Jonathan Lekkerimäki | RW

[Gawdzukes]

22 minutes ago, JamesB said:

 

 

I was expecting more enthusiasm from CDC.  This is a great pick at #15. He is not a Boeser clone but is a more complete player (although he is smaller).

 

At age 17 (turning 18 in late July) he is one of the youngest players in the draft.  An extra 8 months to a year makes a big difference at that age so that adds to his "ceiling". 

 

I was really happy about this pick.  I think he was the best the Canucks could hope to do at #15. And he said Petey is his favorite player!

 

 

Yep, he shouldn't have even been on the radar. We lucked out. Great position to wait for a slipper.

[Alienhuggyflow]

2 hours ago, vancan2233 said:

How did he get those breakaways the kid does not have good skating. The scouts that watched this kid and had issues with his skating most have been drunk, or they think every player on the ice has skating issues. 

Maybe they only viewed him after he got mono lol. The more I learn about scouts that are independent I'm realizing how timing is so important. 

They might see a kid early on in the season and not get a chance for another, leading to possibly a flawed take.

Plus these kids in Europe get so little ice time that's gotta make it harder. But in this case I think he's just been on a steady rise all year as his game got better. He certainly had no skating issues at the U18s.

We get to see him in August for the WJC on smaller ice.

[Pure961089]

37 minutes ago, JamesB said:

 

 

I was expecting more enthusiasm from CDC.  This is a great pick at #15. He is not a Boeser clone but is a more complete player (although he is smaller).

 

At age 17 (turning 18 in late July) he is one of the youngest players in the draft.  An extra 8 months to a year makes a big difference at that age so that adds to his "ceiling". 

 

I was really happy about this pick.  I think he was the best the Canucks could hope to do at #15. And he said Petey is his favorite player!

 

 

Honestly the more I watch him he more he reminds me of a Markus Naslund.  So much patience with the puck and a lethal array of shots. 

[Pure961089]

I feel sorry for Coyotes fans.  Their drafting is horrendous. It doesn’t matter if you have 12 picks if you draft Maverick Lamoureux in the 1st round.  You passed on Howard for him?  This is why you’re a bad team. 

[Dixon Ward]

This should get people excited.  It is just 1 tournament but he kicked its ass!

[Mustard Tiger]

1 hour ago, *Buzzsaw* said:

Well, the Canucks had the choice of 3 Swedes at #15, they took the highest ranked one.

 

Let's hope that Oslend and Ohgren don't turn out to be the better players.

 

Ohgren is the one I worry about... he has leadership, size and put up quite a few more points.  But he is older.  Lekkerimaki is really young and has lots of room to develop.  But he needs to work on his complete game... defensively he is not good.  He does have speed and a shot which most are ranking as NHL sniper level.

 

As I suspected, Canadian D-Man Kevin Korchinski went higher than he was ranked... I was hoping he'd slip through but too many teams were watching his upward trajectory.  I would like to see more Canucks on the Canucks.

 

I am not happy that Shane Wright went to Seattle... I have a feeling he will take his 4th place demotion as a personal insult and have something to prove.  He is a very good hockey player.

As a hockey fan I would much rather see the positive growth of a fellow NW team like Seattle and the fall of trash Cali / north Texas teams. They are terrible and kind of deserve to have two real good C's imo

 

They don't have a huggy ep or demko so we still win

[ilduce39]

For a middle of the round pick in a meh draft this sounds like it has homerun potential.
 

I do note that JR wanted more size and speed but we opted for a smaller guy who hangs his hat on his shot… but in the 3 years it takes for him to get here the roster will look significantly different. That work still has to be done but it wasn’t getting solved at the draft table today. 
 

I think you need to look BPA and lean into skill in the first round especially so this looks like a nice pick.  Can’t have enough snipers on the team.

Edited July 8, 2022 by ilduce39

[Mustard Tiger]

Just now, Dixon Ward said:

This should get people excited.  It is just 1 tournament but he kicked its ass!

How about Tampa. My quick search shows Howard is pretty good. 3 straight cup finals and STILL have a first that they can use on a guy like this

 

This is how you become a dynasty. Pretty solid for them damn

[ShawnAntoski]

2 minutes ago, Pure961089 said:

I feel sorry for Coyotes fans.  Their drafting is horrendous. It doesn’t matter if you have 12 picks if you draft Maverick Lamoureux in the 1st round.  You passed on Howard for him?  This is why you’re a bad team. 

