35th Overall Antti Tuomisto, Defence

Athana see you later

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Why are people saying this guy is a bad skater? I've ready three scouting reports now and they all say he's a good skater. Why the disagreement?
Some reports are all over the board. I think pronman gave him a very bad skating grade. Some sites are very critical but others say he skates almost effortlessly. IMO it’s not that bad. It could be because of a a growth spurt, he is 6’5. That messes up coordination and skating for a while until you regain that body control.

All in all, he was the first d taken day two. All the scouts likely debated quite a bit over this pick the night before. Obviously they saw a lot that these highlight clips don’t show
 

Ezekial

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Think you are confusing players. Hakan said Wright had a crush on Albin Grewe, if I recall. It was confusing because the interviewer was asking about Albert Johansson, but Hakan was talking about Albin until he realized the mix-up.
Bench I think it was the opposite, because Hakan was talking about Johansson's brothers and father all being 6'3" (all hockey players btw) and Albert is 6'0" and he hopes he's still growing.

Hakan said something about Wright grinning when Tuomisto made a play iirc.
 

Bench

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Bench I think it was the opposite, because Hakan was talking about Johansson's brothers and father all being 6'3" (all hockey players btw) and Albert is 6'0" and he hopes he's still growing.

Hakan said something about Wright grinning when Tuomisto made a play iirc.

Well regardless, the "crush" comment was Albert or Albin? See, this shit is confusing.
 
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Bench I think it was the opposite, because Hakan was talking about Johansson's brothers and father all being 6'3" (all hockey players btw) and Albert is 6'0" and he hopes he's still growing.

Hakan said something about Wright grinning when Tuomisto made a play iirc.

Well regardless, the "crush" comment was Albert or Albin? See, this **** is confusing.

Yeah, I had to replay the clip multiple times. Almost certain he was speaking about Johansson.

Really disappointed with DRW reporters on this draft. Just terrible quality and questions all around.
 

Frk It

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Well regardless, the "crush" comment was Albert or Albin? See, this **** is confusing.

This is from The Athletic, Mods feel free to trim this if it’s too lengthy. (Have no clue what’s acceptable vs not)

The Red Wings grabbed 6-foot-4 right-shot defenseman Antti Tuomisto out of Ässät in Finland over a crop of presumed potential first-round forwards who had slipped, including Nils Hoglander and Raphael Lavoie.
Andersson, though, mentioned Detroit’s director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright had a “little bit of a crush on” the big defenseman, whom Andersson described as a “very good skater and plays with a natural bite. He’s got some physical game in him, and he also has a very heavy, good shot.”

Wright, for his part, was more than willing to cop to liking Tuomisto all year long, saying he was a player Detroit had targeted “for a while” at 35.

“You watch the playoffs and you see the size of these guys with St. Louis and Boston being in there — that doesn’t mean they’re big and just big,” Wright said. “I mean, this is a guy that’s 6-foot-4), plays with a real bite to his game, but he’s a good player. He’s got good sense. He can find the middle of the ice. We really liked him.”

Made me roll my eyes just a little. Will not be too mad if Wright moves over to Edmonton.
 
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Frk It

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Why are people saying this guy is a bad skater? I've ready three scouting reports now and they all say he's a good skater. Why the disagreement?

Pronman gave his skating a grade of 40 on a scale where 80 is elite, and comments were pretty negative.

Hockeyprospect.com gave his skating a 4 on a scale where 9 is elite. But they actually said his top speed is good, it’s just his acceleration and edgework/agility is poor.

I’m guessing it’s more the overall ranking that has people down on his skill set. Pronman had him ranked 77, Button had him ranked 83, and hockey-prospect.com had him at 104.
 
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I mean, what is location, really
Hockeyprospect.com gave his skating a 4 on a scale where 9 is elite. But they actually said his top speed is good, it’s just his acceleration and edgework/agility is poor.
This is definitely what I see when I watch him. He has some really nice rushes, but then he'll look slow for a couple of shifts. I think this guy's redeeming quality might be his offensive upside. He played on the PP for Finland in the game I saw and looked pretty decent there. Didn't get a chance to see his big shot, though.
 

Frk It

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I don’t get the hate on him. His passing looks very good, his iq looks good, comfortable with the puck. I think he’s fast in a straight line but the rest of his skating could use work, which is why there seems to be mixed opinions on it.

I think one of the things for me is he reminds me a lot of Kotkansalo, and that offense he produced at the lower levels never translated up a level in play.

I think you and I were both a fan of that pick, do you think this kid will fare differently? If so, why?

