Nokelainen vs. Tukonen

Here at the boards everyone is/were always praising Tukonen while Nokelainen don't get the same amount of attention. I recently followed the two closely in an U20 tournament for three games, and it is my opinion that Nokelainen is the better player/prospect.

Both were good with the puck and quite flashy, but Nokelainen had an intensity and a physical game that Tukonen could not touch. Nokelainen also appeared to be much better defensively and I was astound with his work ethics.

So my question is, are there any Finns that actually consider Nokelainen the better prospect? I would probably pick Nokelainen ahead of more or less any Swedish prospect out there and as I see it, at the very worst he'll pan out to an excellent third line role player.

Nokelainen for me. His stickhandling and versatility is what gets me... Also a very good passer, but his defensive game will hopefully be key for team Finland in the future, and if everything works out, he will be a unsung hero on the national team, just like Jere has been.

Well I'm a Blues fan so it's hard to be fully objective, IMHO Nokelainen lacks the hands to be as succesfull as Tukonen, he has speed, size, grit & work ethic but he lacks that something that separates good players from truly good players.

So Tukonen IMHO has higher offensive upside and while he's defensively inferior, the gap is not very big compared to Nokelainen.

Ayup. Still, at this rate Tukonen can match Nokelainen's production in the future thanks to better skating and technical finishing. There's nothing wrong with Nokelainen's nose for the net, though, nor with Tukonen's defensive game, which is still vastly inferior to Nokelainen's brilliant positioning. Rarely does the draft produce better Selke candidate hopefuls. However, I don't agree on Nokelainen's physical superiority. A year ago in the WJC the two were like clones in that respect, Tukonen is also very capable.

A few months back I wouldn't have dared to proclaim Noppa the better prospect because I would've based the opinion on a level of play that had yet to materialize. Now that things are working out for him as I expected, I can join the small choir.