Prospect Info: Leafs 2017 2nd (Via OTT) (#59 OA) - Eemeli Rasanen - 6'7" 209lbs RHD - Kingston (OHL)

[Menzinger]

Hopefully this gives him the time/space to sort out his game/development.

Will be much closer to his family, which seemed to be a big problem for him this past season

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

Eemeli went to KHL Jokerit. Great move for him IMO

I think so too. He had another year of junior, so being in the KHL is better.
Grundstrom had three years in the SHL, and it served him well. Maybe being in the KHL will make him desire the NHL and benefits of North American pro hockey.

 

[Brock Radunske]

Anyone know if the Leafs offered him a deal before he signed?
If not, I think it will effect Toronto's ownership of his rights.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

Anyone know if the Leafs offered him a deal before he signed?
If not, I think it will effect Toronto's ownership of his rights.

Leafs did make a "qualifying offer" so as a result, the Leafs still hold his till 2021, if he stays in Europe. Gee, I hope the Leafs know of signing otherwise it shows a real divide between the Leafs and the player. Hey playing in Finland in the KHL can certainly be OK for his development, maybe even better than another year of junior.

 

[supermann_98]

I have no problem with a young guy developing their game in the KHL or a European club team.

Hopefully in a few years this guy and Korshkov will be ready to step right in and make an impact

 

[Anthrax442]

it's okay, keep stockpiling assets

 

[member 300185]

Or Martin Marincin. Or #HalGill

Why Hall Gill? Are you referring to him being good or being bad? Gill had 2 or 3 terrible seasons, but he has also had many many seasons of being very good with one being an allstar....or nominated. I cant remember

 

[BrainyBomber]

Jokerit looks a great move as long as he can get decent icetime and it saves an SPC slot until 2021.

Perennial top club in the KHL so outside of the NHL its the absolute highest level he could be playing and will be with fellow Finns.

 

[Pholus]

Third pairing. They have Lepistö, Lauridsen and Kivistö ahead of him, and now they acquired Lööv, so I guess that's the top 4 to start the season. But the rest of their D corps consists of three youngsters (including Räsänen) and, well, garbage.

I'm quite confident that he will get regular icetime in third pairing and possibly some looks in PP2.

I think this is a big point. He's not going to some Russian team where they are known for not giving young guys ice time. Jokerit has shown they are not afraid to play a teenager if that player will help them win (ex. Tolvanen). He'll most certainly have to earn his ice time, but it's not like he will be given no leash for mistakes.

 

[Treasure Island]

I think one of the main reasons he left Kingston was his lack of quality icetime.
Kingston made a trade last season and brought in Day.
After this trade Day played all the power plays and penalty kills.
Ras. Was left on the bench.
Prior to The arrival of Day he was on the ice.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

Fourteen minutes a game in the KHL is worth more than 22 minutes in the OHL for his development. Didn't hurt Grundstrom playing the SHL as opposed to a year in junior or a year or two in the AHL.

 

[Hogan86]

I personally like this move. Dont get all the folks complaining and calling him a bust and that we blew a 2nd rounder on him. We have the absolute worst fans who have 0 patience. 2 years in the KHL could be exactly what Rasanen needs to develop into a pro hockey player to compete at NHL level. And if he doesn't ever make it, I wouldn't say we wasted a pick on him. Roughly 40% of second round picks in the last 10 years have played 50+ NHL games. So it's a coin flip anyways.

 

[Boutette]

Fourteen minutes a game in the KHL is worth more than 22 minutes in the OHL for his development. Didn't hurt Grundstrom playing the SHL as opposed to a year in junior or a year or two in the AHL.

Far more I'd say. You want to see your 6' 7" players playing against men, not boys, in order to determin if they have NHL potential or not.

 

[LeafChief]

I personally think this is a solid move for Rasanen. He's 19. He's going to be playing against men.

He came to Canada when he was 17. He mentioned feeling homesick this year.

He gets to go back to Finland. Hopefully makes the World Junior team this year. Hopefully in 2 years time we have a polished giant of a defenceman that can slide into our bottom pair on an ELC.

 

[TheScandal89]

Hopefully he comes back to the marlies next season ala Grunstrum to join them for the playoffs. Not too worried about this overall, still have hopes he can make our top 6 one day.

Long term, we probably have 2-4 spots spoken for between reilly, dermott, lilly, borgman and zaitsev cause of that contract. Neilsen definitely took a step back, but can possibly bounce back too.

