Olli Juolevi | #48 | D

[Canuck Surfer]

2 hours ago, rekker said:

Hate to see where the D prospect pool would be without this kid.

If we as a team, do not draft D proportionately and with value picks (invest 1st rounders) often enough?

 

We better have a near perfect strike rate when we do! Juolevi was almost the only 1st or 2knd round pick we invested on a D man in almost ten years,,, Look how much pressure there was on Subban & Hutton? And we needed them not only to make the team? But be impact players as late round draft picks... 

 

I jumped for joy when we picked Juolevi.  I was not educated enough to pick between him, Sergachev or Chychrun. I advocated Chychrun, but was over the moon nonetheless. I'm no less excited now, watching him play at the WJC's.  

[granpappy]

5 hours ago, Harvey Spector said:

The most important thing for me is that Juolevi looks like he is 200+ pounds.  He's physically ready for the NHL...

yes, i noticed him bumping people . . . sometimes off the puck

[higgyfan]

6 hours ago, Harvey Spector said:

The most important thing for me is that Juolevi looks like he is 200+ pounds.  He's physically ready for the NHL...

Agreed.  Really like how his physical game is improving.  Along with his smarts, skating, passing and defensive skills, he will be a very good LD to ride shotgun with an offensive RD.  There appears to be 2 or 3 good ones in the upcoming draft.

[Vinny in Vancouver]

8 hours ago, jking said:

Big step up for OJ today. Too bad he didn't score in the shootout. The difference between someone who is playing and someone who is hiding.

I didn't quite get that decision of using a D-man for the shootout that early factoring in the difference in sticks, distance of shot, etc. I suppose that's a nod to how well OJ was playing in that game.

[Jester13]

I've always liked this pick, as I truly think we have a great D prospect, but I disagree when people say he does everything right.

 

I personally believe he needs to work on his intensity. He really looks bored on the ice - he reminds me a lot of Elder. Don't get me wrong, I'd be happy if we have another young Elder on our hands for the next decade, but imagine how much better he can be if he plays like he cares.

 

He mentioned after last season that he wanted to play with men, so that's why he's playing in Finland rather than London, so maybe it will be different once he's in the NHL and playing with even better men? Here's hoping, because it's tough, at times, watching his lackadaisical - yet efficient - play. 

[rekker]

36 minutes ago, Jester13 said:

I've always liked this pick, as I truly think we have a great D prospect, but I disagree when people say he does everything right.

 

I personally believe he needs to work on his intensity. He really looks bored on the ice - he reminds me a lot of Elder. Don't get me wrong, I'd be happy if we have another young Elder on our hands for the next decade, but imagine how much better he can be if he plays like he cares.

 

He mentioned after last season that he wanted to play with men, so that's why he's playing in Finland rather than London, so maybe it will be different once he's in the NHL and playing with even better men? Here's hoping, because it's tough, at times, watching his lackadaisical - yet efficient - play. 

He does have that kind of "ho hum" away about him at times. His last game showed me how he can be when he dials it up.

[aGENT]

1 hour ago, Jester13 said:

I personally believe he needs to work on his intensity. He really looks bored on the ice - he reminds me a lot of Elder. Don't get me wrong, I'd be happy if we have another young Elder on our hands for the next decade, but imagine how much better he can be if he plays like he cares.

 

Scandinavian thing IMO. The word stoic comes to mind.

 

Do not mistake it for a lack of intensity or 'care'. I think people would be surprised how much a guy like Edler or Juolevi 'cares', even if it's not written on their faces. Their just not 'heart on their sleeve' types.

[Rob_Zepp]

Just now, aGENT said:

 

Scandinavian thing IMO. The word stoic comes to mind.

 

Do not mistake it for a lack of intensity or 'care'. I think people would be surprised how much a guy like Edler or Juolevi 'cares', even if it's not written on their faces. Their just not 'heart on their sleeve' types.

