The encouraging thing about Juolevi is that he has done well every time he stepped up a league.
2014-15: First season in Jr. A SM-liiga (U20)
44GP - 6G - 26A - 32pt
Juolevi was 4th in points on his team and 1st among Ds -- despite being 16 years old in an U20 league. League wide, Juolevi was tied for 7th in D scoring. The 6 guys ahead of him: Veeti Vainio (1997 born), Olli Vainio (1994), Oliwer Kaski (1995), Taneli Siikaluoma (1994), Roni Sevänen (1995), Sameli Ventelä (1994). Juolevi has a May 1998 birth date.
2015-16: First season in the OHL.
57GP - 9G - 33A - 42pt
Leaving home at 17 and playing in NHL sized rinks for the first time, Juolevi was the top scoring D in London (2nd was Victor Mete with 38pts in 68GP). Major force in the playoffs and WJC, raised his draft stock enough to be considered the best all-around D. Fourth in points among first time draft eligible defensemen from the OHL.
2017-18: First season in the Liiga.
38GP - 7G - 12A - 19pt
Juolevi was one of 11 defensemen who played more than 15 games in the Liiga as an U20 that year. He was 2nd in points (Heiskanen was 1st) and got better as the year went along. Per Salo:
“When the playoffs started, he was our best defenceman,” Salo said. “We lost (Henrik) Tallinder and it was good to see Olli carry the weight of Tallinder. He really picked up the Tallinder weight and was clearly our best defenceman."
2018-19: First season in the AHL.
18GP - 1G - 12A - 13pt
His 0.72 PPG was 8th among all AHL rookies and 1st among Ds. From Cull:
"I think Olli has done a really good job,” Comets coach Trent Cull said. “For a young guy, he’s played a lot of minutes for us, and he’s done some really good things. To show that he can be very much a good player for us at this level — this quickly — it is really boding well for his confidence.”
This is while coming back from offseason back surgery and dealing with nagging knee issues. When Juolevi flew to Vancouver for his knee, Cull said: "He had some (complaints) with it. It wasn’t getting better. He followed up and double-checked with doctors. They found something and that’s what they’re following through with."
That sounds like something he had tried to play through for a while. We'll never know what a full, healthy season would've looked like for Juolevi, but here are a few young defensemen who played in the AHL as 20 year olds:
Sanheim: 76GP - 10G - 37pt - 0.49ppg
Theodore: 50GP - 9G -37pt - 0.74ppg
Morrissey: 57GP - 3G - 22pt - 0.39ppg
Pulock: 54GP - 17G - 29pt - 0.54ppg
All these guys had a ways to go defensively as rookies. Juolevi has improved his defense everywhere he played -- his second year in London, he was their defensive workhorse. A couple months into his first season in the Liiga, Salo said "Olli has a lot of puck skills and sees the ice well but still needs to improve his defensive awareness but over-all we are happy with his play." By the end of the season, he was filling in for Tallinder, who played nearly 700 games in the NHL as a shutdown D. Of course he still has work to do, but his ability to rise to the challenge every time the competition increases speaks to his skills and hockey IQ. Tons of promising prospects never made it because they couldn't adjust to higher levels of play. Juolevi has proven in every instance that he has the ability to grow and adapt no matter where he is.
-from another forum