Quote:
Originally Posted by Henry Fool
My impression is that it's defensive decision-making that Välimäki needs to improve, but I can't recall where I got that.
Reports about his attitude were very positive, I'm pretty sure.
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I think he said it in his interviews and Treliving and the scouts reiterated that fact. My understanding on Valimaki is that he is at the current moment good at many attributes which is why his floor is higher than someone like Liljegren. He knows he needs to improve and is perhaps more harsh on his own misgivings than the average player. I recall one interview where Tre said something along the lines of (in response to a question about Valimaki's comment about his weakness), "He said that is his weakness? It's a strength of his, but I agree he can definitely improve on that aspect."
IMO Chychrun was over analyzed and that's why he fell. I am wondering if Liljegren is similar, or if there's serious questions about his game that scouts noted that make him more a long term project vs an over analyzed player. Liljegren wasn't healthy this season. A huge reason why he fell. Chychrun was also not healthy his draft season and a major reason he fell.
I however and happy with the Valimaki selection the more that I read about him and listen to his interviews. However, I will also say that it seems the trajectory expected of his development (lower floor #2, lower ceiling #4 Dman), Valimaki will fit better in a 3-5 year cup contention window than a player like Liljegren (High ceiling - Karlsson, lower floor - Kylington trajectory thus far).
Also, it looks like Valimaki at his prime weight will be a really heavy and solid defender size wise to play against. I'm also hoping he's indestructible like other products that come out of his home town.