With this guy's impressive point production and size I assumed he must be an overager, but no- he's almost a late '98, in fact. How does he not get more attention? His ranking seems low. And no invitation to the U18 team? Is his skating really so bad? Can someone enlighten me?
Seems well worth a gamble on those numbers alone.
Otto Koivula was last cut for Team Finland's U18 WJC roster when Jesse Puljujärvi joined Finland's team after Finnish Elite Leagues bronze medal game.
Koivula has developed and grown up behind Laine and Puljujärvi hype that's why he isn't got much media etc attention in Finland.
Finnish daily journals like iltasanomat and iltalehti writes a lot articles of FEL, KHL, and NHL.
But Finnish U20 juniors and their league won't get media attention in Finland at all.
This season Koivula is one candidate for Team Finland's world junior team.
He can make in the team if he stays healthy and plays well in FEL and he makes impact in Finland's world juniors evaluation camp.