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.
I see him being a Ekholm caliber of defender with more offensive upside.
I don't think he meant Ekholm + more offense, more so that with his offense and defense combined, he would be in the same tier as Ekholm.That guy would be a top-10 defenceman in the world.
Quite high expectations.
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.
Hes saying ekholm with better offense is a top 10 defender
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.
Not quite. For a realistic projection, I could see him end up being as good as Gio.
So in other words, a top 10 D-manNot quite. For a realistic projection, I could see him end up being as good as Gio.
So in other words, a top 10 D-man
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