Prospect Info: Eeli Tolvanen

[maplepred]

But what's the point? He ain't exactly tearing the AHL up at this point so let him stay there.

He had 3 points in 5 games when I posted this originally. Which on paper is not bad at all. I have now learnt from others here that he has not been looking good at all. I suppose more time down in the A is for his better overall development. I was only worried that he would see dollar signs and flee back to the KHL if he was not getting any NHL time in the forseeable future. I do agree he needs to earn it and should not just be given NHL minutes if it is not deserved. Was just worried he may take off overseas again.

Hopefully it starts clicking more for him in the A, he has the talent that is not the question.

 

[BigFatCat999]

He had 3 points in 5 games when I posted this originally. Which on paper is not bad at all. I have now learnt from others here that he has not been looking good at all. I suppose more time down in the A is for his better overall development. I was only worried that he would see dollar signs and flee back to the KHL if he was not getting any NHL time in the forseeable future. I do agree he needs to earn it and should not just be given NHL minutes if it is not deserved. Was just worried he may take off overseas again.

Hopefully it starts clicking more for him in the A, he has the talent that is not the question.

And he scored 3A today doubling his points

 

[Armourboy]

He had 3 points in 5 games when I posted this originally. Which on paper is not bad at all. I have now learnt from others here that he has not been looking good at all. I suppose more time down in the A is for his better overall development. I was only worried that he would see dollar signs and flee back to the KHL if he was not getting any NHL time in the forseeable future. I do agree he needs to earn it and should not just be given NHL minutes if it is not deserved. Was just worried he may take off overseas again.

Hopefully it starts clicking more for him in the A, he has the talent that is not the question.

If he goes he goes. We just control him on an ELC for an additional year if he does. Like I said earlier, if his goal is to be in the NHL then it would be silly for him to go to the KHL and I hope his agent and people are smart enough to show him why.

 

[maplepred]

And he scored 3A today doubling his points

That sounds like a step in the right direction!

 

[maplepred]

If he goes he goes. We just control him on an ELC for an additional year if he does. Like I said earlier, if his goal is to be in the NHL then it would be silly for him to go to the KHL and I hope his agent and people are smart enough to show him why.

I agree with this post.
I imagine this is very true. I guess I am just so pumped to see him out there tearing it up!!

 

[Legionnaire11]

Looks like we don't have to worry about him returning to the KHL...


Eeli Tolvanen näkee AHL:n parhaana vaihtoehtona kehitykselleen kohti NHL:ää – "Tämä on vähän tällainen sirkus"

 

[King Weber]

Excellent. Probably helps that the teams has had such a good start to the season.

Looks like there's a book about Eeli and his story already. Gotta strike while the iron is hot I guess.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Excellent. Probably helps that the teams has had such a good start to the season.

Looks like there's a book about Eeli and his story already. Gotta strike while the iron is hot I guess.

In the book he apparently says he was getting really anxious when he wasn't picked after around 9th pick. He also said that when he was finally picked, it didn't feel good. Putting on the jersey felt forced. Cocky boy. AHL trip will do him good.

 

[Drake744]

I think some of the speculation about when to bring up Tolvanen, where would he play, do we send down Rinaldo, what's the bottom 6 shakeup, etc is a little premature. IMO the first guy who's gonna affect this lineup by joining it is Watson. He's gonna be in the bottom 6 and will probably be the guy to knock Rinaldo out of a spot, not Tolvanen, Although, not to crap all over another Finn, but I'd much prefer Watson to take Salomaki's spot rather than Rinaldo. I don't think Salomaki offers much of anything what so ever. If Rinaldo ever goes back to his old antics, I'm willing to change my mind, but I think Salomaki is a weaker link at this point.

 

[predfan24]

Looks like we don't have to worry about him returning to the KHL...


Eeli Tolvanen näkee AHL:n parhaana vaihtoehtona kehitykselleen kohti NHL:ää – "Tämä on vähän tällainen sirkus"

Smart move kid

In the book he apparently says he was getting really anxious when he wasn't picked after around 9th pick. He also said that when he was finally picked, it didn't feel good. Putting on the jersey felt forced. Cocky boy. AHL trip will do him good.

