ITSE reply:
Quote:
I'm not that sure Kekäläinen has a special love for Puljujärvi. There are several reasons for this:
1) The optics would be bad for him if Puljujärvi disappoints. (Although this is a minor thing since Puljujärvi is such a clear consensus #3.)
2) The job of Kekäläinen is to do what's best for Columbus. Nothing else. He's a pro that's perfectly capable of looking past his personal bias.
3) He has not favoured Finns in the past.
|
Sorry, I had tried to reply to you earlier, but it came up blank. I replied to other posts not long ago, but this one comes up blank again - have to manually quote.
Sorry, that post you replied to came out a bit wrong. I just read that Kekalainen thought very highly of both Finns, and that there was a better chance that Columbus acquires both of them, than to give up the #3 pick.
I am sure that if there was a substantial offer - one that definitely goes into 'severe over-payment' - that Kekalainen would definitely trade as his job and the success of his team is more important than any bias he may have. I didn't mean necessarily that he was biased in selecting Finns - only that this year's crop is indeed impressive, and of course I am sure a little bit of bias would enter into it. I just heard that he is exceptionally high on both Laine and Puljujarvi, and was going to entertain obtaining both.
Interesting to know he hasn't had any bias towards Finns thus far as a GM. Though I am sure he is a professional, and would always make the best choice for his team, I thought that with his background in European scouting that he just had more access and contacts in place from which on the outside might have been perceived as a slight bias to European players, if not Finnish directly. I haven't followed Columbus' draft record at all, however, but I just figured given his scouting background (not just his nationality) that he would have been more privy to especially later round picks from Europe than many other teams. Thanks for the enlightenment!