OJ "cared" enough last year as an 18 year old to take on the Finnish coaching and management about their 2017 WJC performance.  It cost him a number of things but he did it without concern for that apparently as he cared more about being the leader he was assigned to be as captain of the team.   That it was seen as "mutiny" by the Finnish Hockey Federation that an 18 year old kid would openly criticize them was inevitable but it demonstrated to many in the hockey world the nature of this player.

 

I know I sound like a broken record but I maintain the Canuck organization, fanbase and entire NHL will learn what this kid is all about and get regular reminders over a decade or more as he is a perennial outstanding player in the best league in the world for a long, long time.

[Jester13]

18 minutes ago, aGENT said:

 

Scandinavian thing IMO. The word stoic comes to mind.

 

Do not mistake it for a lack of intensity or 'care'. I think people would be surprised how much a guy like Edler or Juolevi 'cares', even if it's not written on their faces. Their just not 'heart on their sleeve' types.

I'm not saying he doesn't care; he wouldn't be playing if he didn't. I'm saying he plays like he doesn't care. 

 

Edit: some hockey pundits have pointed this out a few times already with OJ. It's something he needs to work on: to play with more intensity and a sense of urgency. 

Edited January 3, 2018 by Jester13

[aGENT]

5 minutes ago, Jester13 said:

I'm not saying he doesn't care; he wouldn't be playing if he didn't. I'm saying he plays like he doesn't care. 

 

Edit: some hockey pundits have pointed this out a few times already with OJ. It's something he needs to work on: to play with more intensity and a sense of urgency. 

And I'm saying I don't think that's terribly the case.

[Jester13]

5 minutes ago, aGENT said:

And I'm saying I don't think that's terribly the case.

Even OJ himself said he is bored playing against his peers - that's why he's in Finland instead of London, so maybe "cares" is the wrong word - he plays like he's bored, which I hope changes once he makes the NHL. 

[canuckledraggin]

14 minutes ago, Jester13 said:

I'm not saying he doesn't care; he wouldn't be playing if he didn't. I'm saying he plays like he doesn't care. 

 

Edit: some hockey pundits have pointed this out a few times already with OJ. It's something he needs to work on: to play with more intensity and a sense of urgency. 

I have to agree with you here. When it comes to his intensity, he seemed to pick up his play when the tournament was on the line. It has been that way in his days in London and in his 1st WJC also. In order to reach his potential, he will need to play the same way every time he steps on the ice and not just the games that he gets up for. I'm looking forward to seeing how his game translates back to pro hockey in Finland, because I think he will have a lot to prove once again. 

[Jester13]

1 minute ago, canuckledraggin said:

I have to agree with you here. When it comes to his intensity, he seemed to pick up his play when the tournament was on the line. It has been that way in his days in London and in his 1st WJC also. In order to reach his potential, he will need to play the same way every time he steps on the ice and not just the games that he gets up for. I'm looking forward to seeing how his game translates back to pro hockey in Finland, because I think he will have a lot to prove once again. 

Even in yesterday's game, which was his best of the tourney, he made some plays that were quite lackadaisical and almost cost them the game before heading to a SO. 

 

I'm not knocking him, by any means, it's just something he needs to work on as part of his development. My hope is that he can overcome it and be even better than I think he will already be. 

[Fanuck]

6 minutes ago, Jester13 said:

Even OJ himself said he is bored playing against his peers - that's why he's in Finland instead of London, so maybe "cares" is the wrong word - he plays like he's bored, which I hope changes once he makes the NHL. 

I've wondered about this myself.  Every time I've watched him play he seemingly lacks that 'intensity' and 'drive' that should be present in meaningful games especially when you're considered a leader on your team.  I kept telling myself that no athlete can achieve what he has without a high degree of motivation/drive/intensity/focus and that it's just his nature/playing style to be calm and not show outwards signs of emotion - but I've yet to see him raise his game to that next superior level over and above his competition and take the game to his opponents so to speak - this concerns me.  The true greats over the years have been able to impose their will/game onto their competition and literally take over games when it counted - I haven't seen him do this, or maybe he does it in much more subtle ways, or maybe that won't ever be an element of his game?   What if he becomes 'bored' as you say when he gets to the NHL, then what? 

