Quote:
Originally Posted by midniteowl
I love Valimaki, I am one of his biggest supporter. But since his injuries he just not the same, before he was full of confidence and he knew what to do when someone come at him, it's almost like he was thinking 3 steps ahead in a chess game. But last night, he's like whenever a forechecking on him, he panic, doesn't what to do and either blindly getting rid of the puck or just plain lose the puck or the forechecker. On that Oilers shorty, he tried to go behind the net with the puck but lost it to Yamamoto and immediately panic and didn't know what to do and allow Yamamot so much time to pass it to Drai. I pains me greatly to see a once upon a time promising Dman turned into that because of injuries.  |
It seems like more of a confidence issue with Valimaki than anything. When he came back from injury in 2020-21, he lit up the Finnish league and showed a little bit of progress under Ward.
He didn't start spiraling until Darryl took over in the latter part of the 2020-21 season. Then Mitch Love also gave Valimaki zero rope/leniency last year.
The ability is still there. He probably just needs a fresh start or a coach that he jives with better