Vancouver Canucks: 5 Reasons Why Olli Juolevi Was a Great Pick

Not everyone in Vancouver Canucks Nation is happy with Olli Juolevi. But you have no reason not to be.

The Vancouver Canucks were one of the teams that sparked many rumors in the final days leading up to the 2016 NHL Draft. That was mostly because GM Jim Benning likes to let fans know what he thinks, what he is doing, and what will be next. He just seemed to change his mind a lot.

It all started with Benning stating he was looking at a defenseman for their first-round pick, when they were still in playoff contention. Once he knew where his team would pick, however, he noted that picking a forward at five is more realistic, because the top-six players in this draft are forwards. Then, after talking to his scouting staff for weeks, Benning changed his mind once again — there was a defenseman in his top six, perhaps even top five.

Today we know, Jim Benning had London Knights defenseman Olli Juolevi ranked fifth on his list. The whole thing probably looked like this:

1. F Auston Matthews
2. F Patrik Laine
3. F Jesse Puljujarvi
4. F Pierre-Luc Dubois
5. D Olli Juolevi
6. F Matthew Tkachuk

As so often, the Canucks managed to miss out on exactly the four players they would have liked the most, despite ranking Matthew Tkachuk, who was rumored to be the Edmonton Oilers’ favorite at No. 4, at No. 6. Whether Edmonton had Tkachuk ranked ahead of Pierre-Luc Dubois and Juolevi didn’t even matter in the end, as the Columbus Blue Jackets went a little bit off the board, leaving Jesse Puljujarvi for the Oilers.

Many Canucks fans would have preferred Puljujarvi, Dubois or Tkachuk over Juolevi, but there is reason to believe Benning made the perfect call. I am not saying Tkachuk would have been a bad pick, but only that Juolevi was a great one.

Here are five reasons why!

Next: BPA

1. Best Player Available

Should a team draft the best player available or make their pick according to a positional need? That question comes up year after year and, while most people agree that drafting the best player makes the most sense, teams make different decisions year after year. At three, Jesse Puljujarvi would have been the best player available, but the Blue Jackets wanted to fill the void that was left by Ryan Johansen, whom they had traded to the Nashville Predators for D-man Seth Jones.

With Pierre-Luc Dubois off the board, the Canucks had to rethink their BPA vs. positional need strategy. Dubois likely would have been the best available player at No. 5, and he would also fill the major need for a post-Sedin top-line center. But between Matthew Tkachuk and Olli Juolevi, who is the better player and who fills the bigger need?

It seems like the left wing is one of Vancouver’s biggest current needs. Once Daniel Sedin retires or declines, there won’t be much talent left on the position, at least not behind Sven Baertschi. But, the Canucks are also lacking defensemen with No. 1 or at least top-pairing potential. So in that regard, it is probably a tie between Tkachuk and Juolevi.

At the end of the day, the Canucks simply decided Juolevi was the best player available. Defensemen with top-pairing potential don’t grow on trees. The Edmonton Oilers have been trying to find one for about a decade now, but despite several rumors, they haven’t been able to get a deal done. If you want a top-pairing defenseman, you likely have to develop one yourself.

The Canucks will do just that, and despite a lack of physicality, Juolevi has top-pairing potential. Oliver Ekman Larsson and Nicklas Lidstrom are proof that offensive ability and a non-physical defensive game can take you very far in this league. This doesn’t mean Tkachuk is a bad player, it just means Vancouver views Juolevi as the better prospect.

Next: MVP

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3. True Winner

Let’s start this one off with a “little” list:

• CHL Memorial Cup All-Star Team
• CHL Memorial Cup Champion
• CHL Top Prospects Game
• OHL Champion
• OHL Second All-Rookie Team
• OHL Third All-Star Team
• U20 WJC All-Star Team
• U20 WJC Gold Medal
• U20 WJC Most Assists by Defenseman (9)

Those are Olli Juolevi’s achievements of the 2015-16 season. Wherever Juolevi goes, he wins something. After being named 2014-15 Jr. A SM-Liiga MVP and First All-Star Team member, he came to North America to dominate just as much. He lead the London Knights to an OHL Championship and Memorial Cup victory, and won gold at the World Junior Championship in his native Helsinki, Finland.

As Benning told TSN in a post-draft interview, he has never seen a 17-year-old player dominate the World Juniors like Juolevi did.

If that isn’t enough to convince you that Juolevi is a terrific player, I don’t know what will. Juolevi is made to win, and he’ll want to do just that in Vancouver.

Next: Great Person

4. Great Person

The reason why interviews are a thing at the NHL Draft Combine is that teams want to make sure a player is driven and confident enough to make the NHL, but also that he fits in their organization. Olli Juolevi had a good interview with the Canucks and, while the same can be said about Matthew Tkachuk, the Canucks are sure they added a first-class individual to their organization.

In today’s NHL, everything is about numbers. If the numbers are good, the player is good. If the numbers are bad, the player is bad. It’s that simple.

However, intangibles still play an important part in draft selections, whether you like it or not. If you compose your roster of the 25 most skilled players in the league but they are all idiots who have the IQ of a rock, you won’t win a lot of hockey games.

Teambuilding is important; it might not be quantifiable right away. But it will be eventually. You won’t get a “relative mood impact for percentage” or anything like that, but you will see if you picked the right people for your roster once they start winning games — or not.

Olli Juolevi combines top-level potential with a great personality. What more could you possibly want?

Next: Immediate Impact

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5. Immediate impact

Don’t be too surprised if Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi are the only players who make an immediate impact in the NHL. The fourth-likeliest to be in the NHL for 2016-17 is probably Carolina’s 21st-overall selection Julien Gauthier, thanks to his massive frame and power-forward game. Nobody really expects any other top-10 picks to jump in right away, because most play a skilled game that needs refining first, or they aren’t strong enough — which is said about Juolevi.

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However, also don’t be surprised if Juolevi sticks around for all of training camp and even gets a nine-game trial in the NHL or more. If the Canucks’ defense was ever strong enough to bring in a rookie who was just drafted, it is this year.

Vancouver has a strong top four with Alex Edler, Chris Tanev, Ben Hutton and Erik Gudbranson. Those four will eat up the majority of minutes every night. With Edler and Hutton on the power play and Tanev and Gudbranson on the penalty kill, those four players could take up 45-50 minutes per night. That leaves 10-15 minutes for Nikita Tryamkin and Juolevi.

From there, Juolevi’s minutes could increase from game to game. As a skilled offensive player, he could also see minutes on the power-play.

Adjustment to the pro level is not easy. Compared to the CHL, players have significantly less time to do something with the puck once they get it. There often is no time to look around and evaluate options, because there are only split seconds available before an opponent comes in with a crushing hit. Juolevi, however, plays a game that should be easily adaptable to the pro ranks.

Next: What Drafting Juolevi Does for Vancouver

While players like Mikhail Sergachev always want to make something happen once they get the puck, Juolevi likes to play it safe. He can play high-percentage passes under pressure and displays outstanding decision making.

The Canucks will have to make a decision on whether 10-15 minutes a night in the NHL are better than 25-30 in the OHL. But they are used to that already — Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann can tell you about it.