonishing.

Looking back, it appears that the set of injuries really caused the most havoc both with his draft position and his development. It appears that right now he's fully healed and taking off where he left off when he was dominating a few years ago.

The interesting question is what his upside is today... I know that people keep bringing up size, but the NHL has rapidly changed in this regard. Take a look at the play of Gaudreau, Kucherov and Tyler Johnson just this year (Kucherov and TJ also owned the AHL just a year ago). Small players just aren't disadvantaged like they used to be. Clearly smaller players with talent can flat out dominate.

Skating speed is a bit more of a problem, because I think that smaller players really can leverage speed to their advantage vs wingspan. Pulkkinen doesn't appear to be a poor skater to me -- I'd say probably average.

So intruiging to see what will happen here. I will say though that small AHL players scoring a lot of points in recent years do appear to have done well in the NHL upon call up.
 
RickyR said:
Thanks for the overview. I just spent the last hour reading back through all the posts to 2008. This is one of the most intruiging threads and prospects out there! The diversity of opinions on Pulk are astonishing.
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Yup. All of these record-breaking seasons in the FEL and AHL awards Pulkkinen a measly ~5th place in the DRW prospect rankings. There's very little Pulkkinen can do since his 4th round prospect status basically will dictate everything he does. "Leads the AHL in goal scoring/points, huh? Well.. **** you" :laugh:
 
I was one of the many who thought Pulk was very, very likely a bust. He's proven me wrong every step of the way. He just won't quit impressing!
 
His shot is absolutely money. I LOVE to see him just beat (AHL) goalies with his slapper, fair and square. No traffic in front, he just DARES the goalie to stop the shot.

And. They. Just. Can't. Stop. It.

Case in point
 
3+1 and back to the AHL scoring lead. Too good for AHL, no room in NHL :rant:
 
He's gonna have so many options after his contract is up. Unless they manage to trade him before that of course. His talents are being wasted. I'm only hoping the wings gave him up rather sooner than later.
 
kelsier said:
He's gonna have so many options after his contract is up. Unless they manage to trade him before that of course. His talents are being wasted. I'm only hoping the wings gave him up rather sooner than later.
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Was Tatar's talents wasted?

How about Nyquist's?

He'll get his chance soon enough
 
kelsier said:
He's gonna have so many options after his contract is up. Unless they manage to trade him before that of course. His talents are being wasted. I'm only hoping the wings gave him up rather sooner than later.
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This is pretty normal for a wings prospect. Play out your ELC in the AHL and dominate it with some call ups to get used to the NHL along the way. He'll be on the wings next year, possibly even before that for the playoffs.

And no, he wouldnt have so many options after his contract is up. He restricted
 
newfy said:
And no, he wouldnt have so many options after his contract is up. He restricted
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Well, it's pretty sure he won't be playing in AHL next season anymore, it's either NHL or KHL for him, anything else wouldn't make sense.
 
kelsier said:
He's gonna have so many options after his contract is up. Unless they manage to trade him before that of course. His talents are being wasted. I'm only hoping the wings gave him up rather sooner than later.
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You must be new to NHL hockey. Like the posters above me said, this is just the Wings way of developing prospects. It has worked them wonders, so why change now. It's not like Pulu is any special compared to Tatar or Nyquist and all the guys before them.

So just relax and let them work their magic over there.
 
The contest was sponsored by CCM, and Pulkkinen uses Bauer sticks. Conspiracy theories..
 
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