Quote:
Originally Posted by VilleN
I am quietly optimistic that we may have a superstar defenseman. That would be absolutely huge for this team if he ends up on the level of a Heiskanen. For now though, excited to have a top dman as a prospect.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Geeoff
I did a calculation. I don't know how accurate but it said 8 points in 7 games in Liiga is an NHLe of 42. I'd take a 42 point Valimaki all day!
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I was just looking at Valimaki's NHLe progression using Byron Bader's model and Valimaki has been on par or better than a lot of high end defencmen in the league and has every chance to be the next in line to Hughes, Makar and Heiskanen.
It's hard to not be excited about him, my only concern is that the flames won't give him the leash needed for him to reach the levels of those guys as that would probably mean demoting Gio to third pair to play with Kylington. Which wouldn't be a bad idea, I'm just not sure the coaching staff is ready to admit that Gio is regressing and needs his time cut back yet.
Hopefully the young guys all show up in camp ready to play and force the coach's hands to go with something like
Hanifin - Andersson
Valimaki - Tanev
Gio - Kylington