He probably was really disappointed he fell so far. He's young and probably has a lot of growing up to do. It's fine. As long as he turns that disappointment into fuel to prove the doubters wrong and not use that disappointment to sulk he will be fine.

His success in the KHL last year probably set unrealistic expectations for him. His quickest path to the NHL is destroying the AHL. It's been good that he has put up some points. Now he needs to pot some goals.

 

[predfan24]

I think some of the speculation about when to bring up Tolvanen, where would he play, do we send down Rinaldo, what's the bottom 6 shakeup, etc is a little premature. IMO the first guy who's gonna affect this lineup by joining it is Watson. He's gonna be in the bottom 6 and will probably be the guy to knock Rinaldo out of a spot, not Tolvanen, Although, not to crap all over another Finn, but I'd much prefer Watson to take Salomaki's spot rather than Rinaldo. I don't think Salomaki offers much of anything what so ever. If Rinaldo ever goes back to his old antics, I'm willing to change my mind, but I think Salomaki is a weaker link at this point.

I don't think think Tolvanen will see NHL ice this year unless the either he tears up the AHL and the Preds have no other choice but to bring him up or the injury bug hits hard.

 

[Legionnaire11]

Yeah I think Tolvanen only comes up if there's a top-6 winger injury AND he's doing well at the time in Milwaukee. If it's a bottom-6 spot, then we use Watson, Salomaki, Gaudreau or possibly give Baptiste a look if the situation is dire.

And i'd definitely like to see what a 4th line of Watson - Sissons/Bonino - Rinaldo can do with Salomaki as the 13th F.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

People say Tolvanen needs a top 6 role but is there even one in sight when it comes to Nashville? The top 6 is quite stacked.

 

[PredsV82]

People say Tolvanen needs a top 6 role but is there even one in sight when it comes to Nashville?

Smith is up for a contract after next season. Hopefully he plays well enough these next two years that we cant afford to keep him and Tolvanen takes his spot.

Until then, his best opportunity will be as an injury call up. If/when that happens he needs to play well enough that he forces someone down a line.(Yes I'm looking at you Fiala)

 

[Drake744]

People say Tolvanen needs a top 6 role but is there even one in sight when it comes to Nashville? The top 6 is quite stacked.

As mentioned above, Fiala isn't exactly guaranteed his top 6 spot. Very talented but equally inconsistent. Also has a tendency for defensive lapses which have already bumped him down to start a game on the 4th line this year.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

As mentioned above, Fiala isn't exactly guaranteed his top 6 spot. Very talented but equally inconsistent. Also has a tendency for defensive lapses which have already bumped him down to start a game on the 4th line this year.

I know lot of posters value raw talent over the "hard-working but not quite as talented" guys, but until Fiala shows something beyond what he's done thus far, I'd rather keep Smith in the top 6. Then again, you can put Smith on the 3rd line and he'd still do something, you put Fiala in the bottom 6 and you might as well send him back to the A.

 

[Legionnaire11]

People say Tolvanen needs a top 6 role but is there even one in sight when it comes to Nashville? The top 6 is quite stacked.

If we had a decent playmaker at C on line 3 i'd be more comfortable bringing Eeli in to start there, but for as stacked as our forward group seems to be, it's actually pretty top heavy. The ability of our top-4 to control play, especially generating offense, really masks (or makes up for a lot of mediocrity) in our forward group. Adding to this, as well as this team has done for the past few years, without elite goaltending the Predators would have been in more of that 10-15 range vs the 1-5 range.

Having said all that, I'd love to be able to bring in Tolvanen in a 3rd/4th line role IF we had a couple of other younger skilled players to play alongside him there which seems to be a growing trend in the league of letting young skilled players develop in sheltered minutes in the NHL. There used to be two scoring lines, a checking line and an energy/agitating line but now there's usually three scoring lines and a checking line. I think the hope was for Hartman - Bonino - Jarnkrok to be a third scoring line with strong two-way ability, but they just haven't shown the consistency to be used in more scoring situations and I think so much of that is that Bonino has brought far less playmaking ability than anyone anticipated and obviously Kamenev and Ejdsell didn't work out.

Sounds like i'm crapping all over the team, but it's really just a small nitpicking observation, obviously they way they're built and play has been highly successful and i'd rather see that continue as long as possible rather than trying to force prospects into the lineup when they're not ready.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

From what we saw last season and the pre-season, the kid isn't ready. That's ok. Let him slow cook a bit. It's not like we are starving for offense right now. (knock on wood).

