Prospects Ladd, Wheeler, Olesz and Tukonen

[Mike Rice]

Hi

what you think / saw from them?

who have the best nhl scoring potential ?

Ladd had only one good season and can worser than most people think!

Wheeler was a suprise in the draft. what saw gretzky on him?

Olesz... silence now about him

Tukonen had an bad last tournament, but was one of the top prospect before the draft....

so... for me its hard to make a ranking

maybe so:

Tukonen
Ladd
Olesz
Wheeler

Click to read more...

 

[DaveG]

Hi
Ladd had only one good season and can worser than most people think!

not to rain on your parade.

so far this season for Ladd:

4GP, 2Goals, 2Assists, 4Points, +3

not too bad at all so far.


Ladd
Tukonen
Olesz
Wheeler

 

[leafaholix*]

Lauri Tukonen
Rostislav Olesz
Blake Wheeler
Andrew Ladd

I think the first three have extremely high potentials. Can't say the same for Ladd, he looks like a guy that was extremely lucky to have Ryan Getzlaf on his team. His overall abilities make him look like a sure-fire NHL player in the future, but I'm not convinced he's a top line player or even a top 6. Tukonen, I thought should have easily gone in the top 10. Olesz, I was extremely impressed with in the WJC. And Wheeler apparently has insanely high potential, which is why he was drafted.

High-end potential...

1. Lauri Tukonen
2. Blake Wheeler
3. Rosty Olesz
4. Andrew Ladd

If you're looking for a "safe" prospect...

1. Lauri Tukonen
2. Andrew Ladd
3. Rosty Olesz
4. Blake Wheeler

My guess as to their roles in the NHL (if they make it)...

Lauri Tukonen - Top 6 forward, leading scorer for his team, a guy you want for the playoffs.
Rosty Olesz - 2nd/3rd line forward, good physically for a Euro, 50-70 points.
Blake Wheeler - Terrific scorer, dominant forward, 60+ points.
Andrew Ladd - 2nd/3rd line forward, great passer, good crash and bang forward, 40-60 points.

 

[X-SHARKIE]

I've seen Blake Wheeler twice this season now and I just can't justify this guy going #5 overall.

I would take Tukonen, Olesz over him any day. No questions asked. Same with Ladd.

He'll be Eric Daze some day if he devolopes well!

 

[Twist and Shout]

I'd rank them like this:

1. Tukonen

2A. Olesz
2B. Wheeler

3. Ladd

 

[fedorov_jr]

I'd rank them like this:

1. Tukonen

2A. Olesz
2B. Wheeler

3. Ladd

avatar thief!

 

[humboldt]

as a kings fan Im happy to see the high regard for tukonen... Im pretty excited - i picture him as a Jere Lehtinen kind of player.. would that be a good comparison?

 

[King'sPawn]

as a kings fan Im happy to see the high regard for tukonen... Im pretty excited - i picture him as a Jere Lehtinen kind of player.. would that be a good comparison?

Type? I'd say yes, although Lehtinen's defensive capabilities, from what I've heard (and don't doubt) far surpass Tukonen. Both are pretty much two-way players with offensive skill.

I'm kinda surprised Tukonen is ranked as high as he is. He isn't doing too well this season (though none of the Blues are), and usually two-way players don't get as mad props as the flashy, high octane players.

Ladd's doing pretty well in the WHL. Him, Pushkarev, and Getzlaf have been a force. Ladd sat out for fifteen minutes straight tonight, though; not sure if he was hurt or what. Wheeler's still too much of a project for me, just as Boyle is.

Olesz's stock dropped just a smidgeon after he got injued during his draft year. But I still think there's no doubting his skill.

Tukonen (slight bias)
Olesz
Ladd
Wheeler

 

[leafaholix*]

Not sure I'd say Ladd - Pushkarov - Getzlaf have been a "force".

 

[jepjepjoo]

This year for Blues:

1. Wilson Landon 7GP 2G 2A
2. Kohn Ladislav 7GP 3G 0A
3. MacLean Donald 6GP 1G 2A
4. Kalto Kari 7GP 1G 1A
5. Nieminen Niko 7GP 1G 0A
6. Tukonen Lauri 7GP 1G 0A

The team isn't doing really well

 

[miss hockey]

This year for Blues:

1. Wilson Landon 7GP 2G 2A
2. Kohn Ladislav 7GP 3G 0A
3. MacLean Donald 6GP 1G 2A
4. Kalto Kari 7GP 1G 1A
5. Nieminen Niko 7GP 1G 0A
6. Tukonen Lauri 7GP 1G 0A

The team isn't doing really well

Exactly, now that Blues have added Ryan Malone, if the results don't start improving, we should shortly see Hannu Virta filling out his unemployment papers.

