Quote:
Originally Posted by Itse
My 5 cents.
The Finnish Elite league, or the SM-liiga, is pretty much in a tailspin. The best Finns are increasingly playing in KHL, NHL or Swedish Elite league. The dominant scorers are North American washups like Stephen Dixon and Eric Perrin. The best Finn is Mikael Granlund at sixth, and he's still a kid and I don't think he was at his best all year. (Too many international games, too much attention from everybody.) The defenseman in this league here are even worse than our forwards. The only good thing we have is goalies.
Teuvo Teräväinen getting 18 points (in 40 games) in this league is not impressive at all and having seen him play, here's my conclusion;
If Teräväinen (or someone on his level) was the best player on the board, I'm happy that the Flames went off the board.
Also, Jankowski sounds intriguing. Certainly has all the makings of a real steal.
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Not interested in a debate on Teuvo since that train has passed, or on your hyperbolic take on the Finnish league, but you're being a bit unfair there. He wasn't a first round pick at all until very late. He's something like a day older than Jankowski. Most of his points came during the latter half of the season and he got 6 points in 9 games in the playoffs. Markus Granlund who is a year older could barely crack his team's lineup in the playoffs let alone contribute offense.
Understandable if the Flames didn't have Teuvo on the list if they were set on Jankowski since December or whatever, but teams draft based on qualities, not how many points they get against men at 17. No one goes, 'Ooh he had 18 points, he must be sniper!' or 'Wow, Filip Forsberg had 17 points in the second-tier league in Sweden! He's a star!' Lots of great European NHLers didn't have stats against men in their draft year.