By the way, any word on Matias Sointu yet? I don’t see any mention of him on Ottawa’s site but it sounds like the powers-that-be with Ilves were expecting him to leave there.

Thanks for the comparison, too.

The study you mentioned seems interesting. I’ll have to check it out, if it is available somewhere. I guess Haula was more correct than I thought he was. Gabriel Desjardins did a nice job of comparing the level of the USHL here: http://www.behindthenet.ca/content/USHL.htm

In reviewing your tour of the prospects camps was wondering if you could help me out with a few things – and also had a couple of observations. I believe the Stars did not have a prospect camp (and a couple of other teams cancelled them as well due to finances). With regards to Oskar Osala, he was traded to Phoenix. Also, I saw you mention Ilkka Pikkarainen – I’d be interested in your assessment of another free agent signed this year – Mika Pyorala (Flyers).

One other note you might find of interesting – in your other story about the players selected in the CHL draft you mentioned that Erik Haula said there was not much difference between the USHL and Canadian junior. That is an interesting debate here in North America. A couple of years ago a website here http://www.ushr.com (admittedly with a bias towards college hockey versus juniors) compared the stats of some of the players who had gone from one to the other – mainly college players who decided they didn’t want to play in school for whatever reason and went to play in Canada. Admittedly, it was a small sample but most of those players had higher numbers in Canadian junior than they did in the USHL. While there may have been other factors (the players had matured/developed more, etc), he seemed to feel that it showed the USHL was as competitive if not moreso.

Just some food for thought.

Thanks again for all the info on Finnish hockey.

Based on the U18 Worlds, Kärmeniemi has a lot to learn. Currently he’s an undersized, defensively challenged defenseman with above average puck skills. I don’t think he was even close to being drafted.

As I said in my preview, I haven’t really scouted Pekkala at all and I didn’t actually expect him to be drafted. (But I do like numbers, even if they are inflated by playing with a granlund. I’ve been thinking about calculating league equivalencies for the Finnish leagues…)

Appreciated reading both your NHL draft previews and reviews. In fact, I wrote the HF articles to which you referred and appreciate the comments you had to make. Guess I was way off on Jyrkkio – my including him had more to do with what I perceived as talent and potential, and a general feeling that the younger group were not yet developed enough to be drafted – mainly since there were so few Finns taken in the 2007 and 2008 drafts.

I would also be interested in your opinion of Lauri Karmeniemi. In a number of the inquiries I received after posting my article, people felt that his exclusion was the biggest shortcoming of my list.

As for Tomi Pekkala – that was another “flaw” you and I have in common – with all other things considered, I too like numbers.

I’d also be interested to hear your opinions on the large number of Finnish players drafted in the CHL’s Import draft (I believe eleven) and how many of them you feel will be going to play there.

Kittos!