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Olli Juolevi | #48 | D


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On 1/29/2021 at 10:09 PM, Junkyard Dog said:

You could speculate yeah OJ could be better at 24. OJ is smart/skills and has proven that he's good away from the puck(Zone D and PK). The only thing holding OJ back is his speed and a lot of that stems from his injuries. Speed is his weakness and as a result you've seen him struggle defending the rush at times. He has shown he is smart enough to create a bit of distance(playing safe) in order to mitigate this.


Chatfield has good speed and has shown capable of defending the rush well and making good pinches. Chatfield has shown enough puck skills to be able to make a good first pass. He's been a pretty good all-around defender overall in the 4 games he's played.

 

When Chatfield's been on the ice in the 12:07 minutes of ice time in the 4 games he's played we've had a 5v5 save percentage of 96.2%(according to NHL.com) which is good for a person who's been utilized defensively. OJ's on ice save 5v5 percentage isn't bad either at 93.3% playing 12:53 a night. Both averaged about 11 minutes at even strength. All stats provided by NHL.com via SAT percentages and TOI in the player stats.

 

Keep in mind of the small sample size and low deployment with these stats. It is still very early in these twos career to determine their worth yet.

 

Another thing to consider is that OJ has played 63 AHL games while Chatfield has played 147 games(season+playoffs) in the AHL. That's a big difference too. More time for Chatfield to round out his game.

 

Took Boeser a bit to find his shooting form after his injuries so I reckon it could take some time for OJ to become faster as well.

 

Everyone should be happy having 2 rookie D showing signs of promise.

I am pretty happy that we have both Juolevi and Chatfield. Chatfield more surprised because I didn't know what to expect out of the guy. Didn't think he would be able to step into the lineup as quickly as he has, and played remarkably well. He seems to have a good stick too. 

 

Juolevi, I agree needs to get up to speed with his, well, speed. He seems slow on the ice. Like, on tv slow. But because he's so smart, I think he'll eventually round that part of his game out. I'm actually surprised that he's not injured yet considering all the injuries that he's endured over the last several years. I feel good for him though, because he's been able to stay healthy, and he's been given some games to play. I hope he's not in Green's doghouse. If that's the case, it'll be hard to get out of it. 

 

By the way, is Virtanen in Green's doghouse now? Two games in a row, and he hasn't been in now. 

 

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It's a good problem for Green to have, whether to play Juolevi or Chatfield, but right now I think he's approaching the 5th defenceman option the same as our goalies - play whoever's winning. Chatfield is stealing minutes off Benn as well and he's clearly impressing Green, I think mostly due to his swift skating. He plays hard along the boards and is making less and less silly mistakes which is great to see. We need to work Juolevi into the rotation though too, this was supposed to be his year but it looks like Chatfield has gained favour for now.

 

I'm sure over the course of the season Juolevi will get more opportunities but it looks like next season as we maybe lose a top defender, Juolevi and Chatfield will play bigger minutes and the youth progression will slowly continue. 

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Honestly, I don't have high hopes for OJ. I was hoping that once he emerged from what seemed like endless injury he would show better. Now, one might say that defensemen take longer to develop, or that he's still young, but I just don't see much to translate into NHL success. He has good breakout vision, but his passes seem ill-timed and often weak, his skating seems slow and he has shown limited creativity. 

 

To be honest, I've been more impressed with Chatfield. That kid has hustle and I notice him out there - even if he too may have rather limited upside...

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2 hours ago, kloubek said:

Honestly, I don't have high hopes for OJ. I was hoping that once he emerged from what seemed like endless injury he would show better. Now, one might say that defensemen take longer to develop, or that he's still young, but I just don't see much to translate into NHL success. He has good breakout vision, but his passes seem ill-timed and often weak, his skating seems slow and he has shown limited creativity. 

 

To be honest, I've been more impressed with Chatfield. That kid has hustle and I notice him out there - even if he too may have rather limited upside...

He's shown to be not bad on the defensive end of things. His zone D has been good for a rookie and he's done well on the PK. He makes safe/smart plays with the puck when he isn't trying those stretch passes. Overall OJ doesn't play a game that jumps out at you which works in his favor. He's quiet and calm. In his 12:16 of short handed ice-time he hasn't been on the ice for a PP goal against yet. Same goes for Benn who's played a but more on the PK than OJ. 2nd on the team in blocks per 60 minutes only behind Benn. His on ice save + shooting percentage 5v5 is currently the best on the team at 110.5%.

 

Chatfield has 1/3 as much PK time(4:05 PK time) as OJ(12:16 PK time) despite playing an extra game. They don't seem to use Chatfield on the PK much, mostly at even-strength just like Stecher last year.