If we decided to trade him for an upgrade in the top 6, I'm ok with that too. The kid is an asset that will either be a full time NHLer on this team or traded for a full time NHLer on our team. Be patient.

 

[King Weber]

In the book he apparently says he was getting really anxious when he wasn't picked after around 9th pick. He also said that when he was finally picked, it didn't feel good. Putting on the jersey felt forced. Cocky boy. AHL trip will do him good.

This was clear as day even at the time. The 4 hour wait must be pretty excruciating when you expect to go in the first half of the 1st round, and the way his family and agents acted probably didn't help.

 

[maplepred]

This was clear as day even at the time. The 4 hour wait must be pretty excruciating when you expect to go in the first half of the 1st round, and the way his family and agents acted probably didn't help.

What did his family and agents do?

 

[maplepred]

I understand he love for Craig smith right now. But I mean this guy was looked at as a waste of space last summer. Everyone was upset with him. Sure his numbers have come back up last season and he is hot right now but longterm fiala and tolvanen are groomed to be top six forwards. Period. Fiala is just catching fire now, had huge game last game. He’s young and is still streaky at times. So he went pointless for 7 games, so what?

I would just think smith could do a lot more on the third line playing with Sissons and jarnkrok given his experience and tolvanen would eventually (hopefully this season) take over on the second line. But I also understand letting him “slow cook” (great pun), and the time in the A will definitely help his confidence and his play on North American arenas. So I see both sides of the coin.
All in time. But damn... this team is loaded!


Also about salomaki, I quite like his game and I think he’s a pest that draws many penalties from the other team as well.

Glad to see Eeli is staying in the AHL and not fleeing for Russia! I can rest easy now and watch him develop

 

[King Weber]

What did his family and agents do?

Supposedly his agents Tomi Haula (Erik's father) and Jay Grossman were pretty confused by him falling and started to text GM's basically asking them why are you not picking this guy etc, at which point the parents got nervous as well.

 

[maplepred]

Supposedly his agents Tomi Haula (Erik's father) and Jay Grossman were pretty confused by him falling and started to text GM's basically asking them why are you not picking this guy etc, at which point the parents got nervous as well.

Really?? Why would his agent panic like that right in front of him and his parents?? Maybe time for a new agent.....

I wonder if the same happened with ff9 as he was ranked to be second pick in his draft and fell out of the top ten.

 

[Gh24]

I understand he love for Craig smith right now. But I mean this guy was looked at as a waste of space last summer. Everyone was upset with him. Sure his numbers have come back up last season and he is hot right now but longterm fiala and tolvanen are groomed to be top six forwards. Period. Fiala is just catching fire now, had huge game last game. He’s young and is still streaky at times. So he went pointless for 7 games, so what?

I would just think smith could do a lot more on the third line playing with Sissons and jarnkrok given his experience and tolvanen would eventually (hopefully this season) take over on the second line. But I also understand letting him “slow cook” (great pun), and the time in the A will definitely help his confidence and his play on North American arenas. So I see both sides of the coin.
All in time. But damn... this team is loaded!


Also about salomaki, I quite like his game and I think he’s a pest that draws many penalties from the other team as well.

Glad to see Eeli is staying in the AHL and not fleeing for Russia! I can rest easy now and watch him develop

Craig Smith's play grants him a spot in top6. He's top6 AT THE MOMENT, Tolvanen is not. When Tolvanen deserves top6 spot who knows where Craig Smith is.

Why would we give Tolvanen top6 minutes just because he's possibly part of our future and possibly a top6 winger in the future? Just because he has potential? And why would we punish Smith for successful start by demoting him to 3rd line just because Tolvanen has potential? Or any of our top9 forwards for that matter.

You don't send down or bench someone who has deserved a spot in the lineup just because they are worse on paper or by our expectations. That's bad people management and fires back eventually. Sure, you have to make compromises down the road, but you get the point.

 

[triggrman]

Rocco Grimaldi deserves the shot first. I'd take him over Salomaki right now. We don't need 3 wingers like Salo, 2 is enough. Need more skill and speed.