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

[Uncle Scrooge]

I am almost more impressed by his consistent shot generation than his point totals. It tells that even if he wasn't scoring, he is still getting a lot of chances.

Yep. He's had chances to score every single game. Some he even missed point blank and there's a bunch of 2 on 1's where his linemates were either fumbling the puck or just didn't know what they were supposed to do. Im not going to say he should have even more points, but what i can say is the points he has now are not misleading in any way.

 

[TheFinnishTrap]

Yep. He's had chances to score every single game. Some he even missed point blank and there's a bunch of 2 on 1's where his linemates were either fumbling the puck or just didn't know what they were supposed to do. Im not going to say he should have even more points, but what i can say is the points he has now are not misleading in any way.

Exactly. There is so far nothing that would suggest his scoring is unsustainable. I expect his scoring to drop, but if he can generate shots/chances like he has, there is nothing to worry about. I've predicted his NHL potential at around 30 goals, but he is making me reconsider that. It will be very interesting to see how his game translates to the next level.

 

[kelsier]

Tolvanen has the Laine-like ability to score from anywhere (maybe not the same extent but still). His one-timers are almost as good. He doesn't seem to struggle at corners (while the board play will still be a lot tougher in the NHL than KHL). The doubters are looking at the same exact things as with Laine last year and point out to the sample size without even bothering to watch his games where you could so easily see Eeli being on the top of the game nearly all the time.

There's no question in my mind that Tolvanen wouldn't pass Kuznetsov in the all time U20 rookie charts and at this point I'm pretty confident he will break the 19 year old Kaprisov's all time record of 42 points in 49 games (barring no injuries of course). That would be nothing short of huge of course, but this kid is just that good. I must admit that even I didn't think PPG would be possible, but now I'm starting to have second thoughts. He's just creating chances after chances game after game, and the more you have them, the more the odds will increase rather than decrease when looking at production. Will be interesting to see if he can pull it of.

 

[Laineux]

Watch him dominate the Olympic games. Watch and weep.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Watch him dominate the Olympic games. Watch and weep.

Yeah, Finland has a real shot winning the WJC and Olympics with Tolvanen.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

http://www.thegamenashville.com/201...reat-player-in-the-future-with-eeli-tolvanen/

 

[42]

I wonder if the draft were held today, how much higher he would go based on his KHL performance so far. Mid to high teens?

 

[kelsier]

http://www.thegamenashville.com/201...reat-player-in-the-future-with-eeli-tolvanen/

The moral of the story is Nashville has an offensive weapon in their system for the first time since probably Alexander Radulov in 2004. But they got Radulov in the middle of the first round so, while hindsight may be 20/20, how in the world did Tolvanen fall to the Predators at number 30?

“I didn’t know on draft day and I’m still not sure,” Kealty admitted. “But I’m sure glad he did.”

Had a good laugh and I think that was the best part of the story. Great article, thanks. Good to keep in mind that this is not the first time a great goal scorer drops down in a draft.

Once thought I'd be watching the Preds while being nearly certain that Barkov was going to end up there, but again some "unexpected" thing happened in the draft and now I guess I'll be enjoying those games by seeing Eeli wearing the jersey instead.

 

[ARGD]

I wonder if the draft were held today, how much higher he would go based on his KHL performance so far. Mid to high teens?

I would select him 1st overall. Top 5 for sure.

 

[DoingItCoolKiwi]

I wonder if the draft were held today, how much higher he would go based on his KHL performance so far. Mid to high teens?

He has been absolutely outstanding in the 2nd best league in the world. I honestly think he'd go 3rd overall at this point.

 

[Fantomas]

What he's doing at this age is quite remarkable. And he is not piling up points with elite linemates, like Shirokov. He is creating chances himself.

 

[Ippenator]

No way at least Patrick is a better prospect than Tolvanen. Most probably neither is Hischier. Time will tell of course, but with the play that Tolvanen has shown this season I find it pretty hard to believe that he wouldn't be number one in a redraft. He has really been THAT good, and also amazingly consistent. The people whom don't see any point in my post here, have probably not really seen him play this season.

 

[TheFinnishTrap]

No way at least Patrick is a better prospect than Tolvanen. Most probably neither is Hischier. Time will tell of course, but with the play that Tolvanen has shown this season I find it pretty hard to believe that he wouldn't be number one in a redraft. He has really been THAT good, and also amazingly consistent. The people whom don't see any point in my post here, have probably not really seen him play this season.

I think it would be fair to give other prospects a chance to show what they can do in their respective leagues before claiming Tolvanen should be #1 in a redraft. That being said, if Tolvanen keeps doing his thing, I very seriously doubt I would place more than 5 players above him, perhaps even #1. He is setting the bar high for sure. His season is tracking well with for example Kuznetsov's and Tarasenko's D+1 seasons, which is very promising.

 

[Albatros]

I'd still take Hischier or Patrick if I had the 2nd pick. But Heiskanen, even if ignoring his concussion problems, I think it's not obvious that he'd be the better 3rd overall.

 

[Dan Kelly]

i am still weirded out as to why this guy fell so far in the draft?

