Quote:
Originally Posted by Buff
Valimaki was at a point of regression with the Flames. Whether that's his fault or the team's fault for not developing him they made the right call to risk losing him. No point in banging their head against the wall with him because his future with this franchise was going down the toilet. Now he gets an opportunity with another team to prove he belongs in the NHL.
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It also appeared that Valimaki had issues dealing with adversity which resulted in decreased confidence in his abilities. While I believe that most of that was internally driven, instead of pushing through Valimaki seemed to wilt under the pressure.
He is currently playing in a zero-adversity environment and performing very well. It's really hard to definitively say what he is until you see him in an adverse environment again (whether internally generated or otherwise).