When watching Aaltonen play, it's pretty frustrating how poorly he utilizes his skating. He for example has next to no 1v1 ability, he also seems to make some hasty plays. He's an amazing skater but at this point in time needs to use it to brute force separation. But I also feel like with his skating, there's some potential for improvement there. I'm honestly not sure why he's so awful at 1v1 challenges because his stickhandling isn't even bad. I think it's possible that with some guidance, he could improve a lot if he gets that dimension of his play going.
The thing is, he isn’t
that type of talent. He sees the ice fairly well, but stickhandling in someone’s wheelhouse is something else. It’s exclusively about adjusting to the defender, bait him or whatever, just painting back and forth with the puck is pure coordination, also something else.
I don’t want to say that this kid is Hagelin 2.0. He is still very young and not an early bloomer, but I think the realistic goal is Hagelin 1.0. Same but different, as always.
What I also love about Aaltonen and Henriksson is that they are good hockey players already. The U20s should be a lock for them, at least their final year and so forth. They should be able to come in and contribute in the AHL. Nothing is of course guaranteed, but they they will still come in and be a part of this organization and push everything in the right direction, play with speed and so forth.