D Ville Heinola - Manitoba Moose, AHL (2019, 20th, WPG)

[FinPanda]

Odotusarvot ja realismi eivät usein kohtaa, kun nuori pelaaja palaa Suomeen hakemaan lisää vastuuta lyhyen NHL-keikan jälkeen.
– Henkisesti on ollut vaikeinta. Kun NHL:stä palaa Suomeen, niin ylipäätään kaikki muuttuu. Pelityyli on ihan eri ja peliä pitää pelata eri tavalla. Tietenkin myös ympäristö muuttuu. Siinä on ollut paljon käsiteltävää itselleni ja miten suhtaudun asioihin, kuvaili Heinola.
– Uskon, että ajan kanssa tästä tulee vielä hyvä. Pitää vain mennä päivä kerrallaan, että pääsee paremmin mukaan.

Expectations and realism doesn't often connect when young players comes back to Finland to get more responsibility after a short NHL trip
- Its been mostly hard mentally. When I returned from NHL to Finland, everything changes overall. Style to play is totally different and you need to play differently. Or course the environment is different too. It has been a lot of things to deal with for me and how to react to things, said Heinola.
- I believe it will all get better on time. I just need to keep going one day at a time.


Lukon ja Nuorten Leijonien Ville Heinolan kausi on todellinen harvinaisuus – enemmän tehopisteitä NHL:ssä kuin SM-liigassa!

So just about what I expected. Its a mental challenge for a young kid.

 

[FinPanda]

He should've stayed in the AHL.

 

[MrHeiskanen]

Whats so hard about it mentally? The feeling of demotion?

If I was 18 I would prefer to go home with a familiar language, familiar people, familiar culture.

Rather than setting up a brand new life half way across the world by myself.

 

[Ippenator]

Whats so hard about it mentally? The feeling of demotion?

If I was 18 I would prefer to go home with a familiar language, familiar people, familiar culture.

Rather than setting up a brand new life half way across the world by myself.

Feelings of demotion and failiar of course. These can be quite destructive for a young player’s confidence. You just took a great step forward with your career, and did even pretty well while in that situation, to just get demoted and thrown back a step.

Very good players will eventually get over it and become only stronger after all. But when a player is as young as he is, it is very easy to get the self confidence hurt for some while.

 

[Killerjas]

Had a rough year, hope he bounces back

 

[MMC]

Didn’t he look good with the Jets? Surprised he didn’t stay up

 

[mazmin]

Didn’t he look good with the Jets? Surprised he didn’t stay up

He had some mistakes but was extremely good in exhibition and in the 8 games he played. His IQ and passing skills are off the charts and he fit nicely with all the talented Jets forwards.

But at the same time he was being overmatched physically and it was clear he needed to build some power into his stride. Even though he was a legit top-4 D on the team at the time of departure, I think the Jets made the right choice in demoting him. Saves a year of Free Agency and protects him from being exposed to the NHL grind as a top-4 D at barely 18 years old.

 

[JabbaJabba]

Had a rough year, hope he bounces back

It kinda was and it kinda wasn't a rough year. I mean he played 8 games with the Jets, which no one expected and he scored 5 points in those games. He got sent back to Lukko where he didn't have a good season and he was clearly bummed that he got sent back. If I remember correctly, he started playing better as the season went along. Heinola didn't have a remarkable season, but he was still FEL -level defenceman, which can't be said for a lot of players in his age group.

 

[Halla]

He had some mistakes but was extremely good in exhibition and in the 8 games he played. His IQ and passing skills are off the charts and he fit nicely with all the talented Jets forwards.

But at the same time he was being overmatched physically and it was clear he needed to build some power into his stride. Even though he was a legit top-4 D on the team at the time of departure, I think the Jets made the right choice in demoting him. Saves a year of Free Agency and protects him from being exposed to the NHL grind as a top-4 D at barely 18 years old.

Really though? this kind of expression is used for guys like gretzky...lemieux...even mcD.

a prospect dman that has 30-40pt upside in the NHL?

 

[Tasteless Beaver]

Really though? this kind of expression is used for guys like gretzky...lemieux...even mcD.

a prospect dman that has 30-40pt upside in the NHL?

In his time in the NHL, I never once saw him get burned by another player on skill or positioning, and his passing abilities were superb. Very creative, crisp and clean. He was on the ice for very few goals against.
For an 18 year old defenseman, that's just something you don't see - for him to make it out of camp under Paul Maurice, who loves his seasoned gudpros, you have to be pretty special. Morrissey aside, he was easily the best blueliner on the ice for the Jets in those games.