[Jester13]

2 minutes ago, Fanuck said:

I've wondered about this myself.  Every time I've watched him play he seemingly lacks that 'intensity' and 'drive' that should be present in meaningful games especially when you're considered a leader on your team.  I kept telling myself that no athlete can achieve what he has without a high degree of motivation/drive/intensity/focus and that it's just his nature/playing style to be calm and not show outwards signs of emotion - but I've yet to see him raise his game to that next superior level over and above his competition and take the game to his opponents so to speak - this concerns me.  The true greats over the years have been able to impose their will/game onto their competition and literally take over games when it counted - I haven't seen him do this, or maybe he does it in much more subtle ways, or maybe that won't ever be an element of his game?   What if he becomes 'bored' as you say when he gets to the NHL, then what? 

Exactly. This is why it concerns me: if he feels like he's bored, he shouldn't play like it but rather dominate his peers. 

[aGENT]

7 minutes ago, Jester13 said:

Even in yesterday's game, which was his best of the tourney, he made some plays that were quite lackadaisical and almost cost them the game before heading to a SO. 

 

I'm not knocking him, by any means, it's just something he needs to work on as part of his development. My hope is that he can overcome it and be even better than I think he will already be. 

SID had a great post on this a while back.

 

On 12/31/2017 at 4:34 PM, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

As a general point, I agree that he needs to be a bit more assertive at times and show more frequent willingness to engage physically. Although I do feel he is making significant progress in that area.

 

There was that one shift where he had a really good battle going with a US forward (I believe it was Kieffer Bellows). Delivered a hard check and continued to press the guy into the glass and joust with him as they skated around the zone. Had to do a bit of a double take on the jersey number because I didn’t expect that kind of aggressive Dzone play from #7.

 

There are also times where he looks disengaged but he’s actually playing great positional D and anticipating the run of the play at a very high level. You see him nullifying one opponent by slipping between them and the play and then making a quick switch to pressure a second opponent, effectively holding two guys in check while not even putting his body or stick on either of them.

 

Can look passive but it’s actually highly active defending, just very cerebral versus physical. There were a few times when Finland made easy zone exits and had numbers through the neutral zone, and this all started when Juolevi had angled one US forward low, pressured the next guy, and directed that guy’s movements to effectively take him out of the play and gain position. He basically was “herding” two US forwards without them even realizing he was pulling their strings. Kind of a Jedi mindtricks style of defending. Noticed it a couple times when he was behind his net and dealing with two attacking players and he basically eliminated the threat without making actual contact with either of them. 

 

He seems hyper aware not to overcommit to individual man-on-man situations when he sees danger developing away from him. He’s watching several guys at once and making very quick decisions as to where he needs to be positioned. Can look like he’s playing passive but often it’s not the case.

 

Kind of a similar style to what Gaunce does sometimes (albeit F vs D) when he looks like he’s not doing much but he’s actually doing a quite a lot just through positioning and anticipating where the puck and players are going next (versus just reacting to where they are right now).

 

However, like Gaunce, he needs to learn not to play the cerebral game too much but also learn to pick his spots and commit to physical play when the situation dictates or when there’s an opportunity to aggressively take a guy out of the play without also removing himself in the process. It’s a fine line and probably a tougher adjustment for “smart” players than the more instinctive types. But Juolevi seems to be making progress and is definitely more physical now than he’s ever been in his career. Plus he has the body now to be pretty effective physically when he chooses to.

 

As he points out, OJ, can certainly still improve his intensity/physicality and add more elements to his game, as I'm sure he will. But it's not particularly a concern given the cerebral way he plays IMO.

