G Veini Vehvilainen (2018, 173rd, traded to TOR)
- Thread starter JustaFinnishGuy
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HockeyHistorian
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- Mar 17, 2015
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JustaFinnishGuy
Joonas Donskoi avi but not a SEA fan ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Like seriously, would anyone still think he's not worth at least a 7th round pick? It has certainly gotten weird how no one seems to want him. Even though he didn't exactly carry his FEL team before, it still would be an ok gamble for a team to commit to.
Patrik Barkov
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- Jun 25, 2016
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His meltings at the WJCs probably have scared teams away. Good to see him doing well now.
Almost stole a U18 world's championships against very strong -97 born USA (had about 60 saves in a 2-1 OT loss). I would have selected him just because of that performance. He is still draft eligible? If not he should get few contract offers. At least he is on Ducks' radar as he has been on their prospect camp
JustaFinnishGuy
Joonas Donskoi avi but not a SEA fan ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
All players who will be 18 years old on or before September 15 and not older than 20 years old before December 31 of the draft year are eligible for selection for that year's NHL Entry Draft. In addition, non-North American players over the age of 20 are eligible.
So yes, he should be eligible still as a 20 year old.
Tak7
Registered User
Hey all. Sorry if this has been already addressed on the site - I did some searching and couldn't find answers.
But noticed that Veini Vehvilainen, big goaltender from Finland, is draft eligible this year as an overager.
He's 21, meaning he's been passed up in 3 consecutive drafts - does anyone know why he's been passed up so many times? He's got some pretty decent numbers, is a good sized goaltender, and what little I've seen of him in international play, he's looked pretty darn good.
Any insight?
But noticed that Veini Vehvilainen, big goaltender from Finland, is draft eligible this year as an overager.
He's 21, meaning he's been passed up in 3 consecutive drafts - does anyone know why he's been passed up so many times? He's got some pretty decent numbers, is a good sized goaltender, and what little I've seen of him in international play, he's looked pretty darn good.
Any insight?
ProspectsFanatic
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He was in my top undrafted list every year he is been draft eligible thus far, which mean I think he should have normally been a late rounder pretty much every year, still worthy of being drafted again imo. I am sure most teams had him somewhere on their list for the last few years, but he simply wasn't ever the top player on their list to go far at the draft most likely. His situation is reminiscent to me of Sebastian Aho (the Sweden one), worthy of being draft every year, finally got taken in the 5th round as a 21 years old and basically went straight to the NHL. It just end up that way sometimes for some players, variance not going their way, I am sure if the draft would be a consensus order of every team list they would had been selected sooner. Other than that, unless you are an amazing goaltender, teams are reluctant to select smaller goaltender nowadays, 6'00" is on the smaller side in today's NHL.
DaveG
Noted Jerk
He's not that big. 6'0 and 180 + change is flat out small in the league for goalies any more. That said it's not so small that they can't succeed. Size wise he's about on par with Cam Ward, height wise with Quick but Quick has a good 30 lbs on him. Still he's a guy that I'd be very interested in seeing the Canes draft this coming draft, if only because I think he's shown enough that he could step right in from the draft and compete for the backup spot which the Canes need with how much of a shit show Darling's been.
From the WJCs I’ve seen him in he seems like he’s kind of soft mentally, he lets bad goals get to him a little more then they should. Just my opinion though
avsfan09
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Patrik Barkov
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Patrik Barkov
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Hokinaittii
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Hammer Slammer
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I watched him last month, my only example of the whole "mentally tough" thing is that his glove was poked and he got really aggressive. It wasn't a game where this was happening constantly and he'd finally had enough; it happened once and he stormed up and got in his face.
We'll see in few weeks, but he was really consistent through out the regular season and barely let in soft goals.
As I've said before working with Hilli has done wonders to his technique, he is rarely out of position and makes most saves without much effort. His side to side movement, which was pretty terrible at the WJC's last year, isn't really a weakness anymore.
Still he wasn't a clear number 1 goalie since he and Rynnäs basicly both played 50% of the games when both were healthy. Interesting to see who ends up being the #1 goalie during the playoffs.
Tak7
Registered User
How bad is he at handling pressure? I mean, unless he just starts crying and has panic attacks when under presusre, it seems stranage that NO ONE has taken a change on him.
Has to be more than that though, no? I mean he's been overlooked so frequently in the draft I'm just assuming it has to be something bigger
Kaako Kappo
Kaako Kappo
These opinions are based on how he played as a 18-19 year old in WJC. No shit a kid that age might crack a bit under pressure.
Tak7
Registered User
Makes sense. I still haven't seen any real explanation as to why he hasn't been drafted.
Such a strange situation
teravaineSAROS
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- Jul 29, 2015
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Yea this is what it is. There were fundamental flaws in his gameplay and it made complete sense for them to not draft him.
I love how HfBoards hated on him before this season and now they're all "oh my god I can't believe nobody drafted him in 2015 or -16" lol hindsight is 2020
teravaineSAROS
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It wasn't just that, he also wasn't fundamentally good back then especially in terms of his stance and the angled shots
Bruce Granville
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Others risk a late pick on some Russian, others pick a goalie.
It IS surprising that no one used a 7th rounder on him.
Especially those teams with huge goalie issues.
teravaineSAROS
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No it's not, dude I know it's easy to go full goldfish and say it would've been worth drafting him NOW in hindsight when he actually turned out to be good.
He just wasn't very good before and there were big fundamental flaws to his game which made it seem like there's no NHL future in him (unlike with goalies or players that have certain attributes like size, athleticism or IQ that make them intriguing to take a chance on).
He's just developed unusually well since then.
