LW Leevi Aaltonen - KalPa, FIN JRS (2019, 130th, NYR)

[kelsier]

The kid is such a phenomenal prospect. It's been well known here that he'd be the next big thing after Laine and Puljujärvi and looks to be living up to the hype. Now I'm just hoping that he stays healthy, adds more height and doesn't get setbacks like Laine did. Warming up for today's game!

Other thing that's been going around my mind is would he get the kind of recognition should he stay in Finland and develop here instead of hopping over the pond to NA jr leagues to get more exposure. No idea how much the likes of Laine and Barkov have risen the stocks of the FEL in terms of developing talent and how they are perceived in the NA today. Somehow it seems that large proportion of hockey fans are set on handing out more appreciation for the European prospects dominating in NA against peers rather than being successful in the grown up leagues.

 

[ijuka]

Personally, I'd like the development route of u-18 league this year -> u-20 league next year -> Liiga the year after, but I wouldn't really be against him playing in SHL instead.

Because of his skating, I think that he'd avoid most of the issues caused by playing in Liiga, but he'd still be able to learn a lot about the defensive side of the game.

 

[kelsier]

Just checked in. Apparently they split the Finnish roster into teams A and B. The team B apparently is playing today without Aaltonen. Wonder what happens tomorrow?

 

[ijuka]

Tomorrow they select the best players from Team A and Team B to form the actual u-16 Team Finland, which then plays vs Germany.

IMO Aaltonen's center has been atrocious so I really would hope that he gets a different one for that game.

 

[Loffer]

Leevi Aaltonen - can he skate, shoot, pass, dangle, score, hit and position himself? His vision and smarts? Gimme numbers 1-5 on each relevant category a la Craig Button, por favor.

 

[BL92]

Hope he keeps growing. Seems like a great prospect.

 

[93LEAFS]

He should be projected to be in the top-5 easily as of right now. He isn't dominating against his peers with his size or anything but with his tremendous skating and hockey IQ. Those two attributes usually transfer well into the todays' NHL.

His skating reminds me of McDavid.

Trying to project the 2019 class right now is pretty pointless. Outside of a couple late birthdays, almost all top NA prospects are either playing high school hockey or AAA. I doubt there are any scouts who have seen every top kid. Aaltonen would probably rate highly, but trying to formulate any sort of list right now would be very premature. Even making a list for the 2018 kids right now would be difficult.

Edit: And is Finland sending him to the U-17 Challenge this month?

 

[Keke]

Edit: And is Finland sending him to the U-17 Challenge this month?

I hope so as the 2000 agegroup is very weak overall and the best prospect of that group (Jesperi Kotkaniemi) is injured.

 

[Hokinaittii]

Trying to project the 2019 class right now is pretty pointless. Outside of a couple late birthdays, almost all top NA prospects are either playing high school hockey or AAA. I doubt there are any scouts who have seen every top kid. Aaltonen would probably rate highly, but trying to formulate any sort of list right now would be very premature. Even making a list for the 2018 kids right now would be difficult.

Edit: And is Finland sending him to the U-17 Challenge this month?

He asked, I answered.

Like you said, he must be close to the top considering his numbers are right there with the all time best Finnish prospects at the same age.

 

[JJTT]

Game starts at 11am today.

 

[93LEAFS]

He asked, I answered.

Like you said, he must be close to the top considering his numbers are right there with the all time best Finnish prospects at the same age.

He's probably near the top, but I mean, how many of the 2019's have really been scouted heavily for ability outside of how they project to Major Junior or NCAA. He seems like a high-end candidate, but trying to formulate any sort of rankings this early is very pre-mature. He looks to be a top talent given his skill set and production. I'd love to see my quote bumped in 3 years time and have you say you called it. I'm just saying, I've talked to some of the guys whose lists get posted on this site, and they'd have a hard time putting out a 2018 list, let alone a 2019 one.

I'd be glad to see a Finn end up the top pick in a draft, so I hope he lives up to expectations.

I hope he is at this years U-17 challenge and maybe this years Hlinka, I would have to think it would be very difficult for a 15 year old to crack the U-18 WJC squad (neither Laine or Puljujarvi did it). If he accomplishes that he will definitely be on everyone's radar.

 

[ijuka]

Laine actually did crack the roster of the u-18 WJC squad(He broke his knee).

Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised to see him at u-18 WJCs and hopefully he gets some u-17 time. He's a better player than any u-17 player in Finland, after all.

 

[ijuka]

Finland won 6-0, Leevi Aaltonen 0+1 - One secondary assist.


I remember him having at least 7 extremely high quality scoring chances up close and he also generated ~5 such chances for his linemates. There also were several lower % shot attempts by him. He registered 6 shots on goal and there were plenty by him that missed. One of these unlucky games where he just couldn't buy them points but the scoring chance generation was ridiculously high.