 

[thrillhous]

Really though? this kind of expression is used for guys like gretzky...lemieux...even mcD.

a prospect dman that has 30-40pt upside in the NHL?

Well yeah if you think he has only 30-40 point upside then I can see why you disagree with the statement. Whereas I agree that he is a high IQ player and an excellent passer and disagree with your opinion of his points upside being modest.

 

[ps241]

Very slick in his time with the Jets and he could have stuck with the big club because the left side was a tire fire after Morrissey. The problem is that wouldn’t have been the best thing for his development. He started to look overmatched physically in the D zone without the puck. I think he needs a few more years to season as a pro and he will be a nice addition to the Jets top 4 at some point.

 

[mazmin]

Really though? this kind of expression is used for guys like gretzky...lemieux...even mcD.

a prospect dman that has 30-40pt upside in the NHL?

“Off the charts” is hyperbole, of course. But those two areas of his game stood out to the point where I remember a sensation of shock. His 5 points in 8 games didn’t look like a fluke, and he was playing the exact same game for all the exhibitions with the Jets beforehand.

He’s going to surprise a lot of people, all over again.

 

[Zaddy]

What happened to him this year? Does anyone have any insight? Has Heinola given any interviews since the season ended?

I find it so odd. I watched almost every game he played for the Jets and he looked great. How do you go from looking great in the NHL to having a mediocre season in Finland? Especially considering he was a good player in FEL last year. Really weird regression. I really hope he bounces back.

 

[Whileee]

What happened to him this year? Does anyone have any insight? Has Heinola given any interviews since the season ended?

I find it so odd. I watched almost every game he played for the Jets and he looked great. How do you go from looking great in the NHL to having a mediocre season in Finland? Especially considering he was a good player in FEL last year. Really weird regression. I really hope he bounces back.

Did you watch him play at all in Liiga last season, or just look up his box score stats?

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Did you watch him play at all in Liiga last season, or just look up his box score stats?

His play was underwhelming in all ways, not just the points. In an interview he couldn't name a reason, only acknowledged that yup, he sucked. His ice time also diminished from 18:50 in the previous season to 17 minutes.

I'm not worried though, his NHL stint convinced me that he'll be a good player.

 

[PhilJets]

Mind and skills are NHL ready.
He matches the Jets skilled forwards.

But he needs to get stronger.

I wanted him to stay as he was better than all the left D except Morrissey. But sending him down was ok.

 

[OKR]

Mind and skills are NHL ready.
He matches the Jets skilled forwards.

But he needs to get stronger.

I wanted him to stay as he was better than all the left D except Morrissey. But sending him down was ok.

Don’t think he is mentally quite there yet, when he was playing for a NHL spot he looked great, but after getting sent down he kinda folded, seemed like he felt it was undeserved and let it show in his game.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

It was probably his attitude. He was likely upset that he was sent down, started showing poor fundamentals that display a lack of effort, and once you let that get off, you might have trouble getting everything back on form, even if you change your attitude. Form is not always easy to recover. Talent doesn’t guarantee form, especially when that talent isn’t something always so readily available to a skillset like skating or size. When it’s sense, playmaking, puck handling, positioning, those are a lot more rhythm based. A player whose completely out of form could struggle in those areas, even if they are strengths.

 

[Do or Die]

Skating, puckhandling and vision already there. Getting stronger and mental re-set, next

 

[ffh]

12 points in 15 games and still has 2 periods to play today. will definitely be fighting for a spot this year

 

[Just doink]

12 points in 15 games and still has 2 periods to play today. will definitely be fighting for a spot this year

He hasn't played that good, great points for sure but his team is crushing on the ice(9-1,7-2,6-1 last 3 games for example) and theres somewhere easy to get assists. But he has been playing better and better, on the start of the season he was weak, now very solid thou not NHL-level. I think theres 3-4 better dmen in his Liiga team alone. Another NHL-prospect youngster Vili Saarijärvi has outplayed him 100-0.

 

[CLW]

He hasn't played that good, great points for sure but his team is crushing on the ice(9-1,7-2,6-1 last 3 games for example) and theres somewhere easy to get assists. But he has been playing better and better, on the start of the season he was weak, now very solid thou not NHL-level. I think theres 3-4 better dmen in his Liiga team alone. Another NHL-prospect youngster Vili Saarijärvi has outplayed him 100-0.

Vili Saarjärvi is a bit older at 23.

 

[SoundAndFury]

I don't know if calling Saarijarvi "NHL prospect" is brave or just delusional.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Saarijärvi's not outplaying Heinola and the difference between the two is that Heinola's going to be an NHL player soon.