He's given Tukonen top 6 icetime in several games, but more likely I'd say because the team just isn't working now. If they get going, or the coach gets changed, or Malone ignites the engine, then all of them should do quite a bit better as the teams roster is solid and seriously under achieving right now.

I originally thought Tukonen would be like 60% juniors and 30-40% Blues this season, but now I'm more and more convinced that he'll be in the pro team for mora than half the games. If he stays on the top lines, then he'll produce.

 

[Legionnaire]

I originally thought Tukonen would be like 60% juniors and 30-40% Blues this season, but now I'm more and more convinced that he'll be in the pro team for mora than half the games. If he stays on the top lines, then he'll produce.

That's good news. Thanks.

 

[Roughneck]

Can't say the same for Ladd, he looks like a guy that was extremely lucky to have Ryan Getzlaf on his team.

And Getzlaf was just the guy who was extremely lucky to have Freddie Sjostrom on his team.

 

[NYR469]

how is it that at the draft carolina made a great move to trade up and land ladd at #4 and gretzky was completely off his rocker taking wheeler at #5, but now wheeler is better than ladd?

 

[King'sPawn]

how is it that at the draft carolina made a great move to trade up and land ladd at #4 and gretzky was completely off his rocker taking wheeler at #5, but now wheeler is better than ladd?

Haven't you got the memo? Potential is all that matters in determining a player's worth.

 

[Eb0la11]

This year for Blues:

1. Wilson Landon 7GP 2G 2A
2. Kohn Ladislav 7GP 3G 0A
3. MacLean Donald 6GP 1G 2A
4. Kalto Kari 7GP 1G 1A
5. Nieminen Niko 7GP 1G 0A
6. Tukonen Lauri 7GP 1G 0A

The team isn't doing really well

Whats a good site that shows Finlands leagues stats etc? I know of eliteprospects.com that shows Swedens league but what is a finnish site like that?

 

[Blue Bullet]

I get my finnish stats at www.sm-liiga.fi. Its the official site and is all in Finnish but is fairly easy to get around. Here is the link to the page that you would want SM-Liiga Stats
Not sure if there is a way to get the stats from the junior leagues.

A great site for Swedish stats is http://stats.swehockey.se. This portion of the site is in english and easy to get stats for all the leagues in Sweden.

 

[Eb0la11]

Hey thanks alot BB.

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

Tukonen got quite a bit of responsibility in Sundays game against Pelicans. Blues scored 1 goal and had one disallowed (that tv replays showed to be in). In their official goal, Tukonen was heavily involved in but didnt get an assists but he was wrestling with a dman in front of the Saipa goalie and thus increased his teammates space and ability to score. So you could almost give him an unofficial assist for that one =)

And for the disallowed goal, iirc Tukonen was around the net then too and would have been given an assist had it been accepted.

So almost a 0+2 night for Tukonen.

He had some pp time and some pk time, did well in both. Was given quite a bit of responsibility by coach Hannu Virta and looks like a man out there. At one point I was stunned at how big he looked for an 18 year old kid amongst 25 odd year olds..

On course to be a top 6 forward for the Kings.

 

[Eb0la11]

Thanks RS. Do you get to watch there games? Where do you see tham? Im very interested in Tukonen, one of my fave prospects at the moment and all the info I can get would be awesome. Thanks

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

Thanks RS. Do you get to watch there games? Where do you see tham? Im very interested in Tukonen, one of my fave prospects at the moment and all the info I can get would be awesome. Thanks

I go to the odd-game and then usually watch the Sunday tv-games, like this one. With 3 teams in the Helsinki metropolitan area it's fairly easy to pick and choose which game you go to see if there isn't much difference as to whom you support..
Currently the Blue's head coach, Hannu Virta is inches away from being axed. Results speak against him, but one thing that he has done well is give time and responsibility to the youngsters, like Tukonen. He wasn't afraid of putting Tukonen on the first line with Ryan Malone on Sunday.
Note to the Penguins: Those two looked good together, woudn't be the craziest idea to one day trade for Tukonen..

Tukonen looked especially good on the PK, if one can draw conclusions from that and one game, then we would say that he'd be a top 6 forward who'd play a lot of PK time for the Kings when he moves over the Atlantic..

 

[Eb0la11]

Hey thanks again, keep these reports coming if you would like I dont get around to reading them often but when I come on I usually will hunt for this topic again and read up on it Sometimes its just takes me a week ehhe

 

[Eb0la11]

RS, I guess you live in Finland? Whats the station that plays the sunday games on TV? Maybe I can somehow order it hehe.

 

[miss hockey]

RS, I guess you live in Finland? Whats the station that plays the sunday games on TV? Maybe I can somehow order it hehe.

MTV3 - www.mtv3.fi

MTV3+ - the digital channel, shows many more games, especially if you subscribe to their Hockey Night service..

 

[KINGLEWOOD]

Thanks for the Tukonen updates, all us Kings fans appreciate them!