Well, I've not seen him play live being he's in Finland but will be going to plenty of Wilkes Barre games this year. But everything I've read by our folks from overseas and the reports on him after he signed his ELC, indicate the Pens absolutely think he's an NHL'er in the near future. Not this year, but depending on how he looks in Wilkes, and what Rikola does moving forward, there may be an opening on the left side of the bottom pairing in 2020-21.
He's already played against men. From the reports I've seen, he seems to be a steady two way player, solid in his own end, good skater, solid puck movement skills. He's not going to blow anybody away but I think he's much further along than Bellerive and Almeida who are hyped because they scored a lot of points (relative to how cheaply we got them) which in the day and age of sports betting and fantasy sports seems to be the only thing many fans care about. Or "looked good in shorts" as Tomlin would say. I always laugh when people get excited about players based on a prospect tournament or development camp. Those things mean very little in the grand scheme.
Euro's are, in today's hockey world, much further along in a lot of ways as 18 year olds because they are generally playing in adult pro leagues against players much older and more experienced than guys in Jr. I think the gap between development in that regard has shrunk by a very large amount.
Honestly, he strikes me as a Petterson type player. Won't put up many points, but he's steady.
Like I said though, I live about an hour and change from Wilkes Barre and less than that from Hershey so I get to see a good amount of our boys each year live. I'll be going to as many games as I can this year given the roster the baby Pens should be icing.