Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinordi
What's the rub with Valimaki? His numbers look great, scouting reports are excellent, why did he drop to 16th?
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Probably because he's not as flashy as some of the other Dmen but he seems to be just as effective, one of his main strong points is he really doesn't have a weakness which leads me to believe there is a hell of a lot of potential there. Again Chabot fell to 18 which now seems insane, Valimaki has been highly rated this entire year but never really had the hype of a Makar or Heiskanen. A lot of people are applauding Vegas for picking Brannstrom but I find that pick to be a huge risk. Kid is only 5'9 which is crazy, Valimaki could've easily went higher then several players that went in the top 10. Again this draft was very murkey after the top 4 but the flames were able to get one of the safer and in my opinion better D man in the first round. I believe Valimaki is right up there with the top 2 Dmen in this draft and superior to Foote and Brannstrom who went ahead of him. Was very surprised he didn't go to Tampa, while Vegas was obviously going for the guy with biggest boom factor being Brannstrom, but I don't agree with that as Valimaki has all the tools that make him a superior prospect to both Foote and Brannstrom imo. Was actually quite shocked Brannstrom went before him. Kid is Johnny size on defense and has never played NA hockey. These types of Dmen look great playing on big ice and at international competitions but it's hard for me to fathom a 5'9 player on D that isn't gonna get manhandled in the NHL unless he somehow has super strength I'm not aware of.