Olli Juolevi | #48 | D

[FaninMex]

4 hours ago, GoldenAlien said:

Not really.  Here are the possible options:

 

A. He has long Covid symptoms that affect his lung capacity, endurance and energy level. He hid these persistent symptoms for the past 6 months, through fitness and medical testing last season, through his entire summer, through this season's fitness and medical testing, and fooled every person in the Canucks organization, many of which have dealt with Covid or Covid patients. He's been able to hide it well enough in NHL games, in subsequent scrimmages after this year's bag skate, and in any gym workouts, just not in a bag skate. 

 

B. He has long Covid symptoms that do not come up at any other time except for bag skates, so no one has been able to detect it.

 

C. He has another illness that does not show up in any other test, workout, game, practice or situation besides bag skates, therefore it has gone undetected.

 

D. He showed up to camp unprepared for a bag skate, even though he knew it was coming.

 

What is the most logical conclusion?

 

Sure, like I said, it's not the end of his career. But it is disheartening. You see guys like Lockwood, Rathbone and Gadjovich show up, working hard at every drill, clearly putting in the work to get stronger/ faster over the summer, hungry for any role on the team. You see someone like Hoglander -- who already had a successful rookie season -- crushing it, or guys like Horvat and Boeser, who are already All-Stars, ready to work. Heck, Schenn, who's not exactly the fleetest of foot, put in a good effort to perform well in the skate. To have a guy lying on the ice while vets like Miller and Myers ask him to get up to no avail is just disappointing.

 

The Sedins, in their mid-30s, still came to camp topping everyone at fitness testing, even though they've got their roster spots secured and contracts guaranteed. I guess my point is, that's what you want to see on your team, guys who work their butts off at every aspect of their craft and never take anything for granted.

Sutter just signed a new contract and is not able to attend because of fatigue which may or may not be because of Long Covid. OJ signed a similar team friendly contract and went under the radar as well.

Or OJ pushed himself to early in the drills trying to impress and when it was time for the bag skate he had nothing left. Remember that there were drills before the bag skate.

Or it was a combination of long covid and to much exertion in the drills

 

Should I continue? We saw a 10 second clip 

[laddie]

If Joulevi is surpassed this year by Rathbone and Hunt is it time to see if we can trade him for another prospect or player much like Ottawa did with Logan Brown?

[Alflives]

25 minutes ago, laddie said:

If Joulevi is surpassed this year by Rathbone and Hunt is it time to see if we can trade him for another prospect or player much like Ottawa did with Logan Brown?

Does OJ have any trade value?  If he does, I’d prefer a draft pick.  

[Locke Lamora]

Well, Travis Green’s comments about OJ should put a nail in the coffin in the effort by some to damage control his conditioning skate performance.

 

If OJ was indeed afflicted with long term Covid effects, Green would not have said what he did.

[Fred65]

Quote

Juolevi is in trouble

At the other end of the spectrum is Olli Juolevi, whose training camp left him gasping for breath and potentially on the outside looking in when the season starts. The book is far from closed for Juolevi — preseason games will offer a better opportunity for evaluation — but there’s a sense that it might be time to turn the page.

“I don’t think he did himself any favours,” said Green on Saturday about Juolevi’s training camp, particularly in the day one bag skate. “There’s a battle going on for that spot. He’s been through it before, I would have expected him to do better than he did in the skate.”

With Jack Rathbone looking very good at camp and Brad Hunt presenting himself as a reliable, low-maintenance veteran option for the left side on defence, no one else will do Juolevi any favours. 

Bo Horvat certainly didn’t in the scrimmage, blowing past the young defenceman with a slick spinorama. 

 

[laddie]

57 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Does OJ have any trade value?  If he does, I’d prefer a draft pick.  

Very little but I was wondering if someone like Roland McKeown would be an interesting project. A solid stay at home defensemen that was never able to crack the Hurricanes lineup. He is inexpensive but might be a dark house. Otherwise I think it would be difficult to get even a 3 round draft pick for Joulevi at this point.

[Kootenay Gold]

Amazing how many on here are so quick to shat all over a player and some do it over and over.

 

I am reluctant to do that especially with Juolevi because of all the injuries and then Covid on top of that.

 

Lets wait and see how he does in the preseason exhibition games and perhaps then we will have a better idea of where he is at in his development.

[FaninMex]

1 hour ago, Locke Lamora said:

Well, Travis Green’s comments about OJ should put a nail in the coffin in the effort by some to damage control his conditioning skate performance.

 

If OJ was indeed afflicted with long term Covid effects, Green would not have said what he did.

Why are you so urgent to put a nail in his coffin after 1 bag skate? An agenda?

[JM_]

don't squeeze the juice. Give the kid a game at least. 

[Gurn]

16 hours ago, Alflives said:

It’s already reported guys were telling OJ to get up.  

It was reported that a player was on IV due to covid. Turned out to be fake news

16 hours ago, captainhorvat said:

How exactly do you know that his bad conditioning is related to covid??? 

