Quote:
Originally Posted by Itse
His SM-liiga points are
2011-12: 15 goals, 34 points in 47 games, ~15 min ATOI
2012-13: 10 goals, 30 points in 50 games, ~17 min ATOI
Are there examples of guys with that kind of numbers making it to top 6 in the NHL? If somebody has examples then maybe I'll have more faith, but at this point I'm thinking "bust".
If you're a bonafide top 6 NHL prospect your numbers can't go from .7 PPG to .6 PPG as you grow a year older, get 2 minutes more icetime per game and become the #1 center of your team.
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Mikko Koivu. In fact his production levels in the FEL were far worse..and this is a player who has a 71 point NHL season under his belt.
Markus Granlund also had significantly better numbers than Tuomo Ruutu did at the age of 18 for example (34 compared to 23), so that is encouraging...but unlike Ruutu he failed to increase his totals the following season.
However when you look a little closer at the individual performances on the HIFK roster last season, you begin to realize that each and every one of the returning players regressed SIGNIFICANTLY except for Markus.
For example...
Markus Granlund regressed from 34 points to 30 points last season (-4)
Ville Peltonen regressed from 48 points to 29 points last season (-19)
Toni Soderholm regressed from 47 points to 27 points last season (-20)
Eero Somervuori regressed from 41 points to 27 points last season (-14)
Kimmo Kuhta regressed from 40 points to 19 points last season (-21)
Given the circumstances I would be extremely reluctant to read to much into his offensive output on that roster this past year. Even after the teams offensive struggles he holds a near identical PPG average in the FEL to Joel Armia (0.65 vs 0.67), and is actually ahead of Teuvo Teravainen as well (0.65 vs 0.58). In addition to that he displayed at the WJC's the past two seasons that he is just as productive and dominant as those players at the international level(s).
I am not his biggest fan by any means and I certainly question if he will be able to translate his skillset to North America, but it is certainly way too early to be labelling him a "bust" at this point. If anything I think his skill set and ability is incredibly underrated by the hockey world.