RW Eeli Tolvanen Milwaukee Admirals, AHL (2017, 30th, NSH) Part II

[Asiantuntija]

Biggest steal in the whole draft. Tolvanen is the real deal. How they sleep on this guy?

 

[Deam78]

Biggest steal in the whole draft. Tolvanen is the real deal. How they sleep on this guy?

I don't know, maybe it's linked with the fact he didn't get into a U.S. College.

As a Habs fan, he would've been my choice.

 

[Laineux]

Hoping he makes the Olympic team.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Looking at him, I'm thinking what A. Svechnikov could have done in the KHL...

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Hoping he makes the Olympic team.

Lets see world juniors first before making any predictions Tolvanen's chances to make Olympic team.
Olympic games starts a month after world juniors so is there any sense to bring 18 yrs old player in men's national team that early.

My prediction is that Tolvanen plays men's national team for sure during this season.
Maybe not in Olympics but perhaps IIHF men's world championships in Denmark

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

I don't know, maybe it's linked with the fact he didn't get into a U.S. College.

As a Habs fan, he would've been my choice.

I think the biggest reason for Tolvanen's fall in draft was world juniors in Montreal.
Also those rumors of that Tolvanen was too cocky in his draft interviews has been one factor but nobody can't say that for sure.

 

[Ippenator]

I think the biggest reason for Tolvanen's fall in draft was world juniors in Montreal.
Also those rumors of that Tolvanen was too cocky in his draft interviews has been one factor but nobody can't say that for sure.

Tolvanen was clearly the best player in a horribly coached Finnish team that had very mediocre 97-born players. By no means Tolvanen himself was bad in that tournament. I'm in fact practically sure that the not qualifying to the college was the main factor that made so many teams scared of picking him. And at the same time the North Americans are in general giving way too much value in a player being a center or defender nowadays. These factors together made him fall suddenly, and most probably made Nashville a big winner in the draft.

 

[Hokinaittii]

Lets see world juniors first before making any predictions Tolvanen's chances to make Olympic team.
Olympic games starts a month after world juniors so is there any sense to bring 18 yrs old player in men's national team that early.

My prediction is that Tolvanen plays men's national team for sure during this season.
Maybe not in Olympics but perhaps IIHF men's world championships in Denmark

I can see Marjamaki taking the same risk that he took with Laine by selecting him into World Cup to get that one last piece Finland has most of the times lacked in these tournaments, elite ability to score goals when you need them.

I can see it definately being worth the risk to select Tolvanen since the team's power play would just be that much weaker without Tolvanen in it.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

I can see Marjamaki taking the same risk that he took with Laine by selecting him into World Cup to get that one last piece Finland has most of the times lacked in these tournaments, elite ability to score goals when you need them.

I can see it definately being worth the risk to select Tolvanen since the team's power play would just be that much weaker without Tolvanen in it.

Yeah Finland's powerplay will be more deadly when Tolvanen is Olympic team that's true.
But is he ready to carry all that game load what he'll get starting for world juniors.

If Tolvanen returns to Jokerit roster immediately after world juniors.
And he travels around Europe with KHL games he could be tired of very tired in Olympic games if he doesn't have much time to rest before winter Olympics.

KHL regular season with all that travelling is a tough task for any 18 yrs old.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Tolvanen was clearly the best player in a horribly coached Finnish team that had very mediocre 97-born players. By no means Tolvanen himself was bad in that tournament. I'm in fact practically sure that the not qualifying to the college was the main factor that made so many teams scared of picking him. And at the same time the North Americans are in general giving way too much value in a player being a center or defender nowadays. These factors together made him fall suddenly, and most probably made Nashville a big winner in the draft.

I didn't mean Tolvanen was bad.
Finland failed 2017 world juniors as a team and impact players were missing.

Yes Tolvanen was Finland's top scorer with Aapeli Räsänen which was OK.
But i'm sure most scouts expected more of Tolvanen in that tourney.

 

[Ippenator]

He seems to be in quite good shape. Strong looking arms and core.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXBNeoWFqYa/

 

[Ippenator]

I didn't mean Tolvanen was bad.
Finland failed 2017 world juniors as a team and impact players were missing.

Yes Tolvanen was Finland's top scorer with Aapeli Räsänen which was OK.
But i'm sure most scouts expected more of Tolvanen in that tourney.

I think you forget that he was a double underager. It is very rare for that young players to score as well as Eeli did. He got after all 6 points. Laine and Pulju made many of us misunderstand really how rare it is for these double underagers to score well at U20 WJC. Just as an example, Matthews scored 3 points as a double underager at the U20 WJC.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

We were spoiled with Laine and Pulju. I do think 18 year old Eeli could be deadly in U20 WJC though.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Biggest steal in the whole draft. Tolvanen is the real deal. How they sleep on this guy?

