Quote:
Originally Posted by DropIt
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Another player that people were all over was Joel Armia, who has been crapping all over the SM-Liiga. He just started picking it up the last 2 or 3 games, but yikes is a train wreck early
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Armia's case is another illustration of the difference between NA and European prospects. If you're 18, playing in men's league, and you stumble a bit, no one's going to coddle you and there are any number of veterans who do most things better than you do. It may be that you're just working on weaknesses in your game or figuring things out, but the stats make it look like you fell off the edge of the world. If you play in a junior league, you'll get the ice time and the points even if you're not at your best.
That's why I appreciate Markus Granlund's situation right now. He's getting a chance that can by means be taken for granted. Backlund was stuck on the bench on a second-tier league when the Flames rescued him, if I remember right.
Many players who do really well in the NHL never lit up their own leagues, and vice versa. Sometimes that difference is quite dramatic, like say in Ovechkin's case. A player with a lot of talent will flourish as soon as he gets to play with NHL level talent.
Granlund's stats don't even mean that much, although it's nice to see he has those abilities. The next two seasons in Finland are when we'll start to see if he might develop into an NHL player. But so far so good.