As RangerBoy said, Saarela's contract is up in five games with Assat, assuming they don't make the playoffs, and they probably won't. I say send him to the AHL immediately. It'll challenge him, and I think he's ready for the challenge. Lets evaluate him on his production and skill-set, not his age and draft position.
Is Liiga a proper league for his development anymore? I don't think an 18/19 year old is really being challenged when he's the 4th leading goal scorer in a league, despite missing 9 games, having 16+9=25 points in his last 29 games. The light-bulb went off for him in around the middle of November, and he's been a different level player since then. The kid's the best player on his team, plays all situations, he's playing 19:51 per game in February, which is crazy high for a forward. He's ready for a new challenge. I don't know what more the Rangers want him to accomplish, unless people think its important that he's scoring around a PPG and half a goal per game for a full season? I'd rather progress the kid to a better level, and let him face a new challenge than have him return to Liiga next season.
Can I also give perhaps my favorite Saarela stat? In January he was
57.15% on face-offs. Over the course of a season, that's top 5-10 in most leagues, its face-off dominance. He's only around 49% this month and his defense hasn't been as good this month as prior months, something that a Finnish poster pointed out a few days ago, maybe because he's getting tired, but he's 51.2% on FO's for the season as an 18/19 year, which is 22nd in Liiga for guys who've taken 500+ draws. This is a skill that young players usually struggle with a lot in men's leagues. Not a single rookie in the NHL with at least 300 draws taken thats even 50%.
Anyone speak Finnish? I found the Finnish HF and they have a whole thread on Aleksi
http://keskustelu.jatkoaika.com/threads/aleksi-saarela-–-ganalim-barttan-crosby.58120/page-66
