Confirmed with Link: Saku Maenalanen 1 year 2 way

[nobody imp0rtant]

I was thinking a 4th line of Maestro-Gustafsson-Stenlund, that could speak the same language(s) on the ice.

If anyone is going to be happy to see an influx of Europeans this offseason it's Nik Ehlers, who had Vesalainen around, and Reichel for parts of last year, Heinola for a cup of coffee. There's more than a few guys now to kick the soccer ball around in pregame this year.

You forgot Appleton.

 

[Jets 31]

Whenever i see this Dude's name it makes me think of this classic.

 

[John Agar]

Whenever i see this Dude's name it makes me think of this classic.

True...

Looks like a regular crew all juiced up on a Friday night in Helsinki...

 

[GumbyCan2]

My scouting report on Mäenalanen would be: Big, strong guy with good speed. Has some skill too. Has toughness and grit too. I think he can be an "OK" 4th line player in NHL. But I don't think he has upside to be more than that.

Ok PoMo!! Hee, hee, hee...I thought you were "maenening" the Florida Panthers icetime and roles now. Yucka', yucka'.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

If needed Mäenalanen doesn't shy to drop his gloves.
Hopefully Saku gets fair chance to show what he's got in NHL.

Last stint in Carolina was fine but maybe Saku returned to Europe too soon.
Saku has at least 5-10 yrs left to make a career in NHL so i hope this time Saku works hard
and takes a advantage to every chance what he's going to get and maybe then Jets have a OK 4th line winger
who can be a part of Jets stanley cup winning team someday.

 

[voyageur]

So what's your thoughts on this guy so far?

1 points in 10 games and CF% is among the worst the Jets have had for forwards that played 10 games, up there with the likes of Adam Brooks last year, and David Gustafsson, Luoto, and Logan Shaw in 2019-20. Worse than any of Vesalainen's years. I don't see much offense from the guy, but he's 2nd on the team in hits. Pk metrics are decent. But he's gotten less ice time of late, Barron going down may change that.

Does he stay with the team all year? Do the Jets need an upgrade at the 3LW position, with Barron out? Most of the Finnish poster here had him pegged as a decent 4th liner, is that his ceiling, and he is better than AJF in that spot?

For the record I'm not a fan of the nickname Big Sak, because that makes me think Saku Koivu should have been known as little Sak. One of the Finnish posters referred to his PK abilities as Maestro, which to me is a good nickname for him, in my opinion. He is noticeable in his performance, as a difficult player to play against, however challenged he may be offensively.

 

[Gabe Kupari]

Sometimes advanced stats are stupid and in this case, they are stupid.

Some of you are to caught up in pointless little tiny sample sized metrics that really in the big picture don't matter

 

[voyageur]

Sometimes advanced stats are stupid and in this case, they are stupid.

Some of you are to caught up in pointless little tiny sample sized metrics that really in the big picture don't matter

I was right about Vesalainen when I said that the advanced stats showed a guy who couldn't generate offense, and pucks were dying on his stick. Everybody blamed linemates, etc, but turns out he couldn't generate offense. Maenalanen looks offensively challenged to me. Defensively he looks fine, better than Vesalainen. The 4th line with him, Gus and Fjabio were doing a decent job, mostly because the latter two are good at tracking pucks. What's the big picture with a player like him? He's likely a one and done, so what's his role this year? 3rd line definitely seems like a poor fit, Gagner was signed for the 4th line, and goes back there when Ehlers comes back. So that puts him in the battle with AJF, Toninato, Harkins, Eyssimont, etc, for a roster spot. I think the physicality is the one thing that will win him out some playing time, and he's been ok on the PK.

 

[MrBoJangelz71]

So what's your thoughts on this guy so far?

1 points in 10 games and CF% is among the worst the Jets have had for forwards that played 10 games, up there with the likes of Adam Brooks last year, and David Gustafsson, Luoto, and Logan Shaw in 2019-20. Worse than any of Vesalainen's years. I don't see much offense from the guy, but he's 2nd on the team in hits. Pk metrics are decent. But he's gotten less ice time of late, Barron going down may change that.

Does he stay with the team all year? Do the Jets need an upgrade at the 3LW position, with Barron out? Most of the Finnish poster here had him pegged as a decent 4th liner, is that his ceiling, and he is better than AJF in that spot?

For the record I'm not a fan of the nickname Big Sak, because that makes me think Saku Koivu should have been known as little Sak. One of the Finnish posters referred to his PK abilities as Maestro, which to me is a good nickname for him, in my opinion. He is noticeable in his performance, as a difficult player to play against, however challenged he may be offensively.

Actually really like his game so far and the stats fail to tell the picture here.