Here's one high quality scoring chance he generates: https://streamable.com/gquf

In that video, he's the player emerging from the bottom of the screen about 1 second in.

 

[enj92]

https://streamable.com/gquf

Kid is elite skater for sure. His skating looks like McDavid-ish. Maybe not so fast, but the same style. How he couldn't make u-17 team?

 

[wings5]

Great skater for sure hopefully he grows more, would be perfect if he can reach at least around 182 cm. Seems the best Finnish prospects are either small around 174-178 cm ( Vatanen, Tolvanen, Granlund, Rajala) or tall around 190 + ( Laine, Barkov, Puljujarvi, Ristolainen ). Would be interesting to see a great prospect in the middle of those heights.

 

[ijuka]

Here's a second high quality scoring chance he generates: https://streamable.com/12ul

I guess he'd only have gotten a second assist for that, though.

 

[Tormentor]

How do you guys see Aaltonen when comparing him to a 15 year old Toni Rajala? Is there an aspect of the game where Aaltonen is better or more promising than Rajala?

Hard to say for sure, but Rajala might've been a tad faster? Size and overall offensive ability look more or less the same? Rajala wasn't the toughest customer and prefered the perimeter in many cases, is Aaltonen the same or perhaps a bit more daring?

 

[JJTT]

How do you guys see Aaltonen when comparing him to a 15 year old Toni Rajala? Is there an aspect of the game where Aaltonen is better or more promising than Rajala?

Hard to say for sure, but Rajala might've been a tad faster? Size and overall offensive ability look more or less the same? Rajala wasn't the toughest customer and prefered the perimeter in many cases, is Aaltonen the same or perhaps a bit more daring?

Huge difference in overall hockey iq and smarts IMO.

I don't think Rajala's hockey iq and compete level was never on pair on his natural talent level. Seemed to trust more on his pure skill than actually thinking the game on higher level.

Aaltonen on the other hand seems always know where to go and where to pass the puck. Similar way to Aho/Barkov. Never really had the same feeling with Rajala.

 

[FinPanda]

He made the U17 team with Mikko Kokkonen and Iivari Räsänen.

http://www.leijonat.fi/maajoukkueet...eella-world-hockey-challenge-turnaukseen.html

e: added link

 

[Keke]

It will be great to see how he compares to other top prospects.

 

[ilezia]

Great skater for sure hopefully he grows more, would be perfect if he can reach at least around 182 cm. Seems the best Finnish prospects are either small around 174-178 cm ( Vatanen, Tolvanen, Granlund, Rajala) or tall around 190 + ( Laine, Barkov, Puljujarvi, Ristolainen ). Would be interesting to see a great prospect in the middle of those heights.

Your answer is Sebastian Aho at 181cm, although it certainly is true that there are a lot of short Finnish players.

 

[BusQuets]

How do you guys see Aaltonen when comparing him to a 15 year old Toni Rajala? Is there an aspect of the game where Aaltonen is better or more promising than Rajala?

Hard to say for sure, but Rajala might've been a tad faster? Size and overall offensive ability look more or less the same? Rajala wasn't the toughest customer and prefered the perimeter in many cases, is Aaltonen the same or perhaps a bit more daring?

From what i remember Rajala's stride at Aaltonen's age looked like a small gust of wind could push him over but Aaltonen has a really strong stride and that way more explosive. I don't think they are in the same tier of overall skating.

 

[BL92]

Great skater for sure hopefully he grows more, would be perfect if he can reach at least around 182 cm. Seems the best Finnish prospects are either small around 174-178 cm ( Vatanen, Tolvanen, Granlund, Rajala) or tall around 190 + ( Laine, Barkov, Puljujarvi, Ristolainen ). Would be interesting to see a great prospect in the middle of those heights.

I've noticed this too. Weird occurance.

 

[Tormentor]

From what i remember Rajala's stride at Aaltonen's age looked like a small gust of wind could push him over but Aaltonen has a really strong stride and that way more explosive. I don't think they are in the same tier of overall skating.

At 15 Toni Rajala's speed was special, he could skate the puck from end-to-end without much effort, he had a Pavel Bure kind of impact to the game in Finnish juniors. The -91 age group had speedy skaters with instant acceleration like Tapio Relander and Julius Junttila, but at that stage Rajala's pace was a notch above everyone else. Later on Rajala's speed wasn't quite as big of difference maker and I don't think he ever fully recovered from the 2009-2010 season in North America which clearly hurt his swiftness.

Aaltonen looks to be one of the fastest players on the ice when playing against his peers, but personally I'm not getting the same wow factor out of him that I got from Rajala back in the day.

 

[JJTT]

Game vs Canada Red starting in 30 minutes.

http://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/Na...n/World-U17/2016/Stats/game-summary?gameid=37

Aaltonen is number 32.