 

[nuck]

Rasanen

Age 17 (OHL): 0.59ppg
Age 18 (OHL): 0.54ppg
Age 19 (OHL): ???

Dermott

Age 17 (OHL): 0.43ppg
Age 18 (OHL): 0.74ppg
Age 19 (OHL): 0.84ppg

Carlo

Age 17 (WHL): 0.18ppg
Age 18 (WHL): 0.40ppg
Age 19 (WHL): 0.52ppg


Oleksiak

Age 17 (USHL): 0.26ppg
Age 18 (NCAA): 0.34ppg
Age 19 (OHL): 0.54ppg

Add Shea Weber 18, 32, 41pts in the Dub.

 

[Martin Skoula]

The nice thing about the KHL is that he'll be defending against small skilled pro forwards often instead of bullying grinders in the AHL with his size. We already know he can hit and has an effective game on the wall, now it's time to see if he can use his reach to disrupt high end skaters or if his footwork will get abused.

 

[Brock Radunske]

Leafs did make a "qualifying offer" so as a result, the Leafs still hold his till 2021, if he stays in Europe. Gee, I hope the Leafs know of signing otherwise it shows a real divide between the Leafs and the player. Hey playing in Finland in the KHL can certainly be OK for his development, maybe even better than another year of junior.

I'm assuming you're being sarcastic with this post but it's kind of unclear.
Anyway, I didn't see anything in the past year that indicated that they extended him a QO so I was curious about the logistics.
And I agree, if he greatest weakness is mobility, it makes sense for him to be on the big ice to help remedy it.

 

[rumman]

Hal Gill wouldn't be a bad outcome at all.

yup, Hal Gill had a pretty good career, and if he had a ounce of meanness in him he would have been a perennial all star D man.

 

[93LEAFS]

I personally like this move. Dont get all the folks complaining and calling him a bust and that we blew a 2nd rounder on him. We have the absolute worst fans who have 0 patience. 2 years in the KHL could be exactly what Rasanen needs to develop into a pro hockey player to compete at NHL level. And if he doesn't ever make it, I wouldn't say we wasted a pick on him. Roughly 40% of second round picks in the last 10 years have played 50+ NHL games. So it's a coin flip anyways.

You basically get an NHLer of some value out of 1 in 5 second round picks. As a bunch of those guys who cross the 50 threshold are just bottom pairing or 4th liners that you can find an equivalent of on waivers.

 

[leaffaninvancouver]

I personally like this move. Dont get all the folks complaining and calling him a bust and that we blew a 2nd rounder on him. We have the absolute worst fans who have 0 patience. 2 years in the KHL could be exactly what Rasanen needs to develop into a pro hockey player to compete at NHL level. And if he doesn't ever make it, I wouldn't say we wasted a pick on him. Roughly 40% of second round picks in the last 10 years have played 50+ NHL games. So it's a coin flip anyways.

Part of it is impatience and part of it is the ongoing effort by some posters to smear Hunter. I'm glad Dubas is the GM but that doesn't mean we need to pick apart everything Hunter was involved in either.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

I'm assuming you're being sarcastic with this post but it's kind of unclear.
Anyway, I didn't see anything in the past year that indicated that they extended him a QO so I was curious about the logistics.
And I agree, if he greatest weakness is mobility, it makes sense for him to be on the big ice to help remedy it.

The Leafs had to make a "bonafide offer" to him to keep his NHL rights. Apparent they had, though the player has every right not to sign it. It's almost like giving a qualifying offer to a RFA. If a team doesn't make a QO, they lose rights to the player.
But going to Europe the Leafs have his NHL rights extended to June 2021 as I understand it.
I just thought it would be good the Leafs were both informed on his decision to play in the KHL.
Seems like it could be a good move for all parties. Worked well for Grunstrom to play in the SHL instead of junior and/or AHL.

 

[drewjenks]

Anyone know if the Leafs offered him a deal before he signed?
If not, I think it will effect Toronto's ownership of his rights.

I doubt that.

 

[garyturner3]

It's amazing how some people have the innate ability to form such definitive conclusions based on very little information.

Ya really. Judging by the comments in here you'd think we lost him. He's just playing in a different league and against men so it could be beneficial to his development. I dont see the downside here because we still own his rights.

 

[LeafChief]

Ya really. Judging by the comments in here you'd think we lost him. He's just playing in a different league and against men so it could be beneficial to his development. I dont see the downside here because we still own his rights.

I don't see any downside to it if he continue to retain his rights.

If anything, this is much better than returning to the OHL.