Olli Juolevi makes his NHL debut

VanJack

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Jul 11, 2014
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I know it's still a bit of a long-shot, but Juolevi might be a guy who plays better in the NHL than he did in Utica. The AHL is a scrambly league with mistakes all over the ice. Sometimes a d-man can be on a bit of an island out there.

His game might thrive in the more structured, high-skill game of the NHL. If you keep it simple and just do your job out there, believe it or not, it can make the game easier to play.
 

Svencouver

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Apr 8, 2015
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I know it's still a bit of a long-shot, but Juolevi might be a guy who plays better in the NHL than he did in Utica. The AHL is a scrambly league with mistakes all over the ice. Sometimes a d-man can be on a bit of an island out there.

His game might thrive in the more structured, high-skill game of the NHL. If you keep it simple and just do your job out there, believe it or not, it can make the game easier to play.
The deciding factor for OJ will be whether or not he can get his skating and physicality up to NHL par. Due to his injury history in part, I'm sure, he's pretty far behind on both and they've always been his issues at the professional level. He's all toolbox and no tools. He is a remarkably high IQ player with excellent passing ability and one that frequently makes the right reads and plays, he just needs his body to follow through and keep up.
 

Catamarca Livin

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Jul 29, 2010
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Green does not play young non elite players in non sheltered minutes. He sat Brock Boeser for first two games of rookie season after scoring 4 goals in 9 games year before. Nick Robertsson in playing playoff ot minutes for toronto. Kirby Dach is on Chicago's pk and pp as a rookie. We do not even put in Demko in a game Markstrom is drowning. It is just the way this organization is. It is why we sign Beagle, Benn, Ferland Roussel etc. We do not trust young players.
 

BB06

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Jun 1, 2020
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Green does not play young non elite players in non sheltered minutes. He sat Brock Boeser for first two games of rookie season after scoring 4 goals in 9 games year before. Nick Robertsson in playing playoff ot minutes for toronto. Kirby Dach is on Chicago's pk and pp as a rookie. We do not even put in Demko in a game Markstrom is drowning. It is just the way this organization is. It is why we sign Beagle, Benn, Ferland Roussel etc. We do not trust young players.

He barely even trust Hughes and Petey late in games when Canucks are leading. It’s so frustrating how are they suppose to learn how to close out games with the lead if you parade the fossils instead.
 

Mr. Canucklehead

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Was Fantenberg injured or a healthy scratch? I thought it was the latter.

With all the unfit to play stuff, it’s kind of hard to tell - and I can’t track down the tweets - but there was speculation amongst the Canucks reporters that Fantenberg was injured.


A tell towards that would be that Fantenberg was averaging more than twice the minutes that Juolevi played, with a fair helping of SH minutes. I think Juolevi was a last minute insertion because Fantenberg wasn’t good to go.
 

Svencouver

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Man, I tell you what though, overall it was a truly shocking, but wonderful experience to see #48 out on the ice in a Canucks uniform. I've been rooting for him harder than anyone for the past 3 years. For all he's gone through, for all the expectations he's let down, for all the Tkachuk comparisons, the injuries, everything. There were times I really thought I would never see that number on the back of a Canucks Jersey. It was surreal, made no less so by the surreal and exceptional nature of these playoffs. And he made his debut in the first Series clinching game we've had in nearly 10 years.

Seeing him smile going down that tunnel after the game was everything for me. It's one thing to see our superstars succeed, but it's another to see someone who has had such a hard road get that moment. He got to play with them, he got to win with them, and he got to celebrate with them.
 

WetcoastOrca

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Jun 3, 2011
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With all the unfit to play stuff, it’s kind of hard to tell - and I can’t track down the tweets - but there was speculation amongst the Canucks reporters that Fantenberg was injured.


A tell towards that would be that Fantenberg was averaging more than twice the minutes that Juolevi played, with a fair helping of SH minutes. I think Juolevi was a last minute insertion because Fantenberg wasn’t good to go.
I’m pretty sure he’s got a nagging injury. Juolevi took the pre game skate the game before as well but Fantenberg decided he could go. Second night of a back to back he likely just couldn’t play through the injury.
 
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Diamonddog01

Diamond in the rough
Jul 18, 2007
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I know it's still a bit of a long-shot, but Juolevi might be a guy who plays better in the NHL than he did in Utica. The AHL is a scrambly league with mistakes all over the ice. Sometimes a d-man can be on a bit of an island out there.

His game might thrive in the more structured, high-skill game of the NHL. If you keep it simple and just do your job out there, believe it or not, it can make the game easier to play.

I've thought about this as well, some players thrive in the more structured yet faster NHL compared lower leagues. Rare but it does happen. Perhaps, we shall see. In any case here's a complete breakdown of Juolevi's debut

An exhaustive analysis (with video) of every shift Olli Juolevi played in his NHL debut
 

CambieKev

Scout. Future Considerations, Dobber Prospects.
Aug 26, 2019
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I know it's still a bit of a long-shot, but Juolevi might be a guy who plays better in the NHL than he did in Utica. The AHL is a scrambly league with mistakes all over the ice. Sometimes a d-man can be on a bit of an island out there.

His game might thrive in the more structured, high-skill game of the NHL. If you keep it simple and just do your job out there, believe it or not, it can make the game easier to play.
I actually think he played rather well in the AHL.

