If you look at Jokinen as a 21 yr old (turned 21 april 1st) (at the end of that season 2003-2004) in the finnish league he had 15 Goals and 23 assists for 38 points in 55 games. Koivunen who hasn't quite turned 21 yet (6-13) had 22 goals and 34 assists for 56 points in 59 games. He followed that up with Five goals and eight assists for 13 points in 12 playoff games. Pretty impressive.
Utah relinquished their rights to QMJHL Left handed defenseman Jeremy Larglois. Last season he played in 61 games and had 17 goals 45 assists and was a plus 41. He is only 20 years old and was drafted in the 3rd round in the 2020 draft.
How about simply signing Yager? Or is that too much trouble?
Definitely not a surprise re: Collins. You don't draft bottom-pairing defenseman. You don't draft bottom-6 forwards. Why this franchise continues to do so in abundance is beyond me.
There are dozens of Nolan Collins types out there. Yeah, he's a big RD, but that's all he is. Even St. Ivany, who is a pure defensive defenseman, showcased more offense in college than Collins has in the OHL. Collins scored at .23 points per game in his four OHL seasons. St. Ivany was .57 points per game in college.
The depressing answer is probably that the scouts don't think they're drafting bottom-6 forwards and bottom pairing dmen
I skated with Collins a few times in the off season at a couple skates in Oshawa, and honestly for a big man he moves and jumps in pretty well and had some technical skills that you could tell there was offence that could grow. I would never have guessed that going into this season with the skill in Sudbury and how he looked relative to some other draft picks and tier 2 A guys out there that he would have a 15% point regression is his D+2 year, especially while the rest of the team progressed so much offensively.
I don't disagree, I know very little about Collins, but I hope it's not another Muzzin type scenario.