A proud member of the ever rebuilding loser club - vomit inducing how Armstrong and his crew were prancing around in there high school suits

[Dixon Ward]

Just now, Mustard Tiger said:

How about Tampa. My quick search shows Howard is pretty good. 3 straight cup finals and STILL have a first that they can use on a guy like this

 

This is how you become a dynasty. Pretty solid for them damn

We'll see with Howard, he came across like a supreme Douche, that doesn't usually go over well on hockey teams.  But ya they know what they are doing.

[Alienhuggyflow]

2 hours ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

Wasn’t able to watch the draft this year  (busy with family stuff) but really happy with this pick. Didn’t expect Lekkerimaki to fall to us. I was convinced he’d go top-10.

 

Sure, a couple of the players I found intriguing were still on the board, but if you’d told me yesterday that we’d be getting Lekkerimaki, I’d be like that woman in the “start the car” IKEA commercial.

 

Consistently rated by scouts as either the very best shot/sniper in the draft, or minimum top-2/top-3, and he’s not nearly as one dimensional as some have said. Hockey IQ, passing, puck skills, etc are all look pretty good, his skating isn’t nearly the issue that some have claimed IMO, and his flaws are he’s merely a little undersized/light (also really young and time and room to grow), and like nearly every offensively gifted kid, he could stand to work on his defence.

 

At #15, if you can get one truly elite talent (his shot), in a pretty darn good overall skill package, you take the money and run.
 

Word is that he was the pretty much the “dare to dream” option the Canucks hoped might fall to them. I’d imagine Allvin and the scouting team are over the moon.

 

And looking around other boards and socials, I’m seeing a lot of “steal of the draft” and “home run” comments from people I consider pretty knowledgeable on prospects.  

Start the car is right lol.

Our GM didn't even bother saying any of the usual lip service we hear usually, he was like I'm saying the pick before this somehow gets taken away somehow.

 

Remember in 2011 against the preds when Bieksa scored that goal off the stanchion and Burr grabbed the puck and skated away as if by him grabbing it and celebrating it would make sure the goal counted? That's how I felt when I saw our GM just walk up no formalities, just straight to the pick, no take backs lol.

Love this pick. Him and  Miroshnechenko were easily my favorite prospects from this draft.

This is gonna be another 2017 draft and those two will be the EP and Cale of 2022.

[Mustard Tiger]

4 minutes ago, ilduce39 said:

For a middle of the round pick in a meh draft this sounds like it has homerun potential.
 

I do note that considering JR wanted more size and speed but we opted for a smaller guy who hangs his hat on his shot… but in the 3 years it takes for him to get here the roster will look significantly different. That work still has to be done but it wasn’t getting solved at the draft table today. 
 

I think you need to look BPA and lean into skill in the first round especially so this looks like a nice pick.  Can’t have enough snipers on the team.

As we see, size and skill go #1.

 

But at 15 to get this type of offensive talent is wonderful. Shoot for the moon when it comes to skills because the chances of that being available in the later rounds just is soo unlikely.

 

The size we need can come in the later rounds / trades imo. The true PF we would like to draft just won't be at our draft position anymore 

[WestCoastDave]

How Swede it is...I like this pick. 

[Mustard Tiger]

3 minutes ago, Dixon Ward said:

We'll see with Howard, he came across like a supreme Douche, that doesn't usually go over well on hockey teams.  But ya they know what they are doing.

Thank you for the info. I'm very out of touch when it comes to anything outside our projected 1st pick lol

[HighOnHockey]

22 minutes ago, Alienhuggyflow said:

Maybe they only viewed him after he got mono lol. The more I learn about scouts that are independent I'm realizing how timing is so important. 

They might see a kid early on in the season and not get a chance for another, leading to possibly a flawed take.

Plus these kids in Europe get so little ice time that's gotta make it harder. But in this case I think he's just been on a steady rise all year as his game got better. He certainly had no skating issues at the U18s.

We get to see him in August for the WJC on smaller ice.

 

This is such a major point I'm always trying to emphasize. It's not just timing though, it's environment or "milieu". I had Lucas Raymond 2nd on my final ranking in 2020 and Mukhamadullin 17th. Almost nobody had Mukhamadullin 1st round, and a lot of smart people had Raymond near the end of their top 10. But it's not that I'm such a clever scout; it was the covid summer and for weeks at a time I had little else to do but drink and scout on youtube. And I saw Raymond at U18s, Hlinkas, SHL, SuperElit, so I had a complete context. So when I saw people complaining about his lack of production in SHL and even from people who watched some SHL games say he didn't look like an offensive threat, I knew full well what an offensive threat he could be but also what a mature, responsible 4th line checking forward he wanted to show he could be. And then late in the season when he turned up the heat and started producing and creating chances, he made some mistakes and suddenly there was a cohort (including at least one well-regarded online scouting service) claiming he was struggling defensively in the SHL.

