Quote:
Originally Posted by Hack&Lube
With the news of Kylington's injury and MacKey being called up, what has happened to Valimaki?
At one point, he was one of the brightest upcoming defencemen we had, and I always thought he just needed a chance on the big club like Kylington.
Has anyone followed his AHL progress this year?
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He was Stockton's 3rd best D, behind MacKey and DeSimone. That's why MacKey got the call ahead of him. As for what happened to him? The emergance of Kylington and Sutter happened to him. I think that Sutter trying to change the culture and instill that you need to play better before you get more ice time and not the other way around hurt his confidence quite a bit. That's nothing against Sutter, because any coach has players that perform better and worse under him.
As far as the promise Valimaki had, it was hampered quite a bit by his injuries, and his skating not being as good as pre-injury. He also looks like he lacks consistency, and confidence as a result. I think he still has all the tools to come around, just need him to jump through all of Sutter's hoops and perform.