Prospect Info: Niko Mikkola (127th Overall in 2015) - Signs 2 year ELC

tfriede2

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Aug 8, 2010
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Doesn’t make sense to not move him.
DA loves depth, and Gunnarsson is cheap depth. I wouldn’t want to go into next year with Walman or any of our other AHL guys as our fourth LHD, and I don’t think DA will either. With that said, if shaving off a million helps re-sign Petro, then DA will trade him.

But anyway, I was impressed by Mikkola’s reads tonight in the offensive zone - he made smart choices and played like a veteran out there.
 

BlueDream

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Aug 30, 2011
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DA loves depth, and Gunnarsson is cheap depth. I wouldn’t want to go into next year with Walman or any of our other AHL guys as our fourth LHD, and I don’t think DA will either. With that said, if shaving off a million helps re-sign Petro, then DA will trade him.

But anyway, I was impressed by Mikkola’s reads tonight in the offensive zone - he made smart choices and played like a veteran out there.
Well you have to move someone or it’s going to block guys from Mikkola from being able to play at all.

Depth is not that hard to find. We can find a Butler type for San Antonio in free agency. Those guys are always available.
 
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simon IC

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I think you bring back your best 6 D options regardless of what situation that might cause with your 7-8 D men. I doubt they walk away from JBo if he wants to come back and is still healthy and effective - under those conditions, he is inarguably one of our 6 best defensemen.

I also think there should be concern about counting on Gunnarsson, even as a 7th defenseman, given his recent injury history. I think there is a non-zero chance he hangs them up after this season and moves on with his life after hockey. He's still pretty good when healthy, we're just not getting that "Boom Boom" very often anymore. He will always have a spot in Blues History and in our hearts for his OT winner for our first ever Final win on our way to our first ever Cup, but he has to think about life after hockey.
I think the OT winner is more important to the fans. Maroon scored a 7nth game OT goal, and we let him walk. I don't think management waxes sentimental about that stuff.
 

Joshuar56

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Agreed. Nothing wrong with having a solid bottom pairing D for a long time. I'm pretty sure he will be able to move up temporarily in case of injuries, too.
Heck with that, I’m hoping he turns into the left handed Parayko :D
Neither was a drafted super high, and I think Parayko was around 22 when he came up. Dream big!
 

MortiestOfMortys

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Loling at the narrative that ope, it was the injuries that done did Gunnarsson in, and that’s why he’s bad now. The dude has been a plug for years now, and has consistently ranked as one of the worst players in the league on most metrics. When he plays with Petro, he looks better not because he plays well in that role, but because Petro’s virtuosity pulls him up: Petro doesn’t make Gunnar better, Gunnar makes Petro worse.

I’d love to trade him at the deadline, but you’re probably getting at most a 3rd round draft pick for him. Army would probably like to get more bc he has another year on his contract, but I’m not convinced he could get it, especially since he would be a consolation prize for a team who was probably hoping for someone better.

There’s also the reality that if someone goes down with injury, as bad as Gunnar is, he’s probably preferable to any of the depth we have marinating in San Antonio right now (Dotchin, Pouliot, Walman, Borgman). Of all of those guys, Borgman is probably the one most likely to stick in a call-up: he plays Berube’s style. But I don’t see Army freely giving up on depth, and if there’s a way to keep Gunnar around, he’s going to do that. Which is a shame, because it’s time to hand the reigns to Mikkola.
 

Ranksu

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What strikes me most is why we didn't get any green flag about Mikkola and how good he's at San Antonio. Was there really big cap how Mikkola has played in NHL level compare to AHL?
 

Stupendous Yappi

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4 games isn’t enough to draw conclusions yet, but there are players who just function better when surrounded by better players. Some guys look better in the NHL against the best players in the world than they do in the AHL. I’m not sure if Mikkola is in this group, but I think it tends to be guys with high hockey IQ who haven’t always had teammates who thought the game the same way.

More likely he’s just playing his best on adrenaline right now. But it shows he’s capable of it, and it’s something to build on. I think he has the inside track to make the team next year, and will be on the postseason roster. But he’s probably going to be sent down shortly even though he is arguably better than Gunnarsson already.
 
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bluesfan94

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4 games isn’t enough to draw conclusions yet, but there are players who just function better when surrounded by better players. Some guys look better in the NHL against the best players in the world than they do in the AHL. I’m not sure if Mikkola is in this group, but I think it tends to be guys with high hockey IQ who haven’t always had teammates who thought the game the same way.

More likely he’s just playing his best on adrenaline right now. But it shows he’s capable of it, and it’s something to build on. I think he has the inside track to make the team next year, and will be on the postseason roster. But he’s probably going to be sent down shortly even though he is arguably better than Gunnarsson already.
Also, steady defensemen aren't as likely to receive accolades as offensive minded players.
 

Ranksu

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Sure Mikkola will be send down when Parayko is ready to go and Chief wants to keep Gunnar for insurance.

I haven't jump in to too early conclusions about Mikkola. I've tried to be not vocal when Mikkola was called up. I think there has been others who has been pretty hyped about Mikkola.