[ilduce39]

1 minute ago, Jester13 said:

Exactly. This is why it concerns me: if he feels like he's bored, he shouldn't play like it but rather dominate his peers. 

Players lean on their best attributes to dominate.  A strong player uses his power, a fast player uses his speed and a tough player gets down and gritty... that’s very easy to see.

 

Olli is a cerebral player who was always touted as thinking the game at the highest level.  Everything else is above average but not particularly elite.  What does it look like to think really really hard?  

 

What people want to see is him going ham in one on one battles or constantly jumping into the play offensively and trying to single handedly win the game... neither seem particularly smart given his skill set. 

[aGENT]

17 minutes ago, Fanuck said:

I've wondered about this myself.  Every time I've watched him play he seemingly lacks that 'intensity' and 'drive' that should be present in meaningful games especially when you're considered a leader on your team.  I kept telling myself that no athlete can achieve what he has without a high degree of motivation/drive/intensity/focus and that it's just his nature/playing style to be calm and not show outwards signs of emotion - but I've yet to see him raise his game to that next superior level over and above his competition and take the game to his opponents so to speak - this concerns me.  The true greats over the years have been able to impose their will/game onto their competition and literally take over games when it counted - I haven't seen him do this, or maybe he does it in much more subtle ways, or maybe that won't ever be an element of his game?   What if he becomes 'bored' as you say when he gets to the NHL, then what? 

Yesterday everyone was tweeting about him basically running that game against the CZE's and how he's gotten better as the tournament went on and how he raised his play in their most important game to that point.

 

So yeah....

[canuckleface77]

1 hour ago, Fanuck said:

I've wondered about this myself.  Every time I've watched him play he seemingly lacks that 'intensity' and 'drive' that should be present in meaningful games especially when you're considered a leader on your team.  I kept telling myself that no athlete can achieve what he has without a high degree of motivation/drive/intensity/focus and that it's just his nature/playing style to be calm and not show outwards signs of emotion - but I've yet to see him raise his game to that next superior level over and above his competition and take the game to his opponents so to speak - this concerns me.  The true greats over the years have been able to impose their will/game onto their competition and literally take over games when it counted - I haven't seen him do this, or maybe he does it in much more subtle ways, or maybe that won't ever be an element of his game?   What if he becomes 'bored' as you say when he gets to the NHL, then what? 

The issue is he reminds me of Alex Edler.

 

So much potential, so much skill, so much promise....but just seems like it's not that important to him. And maybe that is the wrong viewpoint, maybe he does care, who are we to say, but thats the perception.   There is a certain passion and competitiveness that you want in guys like Burrows, Kesler, the Twins, Luongo....Edler never plays with desperation, and OJ reminds me of him.

 

I hope I'm wrong.

[Noble 6]

I think the main thing regarding the intensity is the type of team identity it gives off. There's no doubting he was/is effective playing when he's barely noticeable, but there is value in that non-stop motor. An intense, hard-working shift can have more benefits than just what has been accomplished on the ice in that shift. It sends a message to the bench and can be critical in controlling the momentum and energy in a game. 

 

Take two of our players, Horvat and Boeser. Horvat leaves it all out there every shift and works noticeably hard. As a result, he's referred to as the "engine" of the team quite often. He controls the teams energy and attitude more than any other player. Boeser, similar to Juolevi, plays that low energy, high IQ game. Absolutely no wasted effort. As we have seen, he is effective on the ice, but he doesn't have the same level of impact as Horvat. I think most coaches and managers would say that Horvat is the more valuable player as a result.

 

When you look at someone like Edler, who plays similarly, it amplifies everything he does. Every good play is made to look easy, as if he isn't trying. Conversely, every bad play looks ridiculous, as if he isn't trying. Not only that, but the good plays aren't as easy to spot as the mistakes. It's just the way it goes.