Edit -thought Kotkansalo had much better USHL production
 
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Martinez

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I think one of the things for me is he reminds me a lot of Kotkansalo, and that offense he produced at the lower levels never translated up a level in play.

I think you and I were both a fan of that pick, do you think this kid will fare differently? If so, why?

Edit -thought Kotkansalo had much better USHL production
Kotkansalo was good defensively, a leader, was physical, looked calm with the puck but wasn’t a great passer (chipped it off the boards a lot). I’ve kind of written him off, his offense hasn’t progressed, maybe he could be a defensive d man for us. I liked the pick because of his physicality which the red wings lacked at the time.

Tuomisto is already more gifted offensively and bigger. Tuomisto’s passing is good.
 
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This is from The Athletic, Mods feel free to trim this if it’s too lengthy. (Have no clue what’s acceptable vs not)



Made me roll my eyes just a little. Will not be too mad if Wright moves over to Edmonton.

I had a suspicion it was a Wright pick from the start. And agreed.
 

Frk It

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Can we settle on the definition of a Wright pick?

"Andersson, though, mentioned Detroit’s director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright had a “little bit of a crush on” the big defenseman, whom Andersson described as a “very good skater and plays with a natural bite. He’s got some physical game in him, and he also has a very heavy, good shot.”

Wright, for his part, was more than willing to cop to liking Tuomisto all year long, saying he was a player Detroit had targeted “for a while” at 35."

We're never going to know the whole story, but that is pretty directly linking a player to a scout here.
 
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Rzombo4 prez

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"Andersson, though, mentioned Detroit’s director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright had a “little bit of a crush on” the big defenseman, whom Andersson described as a “very good skater and plays with a natural bite. He’s got some physical game in him, and he also has a very heavy, good shot.”

Wright, for his part, was more than willing to cop to liking Tuomisto all year long, saying he was a player Detroit had targeted “for a while” at 35."

We're never going to know the whole story, but that is pretty directly linking a player to a scout here.

I had to ask because in another thread I thought he was, as a Euro, a "Hakan Pick." This draft has been a real eye opener for me. I originally thought our amateur scouts collectively assembled a draft list. I have since learned that individual scouts (and our GM) are responsible for randomly selecting individual players during the draft.

In all seriousness, I don't doubt that Wright likes the kid. He fits Wright's mold in a lot of respects. As a player in the Finnish J20 league, however, I am also willing to bet that other scouts saw more of him during the year.
 
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newfy

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I dunno of this guy will pan out or not but I'm liking the idea of what the wings are building on the back end. They have a couple pretty offensive guys in Cholowski and Hronek but they also have some massive guys who play like hammers. Hronek plays with an edge, this Tuomisto is huge and physical, Lindstrom is big and physical, McIsaac is tough, Seider is huge and uses his body etc etc.

Not all of these guys will pan out but some will and when they do the only soft one is Cholowski. The rest are going to be miserable to play against for a 7 game series in the playoffs. Then you have a mix of guys like Hicketts, Kotkansalo or Setkov who are all big/play bigger than they are.
 

Cyborg Yzerberg

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One thing I liked a lot about Yzerman's post-draft interviews was how much he specified that while several of these guys had size, it wasn't the defining reason why they took them. They had a lot of talent as well. With Wright, it's like he's Vince McMahon over there, blown away by the size of these guys.
 
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Realgud

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I know people don't really like this pick but I've had Tuomisto on my radar for a little while and I'm super happy we picked him. I personally would have picked at 54 (and I'm pretty sure he would have still been available) but if it's the guy you want, you just pick him. The difference between 35 and 70 isn't as big as it seems. I'm just happy Mastrosimone was somehow still available at 54 (wow!).

I'm a big fan of our 2 first picks because I think the upside is great, and we needed high upside defensemen.
 
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NickH8

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One thing I liked a lot about Yzerman's post-draft interviews was how much he specified that while several of these guys had size, it wasn't the defining reason why they took them. They had a lot of talent as well. With Wright, it's like he's Vince McMahon over there, blown away by the size of these guys.
For every Tuomisto and Soderblom there was a Mastrosimone, a Phillips, a Tyutyayev. Size wasn't on the mind too much for the scouting staff, they were just picking who they thought was the best player available. Some happened to be big, some small.
 

avssuc

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I would assume that he'll have to have certain academic requirements met if he wants to play in college and he might have one year left of lukio (Finnish highschool for those not familiar) and he'll have to complete that before being eligible. Tolvanen had issues with those academic requirements and went to KHL instead.


It even reads and sounds less oppressive and soul crushing. Nothing like our obedience training over here. Wish I could relocate and send my kids.

8 reasons Finland's education system puts the US model to shame
 

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