Saying Mikkola is playing his best isn't in my eyes what I agree. Well he hasn't make any big mistakes, but overally what I've seen him doing isn't anything new what I know. Maybe his passing game has sharpened, but I still haven't seen him getting puck that much what he would normally get when he's in humming. He likes to carry puck and make plays at o-zone too. And I haven't seen Mikkola playing that physically or aggressively what I've seen him doing at time when he played in Finland or let say like in WC in last spring.
 

Vincenzo Arelliti

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What strikes me most is why we didn't get any green flag about Mikkola and how good he's at San Antonio. Was there really big cap how Mikkola has played in NHL level compare to AHL?
He was good defensively, but not like this. He didn’t really use his skating as well, either. What he was doing down in the A was mostly different from what he’s doing now based on intensity and impactfulness. He was a quiet defender that did the small things, but in the NHL he’s making great reads and crucial plays that he just didn’t exhibit in the A.
 
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TK 421

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I think I may be experiencing MWS (Mikkola Withdrawal Syndrome). It's an imaginary term I just made up to reflect a very real problem which kinda makes it real, yeah.
 

Joshuar56

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I think I may be experiencing MWS (Mikkola Withdrawal Syndrome). It's an imaginary term I just made up to reflect a very real problem which kinda makes it real, yeah.
I’m having PWS (Parayko). I hope when he comes back they continue to use Mikkola. This team needs a LH dman. I think they have to keep Parayko with Bouwmeester, but I’d like to see what Mikkola could do with Petro.
 

ezcreepin

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It's not a bad thought. You might as well give some players a rest (namely Bouw, but others as well) and see how Mikkola can fair with Petro or even, dare I say, Parayko. Let it marinate for a couple of games and if it looks good, you could offer up Gunny to a team that needs a solid LH bottom pairing d-man. I'm sure a team like Carolina, Edmonton, or even Toronto (hahah) would make a trade for him. I guess you could keep him if you really wanted to, but I'd be much happier with some asset management while we are competing for a 2nd cup.
 

TK 421

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Yeah I'd love to see Mikkola-Parayko paired up when Bo needs a rest or Mikkola-Petro.
 

Brian39

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Loling at the narrative that ope, it was the injuries that done did Gunnarsson in, and that’s why he’s bad now. The dude has been a plug for years now, and has consistently ranked as one of the worst players in the league on most metrics. When he plays with Petro, he looks better not because he plays well in that role, but because Petro’s virtuosity pulls him up: Petro doesn’t make Gunnar better, Gunnar makes Petro worse.

I’d love to trade him at the deadline, but you’re probably getting at most a 3rd round draft pick for him. Army would probably like to get more bc he has another year on his contract, but I’m not convinced he could get it, especially since he would be a consolation prize for a team who was probably hoping for someone better.

There’s also the reality that if someone goes down with injury, as bad as Gunnar is, he’s probably preferable to any of the depth we have marinating in San Antonio right now (Dotchin, Pouliot, Walman, Borgman). Of all of those guys, Borgman is probably the one most likely to stick in a call-up: he plays Berube’s style. But I don’t see Army freely giving up on depth, and if there’s a way to keep Gunnar around, he’s going to do that. Which is a shame, because it’s time to hand the reigns to Mikkola.

Yeah, you're going to have to cite some sources on that.

He has had a positive expected +/- for 5 straight years heading into this year. His actual +/- was positive for 6 of the 7 years heading into this one. He's averaged 1:26 of PK time a night in his 5+ seasons with the Blues, only dipping below a minute per game in one of those seasons. His takeaway/giveaway ratio isn't very good, but at 1 to 2 over his time here, it is far from terrible and the fact that he has never had more than 23 giveaways in a season tells you that he plays very low event hockey. His possession numbers as a Blue are below average but not brutal (49.1 CF%, -2.9 CF% rel, 50.8 FF% and -1.7 FF% rel) and he certainly isn't getting sheltered zone starts or matchups. He sure as hell wasn't Petro's partner for the majority of his 5+ seasons here either.

He's far from a great D man, but he is also very far from a plug who is "consistently ranked as one of the worst players in the league on most metrics." He has been a bottom 4 D man who is best suited on the 3rd pairing or playing a support role in the top 4 with a top end D man. There are a hell of a lot of worse D men in the NHL that aren't capable of that. I'm not saying that keeping him is a necessity or that he is the backbone of the D. But you are going to have to provide a lot of really, really compelling info to back up a claim that he has been one of the worst players in the league for years.

FWIW, if I were Army I would not be looking to move Gunnar at the deadline. I'd be keeping him as the 7th D man when we are fully healthy, occasionally plugging him into the lineup (largely to cover minor 1-2 game injuries). I would call up and play Mikkola over him if/when there is an injury to a D man that lasts longer than 1-2 nights. You can never have too much depth at the blue line in the playoffs and I don't want Mikkola sitting in the press box in the regular season because we moved Gunnar. He is worth more to me playing the role of the 7th/8th D man for another Cup push than the mid round pick he would likely return in a mid-season trade. And then I would move him in the summer assuming we don't lose Petro and J-Bo.
 
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bleedblue1223

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Jan 21, 2011
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I'd imagine he's on a flight catching up with the team, but no official announcement until the Bouwmeester update and roster move.
 

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