Juuso Välimäki first NHL goal

madmike77

Registered User
Jan 9, 2009
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Hah. The ONLY reason this is post-worthy is because it's a career-first. In Rask's defence the puck had some weird movement on it.
 

Johnny Hoxville

The Return of a Legend
Jul 15, 2006
37,549
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Calgary
Valimaki has looked so good. He hasn’t been quite Hanifin good, but he hasn’t been far off. He’s probably not quite ready for the NHL, but his adaptability is so impressive. This kids ceiling is really high, he might be a top 3 dman by next season. I think without a doubt he will leap frog Hamonic and Brodie on our depth charts, he should only be behind Gio and Hanifin.

I don’t think he’s ever going to win a Norris or anything, but I see him being a Ekholm caliber of defender with more offensive upside.
 

DJJones

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Nov 18, 2014
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He's been solid, seeing him and Andersson out there is exciting. Valimaki is the more composed guy but Andersson is an amazing passer with some very good offensive instincts. The pinching ability this year is significantly better than last year.
 

madmike77

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Jan 9, 2009
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It's kind of crazy that half the Flames starting D right now is 21 or younger. And they don't look out of place.
 
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Bond

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May 10, 2012
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Weird goal. IF Andersson and Valimaki keep this up then they push Stone to 7th.
 

DJJones

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Nov 18, 2014
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It's kind of crazy that half the Flames starting D right now is 21 or younger. And they don't look out of place.

With no set partners yet either. They've been playing musical chairs constantly. I like the Hanifin/Andersson pair myself.

Valimaki/Hamonic could be a solid shutdown pairing when he comes back.
 

djpatm

Registered User
Feb 2, 2010
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Calgary
Valimaki has been great, I don't think I've noticed a single glaring mistake by him yet.

He is definitely NHL ready.
 

ESH

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Jun 19, 2011
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The thing I’ve been most impressed about with him is his passing. He’s made some beautiful tape to tape passes up the ice. He’s been getting better and better and I’ve been noticing him less in the defensive zone (in a good way).
 

Kevs Security

inmateMack/CanesMack/LeafMack/elMacko
May 28, 2018
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Juuso is a beast-to-be, have top pairing hopes for him. Crazy how Finland is producing solid defensemen now. They haven't really had #1 blueliners. Timonen was probably one. Numminen a top pairing man in his prime. Pitkanen was talented for sure, too, but didn't play that long. Then it's guys like Lumme and that's a while ago.
 

Johnny Hoxville

The Return of a Legend
Jul 15, 2006
37,549
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Calgary
That guy would be a top-10 defenceman in the world.

Quite high expectations.

I never said a top 10 dman, you inferred that and it’s not correct.

I do think we’re looking at a future top pairing dman though, it’s hard not to. He has really nice size, he’s a tremendous skater and passer, has very good offensive ability and his on ice awareness and intelligence is very good. In all honesty, he makes the game look easy.

I think he has a really good all around game like Ekholm, but I think he could score about 5-10 more points a season on average.
 

DJJones

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Nov 18, 2014
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Calgary
I never said a top 10 dman, you inferred that and it’s not correct.

I do think we’re looking at a future top pairing dman though, it’s hard not to. He has really nice size, he’s a tremendous skater and passer, has very good offensive ability and his on ice awareness and intelligence is very good. In all honesty, he makes the game look easy.

I think he has a really good all around game like Ekholm, but I think he could score about 5-10 more points a season on average.

Hes saying ekholm with better offense is a top 10 defender
 
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DJJones

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Nov 18, 2014
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Calgary
He can call him whatever he wants, I’m not claiming he’s trending to be a top 10 dman. But that’s the style of player I see. Valimaki is an excellent talent.

But you are saying that haha. If he becomes a better Ekholm, Calgary hit the jackpot.
 

ijuka

Registered User
May 14, 2016
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Well, his advanced stats are pretty good, including CF% and xGF%. Definitely better than Hanifin's, even accounting for ZSR. And his PDO is horrible so the plus/minus stuff is probably due to luck.
 

Johnny Hoxville

The Return of a Legend
Jul 15, 2006
37,549
9,343
Calgary
So in other words, a top 10 D-man :D

Well I appreciate Gio as an upper elite dman, but I don’t think he’s seen that way around the league despite every single metric backing that up for the last 4-5 years now.

Not sure Valimaki will ever be regarded that way either. He’s a top flight talent, but he quietly always plays an excellent game kinda like Ekholm does. I’m just not sure he’ll ever get that respect. I think Hanifin is more likely to be seen as a top 15 dman across the league.

But what matters is we have Brodie, Hanifin, Valimaki, Andersson and Kylington for many years. Our backend is going to be built on speed and passing, it’s going to be a nightmare for teams to defend.
 

Kahvi

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Jun 4, 2007
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Juuso is a beast-to-be, have top pairing hopes for him. Crazy how Finland is producing solid defensemen now. They haven't really had #1 blueliners. Timonen was probably one. Numminen a top pairing man in his prime. Pitkanen was talented for sure, too, but didn't play that long. Then it's guys like Lumme and that's a while ago.

This is more prospects boards stuff, but for a long time there was this "everyone plays" mentality in Finnish hockey, and sports in general were seen as a way to improve public health. Even if you were the best kid when you were 10 year old, you played exactly the same as the worst kid you could imagine. Maybe 10-15* years ago the hockey federation finally let go of this ideology, and started focusing on developing talented kids getting better.

*not really sure, might be even 20 years
 
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DJJones

Registered User
Nov 18, 2014
10,195
3,509
Calgary
This is more prospects boards stuff, but for a long time there was this "everyone plays" mentality in Finnish hockey, and sports in general were seen as a way to improve public health. Even if you were the best kid when you were 10 year old, you played exactly the same as the worst kid you could imagine. Maybe 10-15* years ago the hockey federation finally let go of this ideology, and started focusing on developing talented kids getting better.

*not really sure, might be even 20 years

My city started doing that a few years ago. Just run the lines evenly throughout the game so "everyone plays". Younger teams are getting embarassed since we're the only city that does it and the other teams are out there line matching. A secondary league was actually started in protest when the good kids ended up leaving the city to play elsewhere.

So now the normal league is one giant house league getting killed and all the good kids go to the secondary league for 3 months a year to play high end hockey. I can't imagine this is how they thought it would work out.

Glad I have a daughter. Who the hell can afford that haha
 
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