Overaged for 2004

[ES]

Every year a few (European) players get drafted with overaged.

Examples:
Daniel Alfredsson, 1972-late, drafted in 1994
Sami Kapanen, 1973, 1995
Sami Salo, 1974, 1996
Karlis Skrastins, 1974, 1998

Those players for example have been succesful in NHL.

Possible overaged for this year's draft? I start with some possible Finnish players:

Toni Söderholm, D, 1978
HIFK captain is good defenseman on both ends. Only his second season in SM-liiga after four seasons at Mass.-Amherst. Scored 16 goals and had 21 assists which ranked second in defenseman scoring.

Janne Pesonen, W, 1982
Biggest Rookie of the Year canditate. 17+13, +15. Not a good playoffs by far, but he is still playing (and his team Kärpät leads best-of-5 finals 1-0 with next game at home).

Janne Niskala, D, 1981
Lukko defenseman was first defenseman in years, who scored 20 goals in SM-liiga (Jari Korhonen, 1975, also did that). Good shooter, was chased by bigger teams but decided to stay at Rauma.

Markku Tähtinen, C, 1978
Big pressure after his move from Ässät to Lukko (they are big rivals) Was ranked 5th in assists (32), and played also in national team.

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[Jussi]

Possible overaged for this year's draft? I start with some possible Finnish players:

Toni Söderholm, D, 1978
HIFK captain is good defenseman on both ends. Only his second season in SM-liiga after four seasons at Mass.-Amherst. Scored 16 goals and had 21 assists which ranked second in defenseman scoring.

Söderholm doesn't need to be drafted. Because of his college years, he's a free agent. The Oilers were interested in him last summer but "Söde" opted to stay in Finland.

 

[kickice]

Every year a few (European) players get drafted with overaged.
Janne Niskala, D, 1981
Lukko defenseman was first defenseman in years, who scored 20 goals in SM-liiga (Jari Korhonen, 1975, also did that). Good shooter, was chased by bigger teams but decided to stay at Rauma.

I'd love to see Niskala drafted. He played over here in the UK for a couple months when he was 20 years old I think. And I thought he was excellent then.

He played for the same team the Bruins' Doug Doull played for over here - Manchester Storm.

 

[JVR]

Maybe Daniel Kreutzer from Germany.

He's 24, plays for the Düsseldorfer EG and had 26g 26a in 50 games!

He's a little bit on the smaller side though, 5'10, but I think a team should take a gamble on him in the late rounds!

He plays physical too and is all heart!

 

[Preds666]

Johan Franzén, born 1979. 6'3" 220lbs monster. Has played center this season and become a regular for the Swedish national team. Hardworking player, a good passer, strong skater. Very all-round. I would be surprised if he is not drafted.

 

[PhoPhan]

The problem with a lot of the overagers is that they are making a lot of money in their home countries, and for them to get the chance to make more money in the NHL, they usually have to spend a season or two making much less. For this reason, very few ever come over.