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Prospect Info: 58th Joni Ikonen

paddy

Registered User
Aug 2, 2005
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yianik said:
Like I said before, generally I find Finns play more of a NA style 2 way game and although Swedes are good at 2 way games the Finns are in my view generally grittier players.
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Yes, but then again, not all finns or swedes are alike.

I would just temper my expectations and see if he improves on his weaknesses over the next year. Right now, sounds a lot like Collberg after his draft. Just re-read what was said of Collberg after the draft and dev camp.

Again, I'm not saying he'll follow the same path and bust. I'm just saying that we shouldn't be bedazzled by skill. From here on, the player has to take responsibility and work very hard to improve and develop like a pro.

Some do, some don't. We'll see after a year or two of development.
 

yianik

Registered User
Jun 30, 2009
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paddy said:
Yes, but then again, not all finns or swedes are alike.

I would just temper my expectations and see if he improves on his weaknesses over the next year. Right now, sounds a lot like Collberg after his draft. Just re-read what was said of Collberg after the draft and dev camp.

Again, I'm not saying he'll follow the same path and bust. I'm just saying that we shouldn't be bedazzled by skill. From here on, the player has to take responsibility and work very hard to improve and develop like a pro.

Some do, some don't. We'll see after a year or two of development.
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I don't need to temper my expectations at all, and I am not being snarky when I say that.

Prospects are chances at getting a player, with smaller odds the player is a top 6 or 4D.

When drafting my demand is the player has that possibility of becoming a top end player ( so no drafting of players who could become a 4th liner if all works out ).

After that just develop them properly and hope a couple each year is good enough to play and one of those 2 can be a top end player. Who those guys are you can really never be sure of.

So happy with Ikonen, but he is a one in ten chance of winning ticket.
 

paddy

Registered User
Aug 2, 2005
817
153
yianik said:
I don't need to temper my expectations at all, and I am not being snarky when I say that.

Prospects are chances at getting a player, with smaller odds the player is a top 6 or 4D.

When drafting my demand is the player has that possibility of becoming a top end player ( so no drafting of players who could become a 4th liner if all works out ).

After that just develop them properly and hope a couple each year is good enough to play and one of those 2 can be a top end player. Who those guys are you can really never be sure of.

So happy with Ikonen, but he is a one in ten chance of winning ticket.
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I wasn't refering to you specifically. Your view is fine. I was refering to many posters who always get over-excited each time we have a new prospect with skill. They just gush over the prospect like 13yr-old girls at a boy-band concert (does that still exist?) :P
 

Habs100

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Nov 6, 2013
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paddy said:
I hope he doesn't become another Collberg. Not saying he will, but from now on it's on him to develop like a pro and not think he can get to the NHL with skill alone.
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Collberg was never that good. he was just good at shootouts and on the power play. He never stood out after being drafted the way Ikonen has stood out at development camp.
 

Naslund

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Jun 18, 2006
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USA
Habs100 said:
Collberg was never that good. he was just good at shootouts and on the power play. He never stood out after being drafted the way Ikonen has stood out at development camp.
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Agreed. Another major difference is their personality. Ikonen seems much more serious and focused than Collberg. Ikonen will be on the Habs faster than people think. Aside from size (he's 5ft11, so not that much of an issue), he plays at two positions where we have major needs in the lineup; center or RH winger. The path for him in the foreseeable future on our team is all clear, no real competition. Just having him on the powerplay on the left side will be amazing. I can see him and Drouin (on the opposite side) carrying our powerplay for years to come. With his shooting and passing skills, Ikonen will have the same effect on our PP as when Kessel joined the Penguins' powerplay. Kessel basically unlocked another level in Crosby and Malkin by providing skills and a RH shoot on the opposite side. Not saying Ikonen will be as good as Kessel, but he will be a major upgrade on whatever we have been having on the left side of our powerplay. Can't wait. If he turns out to be an effective top 6 center, that's just the cherry on top of the sunday.
 
dackelljuneaubulis02

dackelljuneaubulis02

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Oct 13, 2012
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Tim Raines said:
After listening to Roger Ronnberg's interview that All About the Habs tweeted, I found him pretty candid about Ikonen.

He said he really needs to dedicate more to the gym and bulking up and also said his skating needs work. When asked to compare him to Lehkonen, he raved about AK's "character" and how dedicated he was to the gym and to working hard to get better.

I may be reading more into it than Ronnberg said, but I really got the impression he wasn't as high on Ikonen as we are yet and that he certainly hasn't seen the Lehkonen comparison yet.
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yeah I don't even know who Ronnberg is but you don't like hearing this stuff. When there's smoke there's fire.

Gotta be a reason Ikonen fell. With Lehkonen it was concussions. Ikonen just seems too good to be true.
 
le_sean

le_sean

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Oct 21, 2006
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Maybe he's just trying to light a fire under his butt because they know he can be special. I mean if he was perfect he would have been selected in the top half of the 1st.
 