Small, soft, not very good defensively, inconsistent effort level, possible off-ice issues with failing to qualify for BC.

There's a whole lot of reasons. He's unquestionably a top 6 talent and has a lot of potential as a goal scorer, but let's not pretend there still aren't some serious question marks with him because of a few awesome KHL games.

 

[Hokinaittii]

Small, soft, not very good defensively, inconsistent effort level, possible off-ice issues with failing to qualify for BC.

There's a whole lot of reasons. He's unquestionably a top 6 talent and has a lot of potential as a goal scorer, but let's not pretend there still aren't some serious question marks with him because of a few awesome KHL games.

He isn't tall but he has strong upperbody strength which can be seen when he already, as an 18-year-old, is able to hit players in KHL so that they fall to the ice. No small player would be able to do that.

Soft? Not from what I've seen.

He is also just fine defensively, not his biggest strength but he manages just fine. He knows how to reach with his stick to block shots and he isn't even afraid to block shots with his body as seen few times in these KHL games.

Inconsistent effort level and off-ice issues? That's what few people kept saying about Laine and neither of those turned out to be true. Yes, he might have been somewhat overconfident guy in juniors but all that goes away when you are playing in pro team. From what I've seen in (mostly Finnish) interviews, he seems to be down to earth person.

When you count everything we've seen from him in these ~8 games (counting preseason games also), I think it's already fair to say he was better prospect than most people realized.

Now I wouldn't call him the biggest steal of the draft yet but for sure he would be picked higher if the draft would be held next week.

 

[lawrence]

Small, soft, not very good defensively, inconsistent effort level, possible off-ice issues with failing to qualify for BC.

There's a whole lot of reasons. He's unquestionably a top 6 talent and has a lot of potential as a goal scorer, but let's not pretend there still aren't some serious question marks with him because of a few awesome KHL games.

http://lastwordonsports.com/2017/04/09/eeli-tolvanen-scouting-report-2017-nhl-draft-11/

Tolvanen has good defensive instincts for a 17-year-old. He is rarely caught out of position, and is more than willing to help out in his own end of the ice.

 

[ijuka]

Small, soft, not very good defensively, inconsistent effort level, possible off-ice issues with failing to qualify for BC.

There's a whole lot of reasons. He's unquestionably a top 6 talent and has a lot of potential as a goal scorer, but let's not pretend there still aren't some serious question marks with him because of a few awesome KHL games.

He's not soft. His effort level hasn't looked inconsistent to me.

He could have 10 games in a row without points and it'd still be a very good start to his KHL season and still above expectations, keep that in mind.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

I wanted him or Valimaki at 16. He slipped and I was like hmm well I clearly don't know anything and sure enough... kinda reminds me of Mike Cammalerri

 

[kelsier]

Small, soft, not very good defensively, inconsistent effort level, possible off-ice issues with failing to qualify for BC.

There's a whole lot of reasons. He's unquestionably a top 6 talent and has a lot of potential as a goal scorer, but let's not pretend there still aren't some serious question marks with him because of a few awesome KHL games.

Based on the KHL games and pre-season showings you can pretty much leave the bolded ones out. I'm not aware of any off-ice issues. He stated in an interview that he simply didn't have time to study due to the draft year. That should be as good excuse as any. There are rumors about not being very good at the draft interviews but I don't know if they have any actual bearing. Here's what he said when asked about moving back to Europe:

"Simply I didn’t have good-enough marks. I had no time. I should have finished my high school in two years instead of three, and it’s quite hard, considering how busy I am with hockey. I thought I could study during the summer, but then I had camps and pre-draft tests. When I lost the chance to play in the NCAA, I was advised to listen to Jokerit. I was intrigued right away. The KHL is the best league in Europe. I didn’t have to think much about playing for Jokerit, I’m now playing for a strong team in a great league."

In a way he lucked out. KHL is on a different atmosphere as a league when compared to NCAA and proving he can thrive there should be a faster route into playing at the NHL. That at least from a hockey's point of view. Of course he's missing out on studies but then again, got a feeling he won't be needing a regular job.

Tolvanen is playing against Dynamo today. Interesting to see if he can keep it up. Was just honored by being picked as the rookie of the week at KHL (not much of a surprise though).

 

[goblin3]

Tolvanen on fire today. Makes something happen everytime he steps on the ice.

 

[JJTT]

Anybody who calls his skating bad should watch that last shift from the overtime.

 

[BusQuets]

Tolvanen had the best game of his season so far. So pissed that the teams let Nashville have him.

 

[TheFinnishTrap]

8 SOG, seems okay. Wish I watched this game.

 

[nomorekids]

This was the first game I got to watch...it's a shame he didn't end up with any points, because I thought he was the best player for either team. I was especially surprised with his passing ability...I thought of him as more of a pure sniper, but he had a few really nice setups.

 

[42]

When's the earliest we can see him in the NHL?