Ok good signing, but he almost got no score in two season in SM Liiga, he sawn't very what we can call a "blast" in U20. So calm down people ! Let's see what he can do in Hamilton.
His play didn't warrant much more ice time. If you're good, you get to play, no matter how old you are (e.g. Granlund, Pulkkinen, Vatanen).
You just named three of the best drafted Finnish prospects not currently in the NHL, so let's scale it back a bit. No one is suggesting Nattinen is on a level anywhere close to those guys, now or in the future.
Pretty big centerman. Nice pair of hands, pretty good at prtecting the puck. Skating can be improved, but its a common thing for juniors.
He's stats dont look impressive but he hasnt got a real chance in Sm-league yet. He was pretty good at WJC as a second-line-center. He was one of the main pieces 2 year ago at winning the junior-A championship and was very promising. He hasnt had the kind of break through yet. But really who knows. He kind of has the tools to be something but right now bottom-6 looks more likely, but definetly has offensive skills.
too slow for the NHL- thats why his O dissapared in better leagues
Naatinen wasn't drafted for offence his specialty is as a defensive forward,with the ability to step into important faceoffs.68% faceoff player is special and the ability to incite the opposition into stupid penalties can't be measured.This is a player picked for the intangibles he produces a talent that Max Lapierre had in spades,except the faceoff advantage.A really good player for playoff hockey.
Of the 2009 draftees, there's still Mac Bennett, Dustin Walsh, Mike Cichy, and Petteri Simila.
Do any of these guys need to be signed before the deadline? Will any of these guys be signed?
Mac Bennett will be a force on defence,great skater,intelligent player.Mike Cichy has big offensive potential and should get to use it at Western Michigan under his old coach.Walsh and Simila I don't know about them so much.
Of the 2009 draftees, there's still Mac Bennett, Dustin Walsh, Mike Cichy, and Petteri Simila.
Do any of these guys need to be signed before the deadline? Will any of these guys be signed?
Bennett, Walsh and Cichy are NCAA players which means they can play four complete NCAA seasons before they need to be signed to a contract. Bennett will take at least one more year at Michigan and likely two before making the pro jump. Walsh could play four seasons and Cichy is going to have to sit out the 11-12 season due to NCAA rules about transferring schools and will likely take at least two more years after this one. Simila is the only one that has to be signed and not a lot of indications that he will be.
Of the 2009 draftees, there's still Mac Bennett, Dustin Walsh, Mike Cichy, and Petteri Simila.
Do any of these guys need to be signed before the deadline? Will any of these guys be signed?
The first 3 are in college so at this point there is no deadline. They would have until August 15th of the year they finish school. Simila has to be signed by Wednesday or we lose his rights.
Judging from the post in this thread...I guess not many of you believe young players can improve with time, coaching, training, etc lol
Well to be fair, when was the last time a player who wasn't exactly excelling in his junior years improve from Habs pro coaching/training/etc? I think maybe D'Agostini but for the most part our developed players have been excellent junior age players before hitting pro.
Mac Bennett will be a force on defence,great skater,intelligent player.Mike Cichy has big offensive potential and should get to use it at Western Michigan under his old coach.Walsh and Simila I don't know about them so much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SeriousFan09
Bennett, Walsh and Cichy are NCAA players which means they can play four complete NCAA seasons before they need to be signed to a contract. Bennett will take at least one more year at Michigan and likely two before making the pro jump. Walsh could play four seasons and Cichy is going to have to sit out the 11-12 season due to NCAA rules about transferring schools and will likely take at least two more years after this one. Simila is the only one that has to be signed and not a lot of indications that he will be.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carey Price
The first 3 are in college so at this point there is no deadline. They would have until August 15th of the year they finish school. Simila has to be signed by Wednesday or we lose his rights.
Well to be fair, when was the last time a player who wasn't exactly excelling in his junior years improve from Habs pro coaching/training/etc? I think maybe D'Agostini but for the most part our developed players have been excellent junior age players before hitting pro.
Well I think it's safe to assume that he'll never be a big time scorer...but maybe he can still improve as a checking line center. He's certainly got the frame for it and judging from the few games I saw, he's responsible in his own zone, strong on faceoffs and can chip in offensively.
if he can keep rounding out his game, we could have a very good checking center...
Not every player drafted is drafted with the intention or hope that they're gonna be Hall of Famers or scoring line/top 6 type of players. You need all types of players to have a successful team.
Furthermore, it didn't seem like he had a very big role offensively on his SM-liga team this year...so expecting him to put up big numbers maybe be too much to ask. We'll get a better idea of his ceiling in the years to come.
You just named three of the best drafted Finnish prospects not currently in the NHL, so let's scale it back a bit. No one is suggesting Nattinen is on a level anywhere close to those guys, now or in the future.
Was going to reply with the same thing. Glad I read ahead first. Not just 3 of the best, possibly THE 3 best Finnish prospects outside of the NHL. Like I started to say earlier, in any given year in the SM-Liiga, there are anywhere from 10 to 20 U19 prospects who play regularly, but only 1 or 2 that get enough responsibility/ice time to get any significant amount of points. And yet, more than 1 or 2 Finnish players seem to make the NHL every year. "Weird".
