Wings Nation First Round Targets: Eeli Tolvanen
By Nick Seguin
6 years agoEeli Tolvanen is a winger from Finland who opted to skip playing pro in his home country in order to get acclimatized with the North American game in the USHL. So far, it’s worked out well for him as he’s put up a total of 92 points in 101 games playing for the Sioux City Musketeers. Tolvanen is a strong skater with a good shot and a high hockey IQ. He’ll definitely be going top-10 in this year’s NHL Entry Draft.
NHL CS RANKINGS
Projected to go 8th overall.
THE STATS
Tolvanen has excelled in the USHL, improving his points-per-game from 0.78 in 2015-16 to 1.04 in 2016-17. As you’ll see in the highlights below, his shot has a way of finding the net. Tolvanen’s scoring has translated well to the international stage as well. He’s well above the point-per-game level for Finland and put up 6 points in 6 games at this year’s World Junior Championship. He’s definitely looking like he has the potential to be a top-6 winger in the NHL.
THE EYE TEST
“EELI TOLVANEN IS ONE OF THOSE PLAYERS THAT IS ALWAYS NOTICEABLE IN A GAME WITH HIS SPEED, SMARTS AND SKILLS TO GO ALONG WITH HIS WORK ETHIC, ENERGY AND COMPETITIVENESS.”
“Plays the game at a high pace and is very tough to contain. He is dangerous offensively creating opportunities with a quick shot that he can release on the fly. He is very good at finding the open man with a tape-to-tape pass. He understands the game very well and can be responsible is all zones. He scored at over a point per game in a league that is tough to score in.”
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DOES HE FIT IN WITH THE RED WINGS?
If Tolvanen were to be taken by the Red Wings, he would be challenging the following players for a roster spot in the coming years: Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar, Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou, and Henrik Zetterberg. The Wings have a lot of depth on the wing. Tolvanen doesn’t fit the hole of a top-line centre or top-two defenseman. That being said, I’m a big proponent of drafting the best player available, so if Torvanen falls to nine and no players of the other two positions are available, snatch him up and deal with the roster crunch in the future. It’s hard to walk away from a kid with this kind of scoring touch.
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