Leafs prospects set to lead Finnish World Junior team in primary roles
At the 2020 NHL entry draft, Kyle Dubas pulled off what looks to be the best of his many draft day moves. Dubas is always active on the draft floor, trading up or down in order to get the players he wants. In 2020, he traded the 44th overall pick to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for the 59th and 64th picks. In this case, the move wasn't made to get the guy he wanted higher up, but rather seeing a lot of value in the later 2nd round and high 3rd round. With the value being there, Dubas elected to trade down for some additional draft capital. Little did anyone expect that he might hit on both selections.
The Senators used the Leafs' 44th overall pick to select Tyler Kleven, a 6'4 Left defenceman out of the University of North Dakota. At this time, Kleven is a long shot to make the NHL. Meanwhile, the Leafs selected a pair of young Fins in forward Roni Hirvonen (59th) and defenseman Topi Niemela (64th). Both are currently projected to be NHL players. Niemela even appears to be destined to be a top 4 defenseman at the NHL level at some point.
Niemela has grown into a high end prospect since being drafted, scoring at an incredible rate against men in the Finnish SM-Liiga. In 2021, he lead the Finns to a bronze medal at the WOrld Junior Hockey Championships, taking home Defenceman of the Tournament honours.
Hirvonen is a smaller forward who can play centre or wing, he was also a leader on the Finnish bronze medal team, scoring clutch goals by going hard to the net. He also recorded career highs in goals and points last season in the SM Liiga.
Both Hirvonen and Niemela will be playing for Finland once again when the rescheduled tournament kicks off on August 9th. Based on the lines at Finland's pre-tournament camp, they will both be at the top of the lineup. Hirvonen will play on the top forward line while Niemela will anchor the top defensive pairing.
Both players are also expected to attend Leafs training camp this fall, but will be heading back to their Finnish teams for one more season. Keep an eye on these two at the World Juniors.. they'll don the blue and white for Finland this summer, but it won't be long now before they are lacing up for the blue and white in Toronto.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 26 | 298 ANSWERS Leafs prospects set to lead Finnish World Junior team in primary roles Who will have the better showing at the WJC tournament next month? | ||
| Niemela | 192 | 64.4 % |
| Hirvonen | 106 | 35.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
