NHL Draft Prospect Profile: Olli Juolevi

Get to Know Olli Juolevi

Date of Birth: May 5, 1998 (18)
Place of Birth: Helsinki, Finland
Ht: 6’2” Wt: 183 lbs
Shoots: Left
Position: Defense
Team: London Knights

Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi may be the big prizes, but Finland’s strong 2016 draft class doesn’t stop there. Olli Juolevi shot up draft boards after showcasing some explosive offensive talent en-route to a gold medal at this year’s World Junior Championship tournament but the 6’2” defenseman from Helsinki might be the best all-around defenseman in this year’s draft.

Statistics

What Scouts See

Curtis Joe, Elite Prospects
A competitive spark-plug, Olli Juolevi is a complete, all-around defenceman that can hem the opposition in their own end or make things difficult for the opposition at home; either way, he puts the pressure on and lays it on thick. A strong and balanced skater, he can rush the puck through the neutral zone with ease or backcheck with haste. Uses his size to his advantage, but knows his physical limits and plays within them. Instead of playing overly physical, he makes his presence felt by exhibiting his high-end playmaking ability and puck possession play. All-in-all, a well-rounded blueliner who thrives under pressure and can be trusted in all situations.

Daniel Deschenes, Future Considerations
“Juolevi is a safe and steady defender who has an offensive flair to his game. He can drive the play forward, is a smooth skater and comes up big in high intensity situations. He is offensively gifted with good defensive instincts, he shows he can make a strong first pass and drive the offense from the back end. He plays in all situations and knows when he needs to hold back and when he can take off and create something offensively.

What BSN Avalanche sees
Juolevi is an exceptionally smooth and efficient skater who thinks the game at a level well beyond his years. Juolevi was a dominant offensive force for Team Finland at the World Junior Championships, and while there’s no doubt that he has serious offensive talent in his ability to read the play and set up teammates with beautiful passes through the neutral and offensive zones, Juolevi’s defensive game has been undersold heading into the 2016 draft. Juolevi reads the play extremely well and has excellent gap control one-on-one. His understanding of passing lanes makes him not only an effective offensive player, but an efficient defenseman who can take away huge portions of the ice with his stick positioning. Juolevi has a big frame and a long reach which make him difficult to overpower on the boards or on the forecheck.
For a player of his size, Juolevi can play a little soft. When the defenseman has problems, they usually come from giving too large of a gap and reaching with the stick instead of engaging physically and leaning on opposing forwards. There are plenty of successful NHL defensemen who take away time and space without much of a physical game, but if there’s one playce Juolevi needs to improve to reach his potential as a top pairing defenseman, it’s in his ability and willingness to engage physically.

NHL Potential
Olli Juolevi’s offensive game gets most of the attention but make no mistake, the London Knights defender is not some one-dimensional power play specialist. Juolevi played all minutes and situations for the OHL Champion London Knights and with his smooth steady two-way game he projects as a top four or even top pairing defenseman in the mold of countryman Olli Maata.

Expected Draft Position
The top three defensemen in this year’s draft are a contentious group and a few weeks ahead of the draft, scouts still can’t agree on a hierarchy for Olli Juolevi, Jacob Chychrun, and Mikhail Sergachev. That said, all three defensemen are high quality prospects and should come off the draft board sometime in the first 10-12 selections.

How Prospect Fits in Avalanche Organization
If the Avalanche prospect pool is deep in one place, it’s in the left shooting defense position. Nikita Zadorov and Chris Bigras have graduated to the NHL, but both are still just 21 years old, while 22 year old Duncan Siemens remains in the AHL as available NHL callup and 21 year olds Will Butcher, Andrei Mironov, Mason Geertsen and Anton Lindholm and 20 year old Sergei Boikov remain quality prospects in the Avs’ system.
While the team still hopes that one of those prospects can play top pairing minutes with Erik Johnson, the Avalanche remain one of the worst possession teams in the NHL and are still searching for an elite blueliner on the left side. It’s important to maintain positional balance in an organization’s prospect pool, but if the Avalanche feel that Juolevi can provide top pairing minutes down the road then he’d still be a good fit. In the long run quality trumps quantity every time.