Melart has obviously progressed very well over the years - from a goon to a physical two-way defenceman with decent puck skills. Is there any chance he garners interest among NHL teams? Sort of like Joonas Järvinen, their development has been very similar.
From 7th dman who mostly only tried to pick fights to EHT-defender now... not bad development at all...Finland needs these type of physical defenders. Checked just his age and only 23 years old... I hope some NHL team picks him and hopefully Melart could try in the AHL.
His fighting "skills" are little bit overhyped...IMO not very good at it if you compare to AHL-level but at least he is ready to drop gloves easily.
It has actually become something of an unhailed Jalonen trademark, discovering these stay-at-home D who do nothing fancy, but still do their jobs well enough to leave their mark even on WHC level.
He started with Topi Jaakola way back when, with Pasi Puistola and Joonas Järvinen to be accounted as well. And now it looks like Melart will be his parting gift.
Melart is quite interesting player, started out as a joke and now is almost NHL-ready. Wouldn't be surprised to see him skating some NHL matches next season. Inspiring story
Wouldn't be surprised if Melart became an Oiler. Matti Virmanen is their head European scout and has already arranged several SM-liiga stars to the organisation: Petrell, Tyrväinen & Hovinen.