He has been good on the forecheck, has shown an element of physicality that we lack in our forwards. He also does not back down from players and doesn't hesitate to get in any scrums. Big, skates well and works hard and has been consistent game to game. I have yet to curse his name out loud as I cannot recall any mistakes he has made so far.

If Demelo and Axel could finish, he would have 4 or 5 points this season, and he has shown more in 10 games then Ves did in 70.

This is the best our 4rth line has looked in a while and Maenalane has played a role in that

​

 

[FinJetster]

So what's your thoughts on this guy so far?

1 points in 10 games and CF% is among the worst the Jets have had for forwards that played 10 games, up there with the likes of Adam Brooks last year, and David Gustafsson, Luoto, and Logan Shaw in 2019-20. Worse than any of Vesalainen's years. I don't see much offense from the guy, but he's 2nd on the team in hits. Pk metrics are decent. But he's gotten less ice time of late, Barron going down may change that.

Does he stay with the team all year? Do the Jets need an upgrade at the 3LW position, with Barron out? Most of the Finnish poster here had him pegged as a decent 4th liner, is that his ceiling, and he is better than AJF in that spot?

For the record I'm not a fan of the nickname Big Sak, because that makes me think Saku Koivu should have been known as little Sak. One of the Finnish posters referred to his PK abilities as Maestro, which to me is a good nickname for him, in my opinion. He is noticeable in his performance, as a difficult player to play against, however challenged he may be offensively.

The positive in his corsi is that it's trending upwards after a few pretty horrible games early in the season. He also "knows his place" by playing short shifts and often tends to go to change once they get the puck over the blueline. Hence getting a few less corsi plus points per game.

 

[JetsFan815]

So what's your thoughts on this guy so far?

1 points in 10 games and CF% is among the worst the Jets have had for forwards that played 10 games, up there with the likes of Adam Brooks last year, and David Gustafsson, Luoto, and Logan Shaw in 2019-20. Worse than any of Vesalainen's years. I don't see much offense from the guy, but he's 2nd on the team in hits. Pk metrics are decent. But he's gotten less ice time of late, Barron going down may change that.

Does he stay with the team all year? Do the Jets need an upgrade at the 3LW position, with Barron out? Most of the Finnish poster here had him pegged as a decent 4th liner, is that his ceiling, and he is better than AJF in that spot?

For the record I'm not a fan of the nickname Big Sak, because that makes me think Saku Koivu should have been known as little Sak. One of the Finnish posters referred to his PK abilities as Maestro, which to me is a good nickname for him, in my opinion. He is noticeable in his performance, as a difficult player to play against, however challenged he may be offensively.

I didn't know his Corsi stats before you mentioned it but my take was that he doesn't really pass my eyetest. That said the Jets were full of praise for his training camp and even Murat had positive things to say about his camp and play so I am willing to concede that I might be missing something with him. Sample size for minutes is still a bit too low to make sweeping judgements, it'll probably be another 10 games before you can judge but as far as my eyes go I could see him being in competition for that spot if Harkins plays better and there are no injuries when Barron returns from injury.

 

[AlaskaJet]

Another Finn! Can’t wait to hear endlessly about all his deficiencies and lack of IQ

DeFINNately a good addition!

 

[Jet]

I really love Big Saks game. I've loved some of the one t shots he's fired from the slot after turnovers.

At his age is unlikely we'll get a ton of production from him but I do see some of those going in if he keeps it up

 

[Jets 31]

I really like Mahnamahna's game, big and physical and works hard every shift. Not going to score alot but we need some size and he brings it every shift.

 

[JetsUK]

Big Sak doesn't suk!

Haven't seen much in the way of offence yet and think I prefer Axel F overall for his speed and ability to occasionally hit the net, but this guy is like a purpose-built and finely-tuned battering ram for dislodging pucks and crushing people.

And yet he seems to take remarkably few penalty minutes for all the chaos he causes.

 

[SUX2BU]

Big Bag is playing very well and has shown some offensive skills in last night's game

So far, this is the first season I am comfortable with the bottom six skill

 

[Bladerunner62]

A big thing about having Saku and Axel are they eat minutes and don't hurt the Jets. Would i like them to score, absolutely. If they were like any other 3rd or 4th line we had in recent years, the top two lines would be playing more and diminishing their production from doing so. Bones feels safe giving these guys 10, 11 minutes on the 4th line and upward to 14 on the 3rd line, thus bringing the top two lines down to a number they can succeed at without exhaustion and brain fatigue. That's a huge plus in my books.

 

[Monkey D Luffy]

Low cost upside
Now let’s trade Schefishle and Douchbois!
But Wheezer first please……

I love when posts age well.

 

[RabidOne]

I really like Mahnamahna's game, big and physical and works hard every shift. Not going to score alot but we need some size and he brings it every shift.

We have a Hawaiian?