2010 Draft: Land of Thousand Lakes offers slim pickings

FINLAND – Finland, in the post lock-out NHL, has been mostly known as the hot bed of goaltending talent. Net minders like Miikka Kiprusoff and Niklas Backstrom are household names in the NHL elite, with a raft of young talent in Boston’s Tuukka Rask, Chicago’s Antti Niemi and Nashville’s Pekka Rinne ensuring that Finland guards the backend of the NHL.
 
However, since the ‘Finnish Golden Generation’ (think Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu, Jere Lehtinen, Sami Salo, Kimmo Timonen, or the talent that emerged from 1995 World Championship winning team) there has been a lack of superstar talent emerging from Finland. As the NHL entry draft approaches, Finland and its prospect pool are in somewhat of unknown waters. Since Mikko Koivu at 6^th overall in 2001, Kari Lehtonen at 2nd overall in 2002 by Atlanta, or Tuukka Rask by Toronto as 21^st overall in 2005, there hasn’t been many players who would’ve gone in first round since post lock out NHL. Incidentally, two out of the three recent round one picks are goalies, further adding to Finland’s status as a world leader in goalie development.
 

As Finnish hockey and the NHL is preparing to wave goodbye to talents such as Selanne, there is a glimmer of hope in the future superstars of Finnish hockey. For this years’ draft it is entirely possible that you will learn the names of Mikael Granlund (HIFK – Helsinki) and Teemu Pulkkinen (Jokerit – Helsinki).
 
Another player worth noting in this article is Toni Rajala, who was taken 101^st overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2009 entry draft. Rajala is currently playing for the Brandon Wheat Knights in the WHL. Rajala claimed some early success in the U-18s World Championships in 2009, where he scored 10 goals and assisted 9 others, breaking the points scoring record of one Alexander Ovechkin, who you might’ve heard of.  Rajala was instantly compared to Ovechkin by some scouts, though he was yet to establish himself in the Finnish leagues.
 
In the 2010 draft, Finland’s brightest prospect is Mikael Granlund. Granlund broke into the SM-Liiga in Finland with through a contractual dispute. Granlund had signed a contract with HIFK, though his team Karpat (Oulu) claimed that he was under contract to the Karpat organisation. Through many twists and turns, Granlund was eligible to ice for HIFK and broke in to the league with a storm. In 40 regular season games for HIFK he scored 13 goals and assisted 27. In the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureaus midterm rankings, Granlund was ranked as the top European skater for the up and coming draft.
 
Granlund’s two big shots to really impress the scouts came in the Under 20’s World Championships and Under 18’s World Championships, where he dominated against smaller hockey countries, but when facing the likes of Canada or USA, he was nearly invisible. There was a chance that he was to play in the IIHF World Championships in Germany, but he has been left out of the roster due to an injury and admitting that he was not ready for the level of competition. At the time of writing this, the ISS scouting system currently ranks Granlund at number  17. Still a good ranking for the youngster, but he has previously been in the Top 10.
 
Whether his ‘failures’ in the World Championships will cost him a first round pick remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain, any team that drafts him is guaranteed a true playmaking gem as long as he is conditioned both physically and mentally to deal with the high pressure environment of the NHL.
 
The second most interesting Finn for this years draft has to be Teemu Pulkkinen who plays for Jokerit. Not much is known of him in the Finnish leagues as he was limited to 12 games this season in the SM-Liiga. In those games he scored a total of 3 points, however it must be noted that during his tenure at the team, Jokerit was mainly known as the laughing stock of the league, losing games left right and centre.  Pulkkinen was limited to 12 games due to an injury and was sent back to the Juniors.
 
Pulkkinen did show signs of his scoring prowess in the Under 18s world championships. In the tournament he helped Finland capture bronze and score impressive stats of 10+5, which have marginally raised interest in him.  However, due to the injuries disrupting his season and because he has not shown his full skill set in the SM-Liiga level, he is a likely to be picked late in the second round.
 
Other than Granlund (hopefully) going in the first round, it looks as if the -91, -92 born players will not produce immediate stars for Finnish hockey and the nation has to wait for another Teemu Selanne or Saku Koivu to emerge.
 
Aside from Granlund and Pulkkinen the others who are likely to get drafted this year are: Joonas Donskoi, Mikael Salmivirta, Sami Aittokallio, Iiro Pikkarainen, Nico Manelius and Aleksi Laakso. Out of these names, you will probably only ever see Granlund break into stardom and Pulkkinen break into the NHL. The others? You will probably hear about them if you follow AHL, ECHL, KHL, Eliteserien or on the off chance the SM-League.
 
The 2010 NHL Entry Draft and the 2010 Under 20 and Under 18 World Championships speak volumes of the Junior development of Finnish hockey players – slim pickings.
 
Contact   Janne.Virtanen@prohockeynews.com