Dirby Kach

Dirby Kach

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Sep 2, 2009
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Glad you guys are so high on him but at this point there's a 75/25 chance he never even sees a regular season game in the NHL.
 

yianik

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Jun 30, 2009
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paddy said:
I wasn't refering to you specifically. Your view is fine. I was refering to many posters who always get over-excited each time we have a new prospect with skill. They just gush over the prospect like 13yr-old girls at a boy-band concert (does that still exist?) :P
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Habs fans swing to the extreme. People gush too early and write off too early, often they are the same ones. Habs fans are an emotional lot.
 
montreal

montreal

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Mar 21, 2002
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Habs100 said:
Collberg was never that good. he was just good at shootouts and on the power play. He never stood out after being drafted the way Ikonen has stood out at development camp.
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Collberg put up 44 pts in 35 games as a 16 year old in the J20. He even appeared in 5 games for Frolunda that year. He is one of the top scoring Swedes all time for the WJC's, with 19 pts. Of course after the big 3 of Forsberg/Naslund/Sundstrom as not sure if anyone ever catches them and the domination they displayed but Collberg is up there.
 
waffledave

waffledave

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Aug 22, 2004
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My friend works for the team and was super impressed by Ikonen. Had a lot of nice things to say about him.
 
dackelljuneaubulis02

dackelljuneaubulis02

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Oct 13, 2012
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Tim Raines said:
I should qualify this by saying he wasn't overly negative or anything. But it was clear he felt Lehkonen was on a different level than Ikonen.
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yeah I just listened to the interview. It's hard to say. He was really impressed with Lehkonen but wasn't gushing about Ikonen. That could just be that Lehkonen's an alumni. Let's just hope he isn't sorely lacking in the work ethic department.

Always a bit weary of super high skilled 'steals'
 

yianik

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Jun 30, 2009
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dackelljuneaubulis02 said:
yeah I just listened to the interview. It's hard to say. He was really impressed with Lehkonen but wasn't gushing about Ikonen. That could just be that Lehkonen's an alumni. Let's just hope he isn't sorely lacking in the work ethic department.

Always a bit weary of super high skilled 'steals'
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I don't see him as a steal. I see him as a high skill player that has enough concerns about him that he was available at the back of the end round

It is all about having a pool of high skill talent when a team drafts where we do, and then hope a guy or two can translate that into the NHL. That's it
 
Et le But

Et le But

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Nov 28, 2010
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Collberg was never a good two way player. Ikonen is still high bust potential considering his size but he's a more complete player to start with.

Collberg busting as badly as he did is still a shock though. It's always a risk with scorers who don't have a well rounded game, but he looked as safe as possible to at least be a depth scorer. There had to be work ethic issues there.
 

HabsFanJosh

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Jun 28, 2014
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dackelljuneaubulis02 said:
yeah I just listened to the interview. It's hard to say. He was really impressed with Lehkonen but wasn't gushing about Ikonen. That could just be that Lehkonen's an alumni. Let's just hope he isn't sorely lacking in the work ethic department.

Always a bit weary of super high skilled 'steals'
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Lehkonen helped Frolunda win their first league championship since 2005. Ikonen played a handful of games and was help off the score sheet. Of course Ronnberg is higher on Lehkonen.
 

Habs100

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Nov 6, 2013
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dackelljuneaubulis02 said:
yeah I don't even know who Ronnberg is but you don't like hearing this stuff. When there's smoke there's fire.

Gotta be a reason Ikonen fell. With Lehkonen it was concussions. Ikonen just seems too good to be true.
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You can listen to the interview here.

https://www.habseyesontheprize.com/...-coach-joni-ikonen-draft-prospect-development

He's not so much saying he doesn't believe in Ikonen. He's more saying Lehkonen was exceptional in his work ethic. I'm reading into it here but, he could be saying it remains to be seen if anybody has that type of work ethic, including Ikonen.

He also said Ikonen will have to work on his strength and skating before he can hope to play with men. He says he has the smarts. He says he's not a bad skater, but to play with men he'll need to work on his strength and skating.

At Frolunda, they have strength and skating coaches. He said Frolunda's goal is to be the best development club for young player's to fulfill their dreams. The goal of their brand is to be a club that NHL teams trust to develop young players the best way possible.

I'm glad Ikonen is going to be in such a good developmental system. Hopefully people will tell him how much work it took Lehkonen to get to where he is and whether he's putting in the same amount of work as Lehkonen.

From what I saw in the development camp highlights. The guy is at least a fast skater in open ice. Ronnberg talked about increasing his explosiveness.
 

Habs100

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Nov 6, 2013
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I'm really high on Ikonen based on what I SAW WITH MY OWN EYES at development camp. Every year there are players that impress at development camp or the main camp. Plekanec, Gallagher, Latendresse, Sergei Kostitsyn, Galchenyuk, Sergachev, Scherbak, Beaulieu, and now Ikonen are players that have really stood out to me at camps. All panned out except it remains to be seen for Beaulieu, Scherbak, and Sergachev. Latendresse would have been better had he not had so many concussions imo, plus the game changed where his physical game was less important. I still think Sergei Kostitsyn would have been good but I think he got involved in drugs or didn't take care of body in some other way which killed his physical abilities.

But to me, Ikonen is a really good prospect and our #1 prospect, based on what I've seen with my own eyes. So far, that has been fairly accurate.

I was never impressed with the following players once I saw them with my own eyes at camps: Collberg, Avtsin, Tinordi, De la Rose, Kristo, Ben Maxwell, Ryan White, Chipchura, Corey Locke, ...
 
Habsawce

Habsawce

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Nov 16, 2010
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I'm just going to go ahead and say it: Ikonen will win a scoring title and boneless chicken wings are just chicken nuggets.
 
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