Valimaki might need a few more years. 3 goals against today so far.
Valimaki didn't have a good game today I don't know why that would point to him being less NHL ready that's just dumb.
He was excellent earlier in the tournament and he spent a large portion of this game playing RD (His off side). He's also the best player on his WHL team.
Plus that poster is the opposite of unbiased seeing as he's trolling in the game thread currently and complained the entire tournament about how they cut his boy Old Lead boots (Rasanen).
He also said this about Rasanen after Valimaki had already been named Captain "I bet he beats out Valimaki and get more ice time #hottake".
It seems to me someone might have an agenda.
FTR I think Valimaki will spend next season and maybe the one after that in the AHL but I don't base it on a couple games in the 10 or so games I've seen he needs more time to refine his game. He's smart, has good instincts and has the physical tools he just needs time to put it all together.
Around the draft Garrett Hohl tweeted that he was a NZ beast in his draft year in the WHL I want to see him bring that level to preseason next year.
Not a great stretch of games for him but I thought he was good early in the tourney.Valimaki was a disappointment for me all tournament.
His game isn’t supposed to be flashy. He’s just a guy that’s usually good at getting the puck up ice and is relatively good defensively, which is a style of play that I like from defencemen.
However, he really didn’t even do that very well for most of the tournament. How many soft cross ice backhand passes either got picked off or weren’t even in the vicinity of the target? He generally took too long to make outlets, which won’t fly at a higher level.
Defensively he was okay. Definitely failed to identify his man on numerous occasions and he could use his stick to defend a fair bit better.
Is some of this nitpicking? Sure, but these are things that will determine his readiness to play in the NHL next year. This isn’t just based on this tournament either, it goes back to things I saw going into the draft last year.
I think he gets attached to the “NHL ready” tag because he plays a relatively safe game, but I see him playing at least one year in the AHL.
I didn't say you disliked the Flames I meant you picked out Valimaki as a disappointment before the tournament even started. Conformation bias you know?What's the agenda? What about all the times I've pumped Fox's tires? Just because Valimaki dissapointed me all tournament doesn't mean I dislike the Flames.
At least you still have a high profile defenceman in the tournament, more than a lot fanbases can say.
Guy had a bad game today and suddenly that's a terrible tournament. Okay.
One issue could be finding space for Valamaki next season, because I'm thinking Fox is going to jump right into our lineup when the NCAA season ends. And, at some point, we have to give Andersson and/or Kylington a real look, no?
Because we watch more than just the stats?
Hardly. Watching tells you what skills are there and which aren’t. There’s a reason teams employ scouts instead of just looking up who scored the most on hockeydb.Watching for things creates unwanted biases. If you're looking for him to make mistakes, the smallest mistake will catch your eye.
You're talking about a guy, again, who played on his off side the whole tournament and still finished with the most points among D-men and most 5v5 points among all his teammates.
Of course he was gonna make a few mistakes
Hardly. Watching tells you what skills are there and which aren’t. There’s a reason teams employ scouts instead of just looking up who scored the most on hockeydb.
Again, I like Juuso. I think he’s the style a modern shutdown D should be. But I’m not going to sit here and hush about how good his tournament was because he had 5 points. That’s not productive at all.
Does that mean that Valimaki was better than Heiskanen because Heiskanen only had 2(?) points?
I’m saying he has the potential to be. That really isn’t a controversial statement either.Considering I'm one of the biggest advanced stats nerds on here, I think it's safe to say points is one of the last things I look at but 5v5 points is a very telling stat
Also, now you're saying Valimaki is a modern shutdown defenseman?
Valimaki, IS what I’d call a flashy defenceman, and I wouldn’t classify him as an defensive dman whatsoever.