 

At even-strength OJ has been on the ice for 5 goals for and 3 goals against. Chatfield has been on the ice for 3 goals for and 6 goals against at even strength. OJ has 77:54 of even strength ice-time to Chatfield's 111:12 of even strength ice-time though so it makes sense for Chatfield to get scored on more, still the offensive output when OJ's on the ice looks good so far.

 

Small sample size but overall he's shown a bit of promise. His speed is an issue. That's where Chatfield has him beat. I've seen him struggle on the rush whereas Chatfield has been good defending it. I reckon that the prior injuries have set his skating back a bit. With all this time off he can work on progressing physically(which injuries prevented him from doing) and getting faster.

 

He's young and it took Boeser a bit to fully recover(looks like his shot is back) so I reckon OJ can improve his skating over time. We need all the young D we can muster. IMO I am just happy we got 2 guys who have shown promise.

 

 

(stats from NHL.com)

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OJ needs to work on his skating overall. But sometimes playing smart hockey puts you where you need to be without having  to need speed to get there. Thats how i see OJs game. His skating will improve and combined with those smarts of his  he's gonna be a great well rounded D for a while.

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50 minutes ago, Junkyard Dog said:

Still only 3 goals against in 102:38 of overall playing time. 5 goals for in the same amount.

 

No PP goals against in 12:16 of PK time.

 

 

He should be in the line up more often. 

 

I'll be irate if he's not in the line up come up against the series against the Flames. 

 

Edited by N4ZZY
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8 minutes ago, BCNate said:

When can we start to recognize that Juolevi has been solid this year, and that we are better with him in the lineup.  He is a rookie getting 60+% D zone starts and has been on the ice for 4 goals against so far.  He needs to stay in the lineup and see his ice time creep up, we need him to be a capable full-fledged NHL D next year.  I believe he is capable of that.

I think the biggest reason he hasn't seen more ice is simply our lack of depth + injuries on the right side. I don't think it's really about Juolevi or his play.

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13 hours ago, N4ZZY said:

I actually thought that Juolevi played pretty good tonight against the Leafs. 

 

He should be in the lineup over Chatfield. 

 

Maybe he should be in the lineup instead of Hughes or Myers for a game or two?  We can't continue to exchange one point a game from Hughes for giveaways and bonehead plays in their own end.

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I thought Juolevi had a very good game. Super promising skill set and seems like a smart player that reads the ice well. Not bad size either and he definitely played with more intensity and some aggression. 

 

The team is having some issues no doubt, but I am very pleased about this kid and hope he continues to play well and can stay healthy. I've been excited about him and I think he can be a good replacement for Edler and an important piece for when we are actually ready to compete. Not that I think we should let Edler walk or anything, he's still solid (just need to reduce his minutes by a bit in future seasons) and I'd love to sign him again on a short term contract hopefully around 3 mil or a little less. 

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On 2/9/2021 at 1:15 PM, Bobby James said:

I thought Juolevi had a very good game. Super promising skill set and seems like a smart player that reads the ice well. Not bad size either and he definitely played with more intensity and some aggression. 

 

The team is having some issues no doubt, but I am very pleased about this kid and hope he continues to play well and can stay healthy. I've been excited about him and I think he can be a good replacement for Edler and an important piece for when we are actually ready to compete. Not that I think we should let Edler walk or anything, he's still solid (just need to reduce his minutes by a bit in future seasons) and I'd love to sign him again on a short term contract hopefully around 3 mil or a little less. 

Yeah. I echo a lot of what you're saying. I feel like Juolevi had a great game on Monday, even though the team lost. He's smart, and he gave a couple of hits (one on Matthews that led to a cross-check on him). I think he can eventually be a replacement for Edler, but Olli's got a ways to show that he's capable of being a top four defenseman. Can't remember if he was playing bottom pairing minutes on Monday's game, or was he being utilized like a top four defenseman? If he shows progress this season, I'm really excited, and hope Benning doesn't do something utterly stupid and trades him. 

 

If we can get Fabbro for Gaudette.....

 

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On 2/9/2021 at 10:57 AM, Tyndall2 said:

Maybe he should be in the lineup instead of Hughes or Myers for a game or two?  We can't continue to exchange one point a game from Hughes for giveaways and bonehead plays in their own end.

Hughes will be in the line up every game. LOL. he's our best defender, which isn't saying very much right now because our defense blows. 

 

But he's our best defenseman out there, with such promise. he'll get better eventually. maybe not this season, and maybe not until the team is out of the playoffs mathematically. 

 

Juolevi, I can see will be a bottom pairing defenseman for most of this season unless we got injuries to the defense, which if we did, would be testing our depth. Need to bring Olli along slowly, because he's shown signs that he can be quite fragile with all of his injuries up to this point. But he looks promising, I'll give you that, and the fact that he's playing NHL games, and doesn't look out of place, are good signs. 

 

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