 

SImilar but different story with Mukhamadullin. I'd seen him at U18s, Hlinkas, WJAC, 5NU18s, and with Team Russia he almost entirely played the role of pure shutdown defenseman. So I was baffled to read that he was considered a liability with the puck who was always getting caught deep in the offensive zone. But then I actually watched some games from him in MHL and it was like an entirely different player. Players play different roles depending on level and stage and all kinds of things. The more complete picture you have the better.

 

I haven't seen nearly as much of Lekkerimaki as I saw of those two, but I have seen a fair amount, at Hlinkas and U18s, but also a couple SHL games. But he's one of those interesting cases that he plays pretty much exactly the same no matter where he goes. He probably could have scored a lot more at the junior levels if he was flashier and more aggressive taking offensive risks like a Kemell or Savoie. But he just plays a simple, low-risk game that I believe will adapt seamlessly to the NHL.

[Alienhuggyflow]

3 minutes ago, WestCoastDave said:

How Swede it is...I like this pick. 

Me too. The fact that he's only a couple of months too old for the 2023 draft is telling, considering how much better his game has gotten recently which hopefully means the trajectory of his game compared to his peers is just coming together the last little bit compared to older more physically strong peers that have reached theirs already.(not saying they've peaked just the improvement from the start of the year till the end)

 

I got a feeling that next season people will already be regretting passing on this kid, just like with EP and Quinn. Can't wait till the WJC in August. 

[Alienhuggyflow]

2 minutes ago, HighOnHockey said:

 

This is such a major point I'm always trying to emphasize. It's not just timing though, it's environment or "milieu". I had Lucas Raymond 2nd on my final ranking in 2020 and Mukhamadullin 17th. Almost nobody had Mukhamadullin 1st round, and a lot of smart people had Raymond near the end of their top 10. But it's not that I'm such a clever scout; it was the covid summer and for weeks at a time I had little else to do but drink and scout on youtube. And I saw Raymond at U18s, Hlinkas, SHL, SuperElit, so I had a complete context. So when I saw people complaining about his lack of production in SHL and even from people who watched some SHL games say he didn't look like an offensive threat, I knew full well what an offensive threat he could be but also what a mature, responsible 4th line checking forward he wanted to show he could be. And then late in the season when he turned up the heat and started producing and creating chances, he made some mistakes and suddenly there was a cohort (including at least one well-regarded online scouting service) claiming he was struggling defensively in the SHL.

 

SImilar but different story with Mukhamadullin. I'd seen him at U18s, Hlinkas, WJAC, 5NU18s, and with Team Russia he almost entirely played the role of pure shutdown defenseman. So I was baffled to read that he was considered a liability with the puck who was always getting caught deep in the offensive zone. But then I actually watched some games from him in MHL and it was like an entirely different player. Players play different roles depending on level and stage and all kinds of things. The more complete picture you have the better.

 

I haven't seen nearly as much of Lekkerimaki as I saw of those two, but I have seen a fair amount, at Hlinkas and U18s, but also a couple SHL games. But he's one of those interesting cases that he plays pretty much exactly the same no matter where he goes. He probably could have scored a lot more at the junior levels if he was flashier and more aggressive taking offensive risks like a Kemell or Savoie. But he just plays a simple, low-risk game that I believe will adapt seamlessly to the NHL.

This was very interesting,  I love learning about the different aspects that the average person wouldn't really think about. 

[Hairy Kneel]

5 hours ago, austy said:

is he quite young? 17yrs, July birthday

Grow 3 inches and 25 pounds hopefully 

[Pure961089]

2 hours ago, wai_lai416 said:

indifferent about the pick i don't expect him to crack the line up anytime soon. prolly ends up remaining in sweden till he's 21, 22 like karlsson before he's ready to make the jump. 

1 year like Petey did with Vaxjo then he’s playing with the Canucks.  

[Nave]

Happy with this pick. Like many, I was hoping for a center or defenseman, but we're lucky he fell to us. There seemed to be a real bias towards those positions in this draft, but it doesn't seem like Allvin and co are complaining about that. 

 

Someone said that he's the youngest player who was drafted in the first round--that leaves a lot of time to get bigger and improve on skating. I'm not getting where those skating criticisms are coming from though. He seems to be a smooth skater who can turn on the jets for a breakaway. Like some others have said, maybe those scouts saw him when he was recovering from mono.