[FFF]

One player I really hope Calgary gives a good long look is C Aatos Koivu (TPS, Finland). The son of Saku Koivu and nephew of Mikko Koivu, Aatos is a bit of a late bloomer and he probably wasn't on many people's radars a year ago, when he wasn't likely to be drafted at all. In addition to a growth spurt -- he is now listed as 6'0 and 165 lbs -- he's had a solid year which has seen his ranking rise, McKenzie had him at # 60. While bloodlines are far from a guarantee, I'm intrigued by his -- the son and nephew of a (European) NHL captain, grandson of a famous coach etc. The Koivu brothers were great natural leaders and both had the will and hockey IQ to have good-to-great careers even though both had their share of roadblocks. To me, that suggests that this kid will have the support and the resources to help him find his way to the NHL. He obviously has the talent for it. I doubt he'll be a first line center, but I'd bet he will be a plus middle six player who will mold his game to find a contributing role. From all I've heard he's a solid kid too, as you'd expect. As for playing style, he's more of a finisher than his father.

Moreover, he finds himself in a good organization for him, TPS, which is the team that's produced a lot of NHL forwards, in addition to Koivu brothers at least Mikko Rantanen, Artturi Lehkonen, Kaapo Kakko, Juuso Parssinen (Preds), Mikael Pyyhtia (CBJ)... not all of them are home runs, of course, but for a small Finnish club, that's not a bad list. To me, that should count for a lot; development and circumstances are key for any kid (see: Puljujarvi, Jesse; thanks again for ruining him, Edmonton), so any time you have somebody entrenched in a place where they know how to properly develop players, that's a bonus. Emil Hemming plays in the same team as does Kasper Pikkarainen, who both will be selected in the 2024 draft; both will probably go higher than Koivu.

Koivus is predicted to go in the third round. Like has been discussed here, centers aren't an organizational strength for the Flames, so I'd be comfortable taking a flyer on the kid.