Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
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.
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Well it wasn't an answer specifically just for you, I felt there was a lot of that kind of sentiment going around.
Kekäläinen has been the head of Amateur Scouting in Columbus since 2002 and the GM since 2013, and if my quick roster check is correct, only 4 Finns have played for the Blue Jackets in that period, 2 of them goalies. I'm guessing that's below league average. The Flames have had that that many Finns just this season. A quick glance through their draft record doesn't really suggest preferring Finns either.
They don't really seem to prefer Europeans either as fas as I can tell, their current team is mostly NA born.
As for Kekäläinen wanting both Finns, that rumour makes zero sense to me. They're both wingers. You don't build a team around two wingers.