All of the intelligence he has displayed this month with the Canucks was evident during his time with the Comets. I've covered two of his recent AHL performances, and in both games he was very stable on the defensive side of the puck. Good gap control. His positional IQ is solid.





Canucks fans shouldn't expect an offensive defenceman. He's more along the lines of a shutdown defenceman with vision and outlet-passing ability than an offensive force. He also understands when to pinch.

Considering the Canucks' lack of stability on the defensive side of the puck, he will be a very welcome addition to the club.

Video of his warmup game performance vs Winnipeg:



I have video from last night on the way.
 
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Svencouver

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Apr 8, 2015
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I don't expect him to be an offensive D, but the most exceptional traits I've seen of his have been his breakout passes and his poise in the offensive zone on the blue line, especially on the PP. Could easily see him QBing PP2.
 

Pastor Of Muppetz

Registered User
Oct 1, 2017
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Green does not play young non elite players in non sheltered minutes. He sat Brock Boeser for first two games of rookie season after scoring 4 goals in 9 games year before. Nick Robertsson in playing playoff ot minutes for toronto. Kirby Dach is on Chicago's pk and pp as a rookie. We do not even put in Demko in a game Markstrom is drowning. It is just the way this organization is. It is why we sign Beagle, Benn, Ferland Roussel etc. We do not trust young players.
This post makes zero sense..now is not the time to start messing around with inexperienced players..You complain that Green will not play non elite players in non sheltered minutes...and then use 6'4 200lbs Dach , who is clearly elite, and taken 3rd OA as an example.......??

Did you not spot the difference in game #2, when Green pulled Gaudette off of 3C and put Sutter in..?..Thats no slight against Gaudette, its just he isn't there yet.
 

Grub

First Line Troll
Jun 30, 2008
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To me he looked like Pettersson's fatter twin out there. In terms of size.
 

The Iron Goalie

Formally 'OEL for Norris'
Feb 8, 2012
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Happy he made his NHL debut, and looked solid in his limited minutes.

I don't know if he'll be able to reach his draft day ceiling (#3D), but I'm still hopeful we'll come out of this with a 4/5D that's solid at evens, can provide valuable PK mins, and possibly 2nd PP mins (depending on how Rathbone turns out).
 
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ziploc

Registered User
Aug 29, 2003
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My favourite moment was when he just handed the puck off the Pettersson coming out of the zone. A small little play but showed he knew the right move and wasn’t panicky.
 

Rey

Registered User
Jan 11, 2007
2,438
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We just need to forget where he was drafted and more about his potential now . He looks like a Sami salo with more of an edge to me. He’s always stepping up in big games throughout his career so that’s a big sign .

If he continues to play , he’ll be targeted for sure against the opponent and we’ll see how his will to compete is. Thing is, this kid, from all reports has loads of confidence. There’s that kid who everyone talked about having loads of confidence and finally had his body catch up to his confidence that the Canucks just beat . Perhaps we can see the same thing in olli. Defense man usually take longer to develop anyways.
 

tradervik

Hear no evil, see no evil, complain about it
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Jun 25, 2007
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I liked the cross ice pass to Horvat. Bo seemed surprised and wasn't able to take the pass cleanly or he might have had a good scoring chance.
 

F A N

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Aug 12, 2005
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To me he looked like Pettersson's fatter twin out there. In terms of size.

Which might be accurate. I seem to remember reading/hearing that Juolevi grew an inch post draft?
 

F A N

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Aug 12, 2005
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Not sure if this was ever posted despite the endless discussion about Juolevi being or not being in the same class or tier of player as Tkachuk at the time of the draft. I know there are some posters here who like to use an aggregate of draft rankings found online to argue there was a clear consensus in favour of Tkachuk. But here's Bob McKenzie's thoughts:

"Dubois, Tkachuk, and Joulevi [were] in the next tier of guys... when you got to where where the Canucks were picking it was really just a matter of do you want a defenseman or do you want a forward and at the time I'm sure you would find all sorts of teams that would have either way..."

 

biturbo19

Registered User
Jul 13, 2010
25,152
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A handful of minutes isn't really going to change anything. Anyone remember how good Frankie Corrado briefly looked for us with a bit of insulation? But the minutes Juolevi put in were...pretty much what you'd be looking for, from a player in Juolevi's situation.

I still really think that he's got the vision and passing ability, along with decent enough physical tools, to actually be a Top-4D for the Canucks. If he can stay healthy and make up for some lost time in development due to unfortunate injuries. And more than anything, if he can just learn to be more consistently engaged physically, and in the urgency of his game.

I don't think his ability to move the puck is a mirage. That's a huge trait of value in today's NHL. Even in a tiny debut sample, he shows glimmers of that poise that he was drafted so high on. It's just a matter of getting everything else up to that level...
 

ijuka

Registered User
May 14, 2016
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I'm really not sure about "sheltered minutes" there. To me, "sheltered" means against low-end competition with a low scoring threat and without much expectations, say with the 4th liners on the ice, playing for 0-0. While Juolevi only played for 6 minutes, he played with Pettersson and he played on the penalty kill. That's quite the opposite from "sheltered" to me, they won't make him play with Pettersson if they want him to just try to survive.
 

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