Confirmed with Link: Predators sign goalie Westerholm to 3-year, entry-level deal

Gnashville

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I see why he has done well shooters are blinded by his jersey and pads!!
 
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mirasane

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Apr 5, 2006
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Who? Never heard of him.
Pretty decent numbers in the juniors in Finland.

He is a real late bloomer. 3 years ago he had zero NHL potential and not many people thought he would even ever become a professional hockey player. However he has developed so quickly over the last two years that I can see why Preds were curious. If that development curve continues on the same path anything might be possible.

I saw Westerholm's Liiga games this season. I thought he wouldn't be ready for that kind of challenge yet but he was given the opportunity because Jussi Markkanen was injured and first goalie Frans Tuohimaa had been playing all the games and could use a break. Westerholm surprised me in a positive way. In his first game SaiPa played against much stronger team Tappara. Westerholm was under heavy bombardment and made 41/45 saves in the game. SaiPa lost but because of Westerholm the numbers weren't as ugly as they could have been.

Westerholm's best performance was his 4th and last game of the season when SaiPa played an away game against league leader Kärpät. Before the game Kärpät had impressive home stats of 21W/5L so SaiPa was a huge underdog in the game. Westerholm played a great game making few huge saves already in the first period. The game ended 3-3 and the winner was decided by penalties. Westerholm stopped all four attempts and SaiPa won the game.

Jussi Markkanen announced his retirement from professional hockey so SaiPa was expecting Westerholm to take his place as the second goalie next season. Now that he has an NHL contract Nashville might have other plans for him maybe bringing him to Milwaukee to adjust to NA hockey. Personally I think it wouldn't be completely bad idea to let him develop in Finland one more year as Westerholm credits his development to SaiPa's goalie coach Janne Valtonen. If the have great chemistry and seem to get great results bringing him to Milwaukee might not be the best option. Unless he is guaranteed to have more quality minutes than as SaiPa's second goalie.
 

King Weber

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Apr 9, 2015
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So apparently Kekalainen, Vanderklok and Fenton took a look at some tapes on Westerholm and marveled how much he looked like Rinne.
 

mirasane

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Apr 5, 2006
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SaiPa just signed Westerholm for next season with an option of season 2019-20. They sure are hoping to keep him in Lappeenranta to develop there. Frans Tuohimaa will be a clear first goalie for next season. Unless there is an injury I just can't see Westerholm playing more than 10-15 games. This past season Tuohimaa played 51/60 games with Jussi Markkanen or Westerholm as the second and third options.

Man, I haven't heard the name Jussi Markkanen in forever.

He just retired at the age of 42. This season he broke his own record becoming the oldest goalie in Finnish elite league to record a shutout. Can't see that record being broken anytime soon as the closest rival is Niklas Bäckström, 40, and he is probably also retiring after this season.
 

mirasane

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Apr 5, 2006
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Predators scout Janne Kekäläinen interviewed in Finland about the signinng of Westerholm (Seurapomo soitti ihmeissään Suomeen ja hehkutti "Pekan pojaksi" – NHL:n mestarisuosikki Nashville löysi uusimman suomalaislupauksensa puolivahingossa)
Key points about the interview:
- He found Westerholm by accident. He heard Westerholm's name mentioned by commentator on tv and was curious because though he is pro scout from Finland he didn't recognize that name. There was Tappara-SaiPa game on tv which happened to be Westerholm's debut in Finnish Elite League. Kekäläinen watched the game and was impressed. He decided immediately to go to see SaiPa juniors game to see more of Westerholm.
- Kekäläinen went to see two junior games of Westerholm and sent video footage of those games to the goalie coach of Predators. He was equally impressed.
- Soon Paul Fenton called Kekäläinen and his first words were: "Holy shit! This guy could be Pekka's son!"
- The goalie coach had also seen much reseblance to Rinne in both Westerholm's playing and attitude towards practice.
- Becuse he has played in USHS he could be signed without having to draft him first. So he is basically a free player who could turn out to be a valuable asset. He will play next season in SaiPa because he has a quality coach there. After next season his future will be considered again.
 

mirasane

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Apr 5, 2006
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Westerholm played his first FEL game of the season today when SaiPa faced Kärpät, champion team from last season. Westerholm put on a stellar performance stopping all 31 shots and earning his first career shutout. Kärpät dominated on the ice asia their goalie only faced 13 shots in the whole game. Because of Westerholm's perfect play SaiPa won 1-0.
 

NJ Fan 12

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Jun 23, 2020
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Just curious as to why his contract was terminated in July.

He is sharing the net in SaiPa with one-time Flyers' prospect Matej Tomek this season and has all three of the team's wins. If nothing else, he will see plenty of shots and get a lot of action.
 

GoldOnGold

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Mar 27, 2016
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Same. My guess is with the addition of Askarov the Preds are shedding some of the longshots.

The contract was terminated back in July, apparently. Wonder if it is a personal situation of some kind, or maybe he just wants to stay in Europe? Seems strange.

Maybe contract limit? But we're at 41/50, so that seems unlikely.
 

Armourboy

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The contract was terminated back in July, apparently. Wonder if it is a personal situation of some kind, or maybe he just wants to stay in Europe? Seems strange.

Maybe contract limit? But we're at 41/50, so that seems unlikely.
If we are dropping a prospect its for a reason. Maybe with Covid he didn't want to come here, but my guess is after signing Askarov he was no longer needed.
 

Porter Stoutheart

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I thought I read somewhere once that the average salary in the SM-Liiga was around 60-80,000 euros? So it's not drastically different than the $70,000 on his minor league deal. Except here on that minor league contract he'd probably be looking at starting in the ECHL and the kind of travel and expenses and lifestyle riding a bus in the East Coast league is maybe not as attractive to him as trying to work his way into an above-average salary in Finland? He was a starting goalie last year, maybe over the next few years he can bump his salary up a bit. All while enjoying a more comfortable and familiar lifestyle. I mean, it wouldn't have been totally alien to him here, he did that high school year a while back, but even still if the money is really no different, and the path to more money and a more prominent role actually seems quicker in Finland... flipping the loan into a mutual termination seems sensible. But who knows, could be any number of reasons. :dunno:
 

herzausstein

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Aug 31, 2014
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Just curious as to why his contract was terminated in July.

He is sharing the net in SaiPa with one-time Flyers' prospect Matej Tomek this season and has all three of the team's wins. If nothing else, he will see plenty of shots and get a lot of action.

His play hasn't been that great.
18-19 - SaiPa 15GP 2.27 GAA 0.907 SV%
19-20 - SaiPa 40GP 2.76 GAA 0.896 SV%

Even this year:
20-21 - SaiPa 8GP 2.72 GAA 0.901 SV%

Couple that with being gifted Ingram last year and it seems like a natural move. Askarov would've been the final nail if it wasn't terminated already.
 

PredsV82

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The contract was terminated back in July, apparently. Wonder if it is a personal situation of some kind, or maybe he just wants to stay in Europe? Seems strange.

Maybe contract limit? But we're at 41/50, so that seems unlikely.

I'm guessing with Ingram falling into our lap he had no shot at a job in NA and I suspect he asked to be released to try to find another job
 

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