Finland NN: The Power of Youth

McKeen's Finnish correspondent Mikko Vuori reports that the Finnish SM-Liiga is undergoing a wind of change due to the migration of a lot of its top talent over the off-season to North America. Young and mostly unproven players will be asked to step up, including the likes of Mikko Lehtonen, Perttu Lindgren and Juhamatti Aaltonen.

The cream of the Finnish crop of hockey talent has, by and large, exited Finland in the off-season with NHL teams rushing to sign players due to the impact of the league's new collective barganing agreement and the anicipation of the coming season.

The Espoo Blues were hit hard. The L.A. Kings wasted no time signing Lauri Tukonen, while Petteri Nokelainen suddenly took his services to Long Island.

Reaping the fruits of increased exposure suddenly are youngsters like Mikko Lehtonen - the Boston Bruins' 2005 draftee. He's impressed immediately, scoring his first league goal in the second game of the season. Accused of being unproductive offensively, Lehtonen seems to turn it up when the stakes are high. Look for a breakout season from him.

Stud goalie Tuukka Rask has already made an impact, wresting the starting job on Ilves away from veteran Juha Pitkämäki, after initial expectations that the two would share the duties. Ilves, helmed by 41-year old Raimo Helminen and co-owner Jyrki Lumme, has a young, inexperienced roster that will struggle but at times also excite.

One of the Ilves kids, Dallas property Perttu Lindgren, scored his first SM-Liiga goal in the second match of the season, making use linemate's Marko Anttila's quick hands. Teammates include Juho Mielonen and draft eligible grinding forward Tommi Huhtala.

In Hämeenlinna, goalie Miika Wiikman is battling Tampa Bay prospect Karri Rämö. Wiikman seems to have the upper hand thus far, playing solidly in the handful of HPK games so far, while Ramo was relegated to Finland's U20 tryout games against tier-II teams.

Wiikman is a 1984-born netminder who is set to become a free agent next summer. With proper development, he could very well earn himself an NHL contract.

Oulu Kärpät's head coach Kari Jalonen had to be a little creative early this season with the team missing scorer Petr Tenkrat. Jalonen opted to utilize the talented, yet defensively raw, St. Louis prospect Juhamatti Aaltonen to fill in on offense. Despite Aaltonen's reputation for bad work habits, he has not looked out of place so far, scoring a goal on a deflection in the opening match.

Worth seeing in Finland this season are the likes of Sami Lepistö, Jari Viuhkola, Petri Kontiola, Lauri Korpikoski and Andreas Jämtin, who are all potential NHLers.

FINLAND IN THE 2006 DRAFT

Stud winger Jesse Joensuu has become somewhat of a household name already to followers of Finnish hockey, making it that much harder to believe that he is still only entering the season to preceed the 2006 NHL draft, where he is a projected first round pick. Progressing with Ässät Pori of the SM-Liiga, Joensuu is playing on the second line which means that it is only a matter of time before enters the top scoring unit.

A big kid for some time, Joensuu got much stronger in the off-season and looks comfortable performing against men. He has impressed with his vision and a hard shot with an excellent release. Scouts would still like for him to develop better skating intensity.

Elsewhere, centerman Jan-Mikael Juutilainen has shown the propensity to light the lamp. After a standout World Junior Cup, he debuted with the Finnish Under-20 team playing against Tier-II's Haukat. The crafty pivot's biggest weakness is his size (5-foot-11, 176 lbs), so he must continue to score in order stay securely on the scouting radar.

Lastly, the notion that Finland is the new Quebec in terms of producing blue chip goalies is proving to be valid yet again. Already two names have emerged for the upcoming draft in the the twin towers Niko Hovinen and Riku Helenius. 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-3 respectively, they will face off against each other several times in the junior league and we will keep a close eye on the action. To boot, there will be an interesting duel between the two for the starting spot on the Finnish Under-18 national team.