 

[42]

i am still weirded out as to why this guy fell so far in the draft?

The Preds had him in their top 10 and other lists had him top 20. I guess by fluke, he happened to be ranked at least one place lower than another player by every team until Nashville.

 

[kelsier]

Right now I would say it's a three horse race. Could be Tolvanen, could be Hischier, could be Heiskanen. Cannot ignore Hischier's performance in the preseason, and I must add he truly surprised me as I didn't think he'd be nearly as good. Then again, preseason is preseason. Lets see if he can replicate that success when the real games begin. I have Heiskanen penciled as future #1D in the NHL and it's been a long time since I've seen promising D with such a hockey IQ/vision. Tolvanen is doing the unexpected though. Just imagine the number of Russian prospects in the past who've played in the Russian league at the same age (or even older) and none of them have been as effective. Now someone might read "omg he's saying Tolvanen >> Ovechkin/Malkin/whoever", but that's not the case. I'm simply talking about production and maturity to play in the KHL at such a young age. Also it's just way too early. There were hundreds of players drafted and there could be a number of dark horses and late bloomers we barely know about.

Eeli is playing again today. Jokerit vs Severstal starting in about four and a half hours. Stay tuned!

 

[linusandvarlamov]

When I watched videos of this dude, I was like : why isn't he in the Top 10 in the rankings ??

Fellow Avs fans told me that though he can snipe like Ovi or Laine, he can't do much else in all the other facets of the game. I wonder if anybody who has been watching him closely thinks the same. Does he have the tools to develop other parts of his game and increase his hockey IQ ?

Or maybe it's effort that he's lacking (willingness to go to the dirty areas). I do think the Predators still got a steal.

 

[Pia8988]

When I watched videos of this dude, I was like : why isn't he in the Top 10 in the rankings ??

Fellow Avs fans told me that though he can snipe like Ovi or Laine, he can't do much else in all the other facets of the game. I wonder if anybody who has been watching him closely thinks the same. Does he have the tools to develop other parts of his game and increase his hockey IQ ?

Or maybe it's effort that he's lacking (willingness to go to the dirty areas). I do think the Predators still got a steal.

People who think Tolvanen is only his shot have not watched him play.

 

[Ippenator]

People who think Tolvanen is only his shot have not watched him play.

Yeah, it really seems to be the favorite thing for people to do nowadays, to downplay a great shooting player on all the other aspects of his game. It happened already with Laine and it is happening now to Eeli, whom is in fact an eerily similar kind of player to Laine, although of course a lot smaller, but the playing style and his abilities are extremely similar to Laine. Oh, and Tolvanen's hockey IQ is probably his biggest asset already with his shot. He is a very smart and creative player.

 

[ijuka]

When I watched videos of this dude, I was like : why isn't he in the Top 10 in the rankings ??

Fellow Avs fans told me that though he can snipe like Ovi or Laine, he can't do much else in all the other facets of the game. I wonder if anybody who has been watching him closely thinks the same. Does he have the tools to develop other parts of his game and increase his hockey IQ ?

Or maybe it's effort that he's lacking (willingness to go to the dirty areas). I do think the Predators still got a steal.

That's incorrect. He's got very high hockey IQ, good anticipation abilities, good passing, very good skating, and constantly makes things happen both for himself and for the other teammates. I've mentioned this elsewhere but as a favorable comparison to Laine, I also think that for the same age, Tolvanen might have a stronger complementary toolset for his shot - He doesn't brute force it as much and does some small things to improve his chance to score. Granted, Laine was playing in a tougher league but I'm still confident in this assessment. Tolvanen is really good at making things very difficult for the goaltender, even if his shot wasn't as booming as it is.

 

[linusandvarlamov]

That's incorrect. He's got very high hockey IQ, good anticipation abilities, good passing, very good skating, and constantly makes things happen both for himself and for the other teammates. I've mentioned this elsewhere but as a favorable comparison to Laine, I also think that for the same age, Tolvanen might have a stronger complementary toolset for his shot - He doesn't brute force it as much and does some small things to improve his chance to score. Granted, Laine was playing in a tougher league but I'm still confident in this assessment. Tolvanen is really good at making things very difficult for the goaltender, even if his shot wasn't as booming as it is.

Okay, thanks for all the info !

 

[Pia8988]

Yeah, it really seems to be the favorite thing for people to do nowadays, to downplay a great shooting player on all the other aspects of his game. It happened already with Laine and it is happening now to Eeli, whom is in fact an eerily similar kind of player to Laine, although of course a lot smaller, but the playing style and his abilities are extremely similar to Laine. Oh, and Tolvanen's hockey IQ is probably his biggest asset already with his shot. He is a very smart and creative player.

He is very good at finding soft spots in the offensive zone to utilize his shot. He would not be capable of that if his IQ was not quite good.

 

[ijuka]

Just had an assist in the currently ongoing game.

Now at 8 goals and 7 assists for 15 points in 13 games(for now).

He also had some great opportunities and I think he rang the puck off the post once.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

And he scores once again. Ahhhhhhh