How exactly do you know it isn't?

[captainhorvat]

28 minutes ago, gurn said:

It was reported that a player was on IV due to covid. Turned out to be fake news

How exactly do you know it isn't?

I don’t but why is he cleared for training camp and still is if he’s not 100

[Pbhatti00]

Need to get the Sedins to talk to him...they had similar conditioning issues early in their careers . 

[Locke Lamora]

1 hour ago, FaninMex said:

Why are you so urgent to put a nail in his coffin after 1 bag skate? An agenda?

One bag skate? An agenda? What are you on about? I’ve watched and rooted for this kid since we drafted him 5 years ago. I loved the pick when we made it - you can probably dig up my posts from 5 years ago that support this - and I’ve watched OJ in person in most development and full blown Training Camps he’s participated in, hoping to see the natural progression that most high echelon prospects display. I’ve watched every NHL game he’s played in. I’ve PAYED out of my pocket to watch a bunch on Utica games online, in large part to keep abreast of his development. 

 

The idea that I’m down on OJ because I have some agenda is laughable. I’m down on him because of what I’ve seen of his career with my own eyes. I know injuries have surely hampered him, but it doesn’t change the FACT that he has been amongst the worst performer in every Training Camp I’ve seen…4 of them I believe. Funny how other players with injuries of their own managed to come into camp and not struggle like he has. Sami Salo’s comments about OJ’s dedication to conditioning have always stuck in my mind. Do I, as Canuck fan since the 70’s, take any pleasure in all this? Of course not. I though OJ would be, AT WORSE, a solid top 4 guy (with the upside of a #2 Dman) that would help pave the way for us to win our first Cup.

 

The people who remain upbeat about OJ….you are entitled to your opinion….but you are surely interpreting things much differently than I have. But, as I have said before, if he turns things around and makes the team, and forms a solid foundation for himself on the 3rd pairing, I’ll give him all due credit and call that a win for the team.

 

 

[WeneedLumme]

1 hour ago, captainhorvat said:

I don’t but why is he cleared for training camp and still is if he’s not 100

You mean why would anybody be allowed to participate in training camp if they are not already 100% in mid-season form/game shape? Gosh, I can't figure that out at all.

[captainhorvat]

19 minutes ago, WeneedLumme said:

You mean why would anybody be allowed to participate in training camp if they are not already 100% in mid-season form/game shape? Gosh, I can't figure that out at all.

[Honky Cat]

19 hours ago, knucklehead91 said:

He may not beat out Rathbone and thats a completely fair statement.  But if Rathbone doesnt require waivers and Juolevi does, would it not be better asset management to send Rathbone down and keep Juolevi up? And say if injury occurs, Rathbone can come up. Why risk losing a prospect for nothing, when the kid has hardly had a fair shake. Also Idk if Juolevi is brittle or just had some bad luck, sorta like Salo. Just because a guy gets injured lots doesnt mean hes brittle, he just plays a really hard f***ing game. Personally I’d like to see Juolevi get caught up to game shape after all hes gone through the past couple years and then see where hes at before I make my own personal assessment 

If you send Rathbone down and keep OJ up, you run into a problem recalling Rathbone. I don't completely understand the ins and outs, but its related to Rathbones bonus's. Thomas Drance spoke about it on SN650. Its not as simple as it sounds.

 

 

[EternalCanuckFan]

2 hours ago, Honky Cat said:

If you send Rathbone down and keep OJ up, you run into a problem recalling Rathbone. I don't completely understand the ins and outs, but its related to Rathbones bonus's. Thomas Drance spoke about it on SN650. Its not as simple as it sounds.

 

 

Yeah, I read that too.  Didn't know about that angle to Rathbone's contract and the cap situation.

 

Rathbone always had a realistic chance of making the team out of training camp but it seems there could be cap reasons why that may be preferable as well.  Juolevi's in tough.

[Honky Cat]

OJ has only played 125 total games in his pro career. That's like one and a half seasons in 5 years.A lot of that time rehabbing as well.

This is why I don't think he will clear waivers. It would be a good bet for a team that is patient, to take a flyer on him. Not that I think he will be a top 4 D man, but he could be an NHL player.

[mll]

.

Edited September 26, 2021 by mll

[NewbieCanuckFan]

2 hours ago, Honky Cat said:

OJ has only played 125 total games in his pro career. That's like one and a half seasons in 5 years.A lot of that time rehabbing as well.

This is why I don't think he will clear waivers. It would be a good bet for a team that is patient, to take a flyer on him. Not that I think he will be a top 4 D man, but he could be an NHL player.

If garbage like Gudbranson can find employment in the NHL, I would think Joulevi still has a chance to have a career in the NHL.  Course, that would depend on him avoiding the Anton Rodin problem (always being hurt/injured/medical issues)

Edited September 26, 2021 by NewbieCanuckFan