The NHL column: Aron Kiviharju can follow in the footsteps of Miro Heiskanen – but a top defenseman per decade is a lousy performance by Hockeyfinland

The lack of modern top defenders of NHL standards is a risk for Finnish hockey. Right now Miro Heiskanen is the only real elite defender, in TPS maybe the next one is being nurtured. Far too few and far too rarely.

The Blåvita back production’s desert trek is this week’s main topic in the NHL podcast. In addition, the league’s salary policy is discussed. Eeli Tolvanen is also present at a corner – the goalscorer seems to have found his home.

Anyone who has read the NHL column has not been able to avoid a recurring topic: the lack of Finnish NHL defensemen – both in terms of quantity and quality. The list regarding play-driving top four backs is especially short.

Still, Miro Heiskanen and Henri Jokiharju are the only Finnish NHL defenders who can be called modern dynamic all-round defenders.

The other blue-and-white defenders who get a lot of responsibility – Esa Lindell, Jani Hakanpää, Olli Määttä and Niko Mikkola – have as their main task to play strongly towards home. Edmonton stoner Markus Niemeläinen doesn’t dance on the blue line either.

Juuso Välimäki and Ville Heinola have been seen with us as great talents. In the NHL, both have a hard time finding their place. Also Robin Salo, Urho Vaakanainen and Lassi Thomson are question marks.

Of the latter five, all but Salo are reserved in the first round of the NHL draft – and Salo in the middle of the second round at number 46.

It is therefore a matter of guys that the scouts of the NHL clubs considered to be really great talents.

No “first rounders”

Then you won’t be particularly happy about how the next wave of blue-white backs looks from an NHL perspective.

The defenders who have been seen as the biggest talents and carried the biggest responsibility in the last two JVM teams are Topi Niemelä, Aleksi Heimosalmi, Topias Vilen, Joni Jurmo and Otto Salin.

Of them, Heimosalmi is reserved with the lowest number – in the second round as player number 44. Niemelä and Jurmo were called in the third round, Vilen and Salin in round number five. At that stage, it is three digits that apply.

Considering how long the road is for Finnish defenders who went in the first round to take a place in the NHL, it does not look bright.

If you don’t already start talking about the draft in 2024 – then a Finnish back can go as one of all players.

In Miro Heiskanen’s footsteps?

Aron Kiviharju, who turns 17 next week, could become the first Finn of all time to go as the first player at the NHL’s reserve event. Selfish The Hockey News took off last springbefore the U18 World Cup, presented the TPS defender as a super talent.

In the U18 WC, where Finland won bronze, the 16-year-old was 0+6 in six games as he continued to become the most effective 16-year-old defender ever in the A-juniors’ FM series (30 points in 35 games). In fact, only Patrik Laine has scored more points at the same age in the U20 series.

Kiviharju has exactly the playmaking strengths in his game required to become a game-distributing dynamo in the NHL. The skating is fantastic, the passes creative and safe, the stick “strong” – and the game flows from the spinal cord.

The latest Finnish back talent with the corresponding mix of core strengths was Miro Heiskanen.

In the summer of 2017, Heiskanen was reserved as a third player and he has definitely lived up to all expectations.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the two other Finnish slopes that were reserved really early in the last ten years. Rasmus Ristolainen (8/2013) is one of the league’s most questioned players and Olli Juolevi (5/2016) simply does not belong in the NHL.

Kiviharju’s talent is still on another level. Ristolainen was a physical super talent and his lack of game understanding was not exposed in his junior years. Juolevi in ​​turn became a bit of a “victim” of the hype that was born after the JVM gold in 2016. The statistics in the JVM did not reflect reality.

Therefore, it feels safe that Kiviharju’s game brings thoughts in the direction of Miro Heiskanen. A medium-sized question mark still exists. The son of TPS legend Jani Kiviharju so far measures only 173 cm in stocking stuffers – and that’s not much considering a distinguished NHL career.

Admittedly, the trend is favorable for undersized dynamic backs, so as long as the other parts of the player’s identity are at an elite level, anything is possible. In addition, Aron may well still be stretching properly.

Seven years is too long

The year was 2017 when Heiskanen was drafted third. In the summer of 2024, it will be time for Kiviharju’s cohort to be NHL-reserved. Still, many players can pass him (compare to Aatu Räty), but a lot speaks for at least a top five reservation.

In that case, seven years have passed since the reservation of the last great Finnish talent on the back side. It is not a good balance for a nation that, since the start of the year 2014, has won gold on an assembly line in U18, U20 and men’s national team tournaments.

Compare with the amount of really sharp forwards that Finland delivered to the NHL during the same time period. And the goaltending production line also operates at a fairly steady pace, despite the fact that the “Finnish goaltending factory” is no longer a current term in NHL circles.

The “baking factory” in turn has never even had its foundation stone laid. We have a tradition of playing risk-free and patiently in our own defensive zone – and it has generated success for the national teams. In the NHL, such a tradition best leads to the third pair.

When it comes to playmaking first-pair defensemen who have made it to the NHL in the last 25 years, the list is short: Kimmo Timonen and Miro Heiskanen (and well – Buffalo tried to believe in Ristolainen in that role).

Expanding to the top four defenders, the list also includes Sami Vatanen, Henri Jokiharju and Esa Lindell. Dallas stalwart Lindell is still the “stay-at-home guy” among the top defenders.

For the undersigned, it seems rather difficult to understand how no one from within Finnish hockey has pressed the alarm button a long time ago.

The individual skills of the juniors became a big topic of discussion in the mid-00s, when Finland fell behind at the junior level. The problem was analyzed, corrective measures were implemented – and the results began to roll in from the turn of the year 2013-2014.

Time to act long ago

It still feels like nobody really knew, or thought about, how to support the development of a modern back. Despite the fact that “everyone” already knew for a long time how the extremely tactically focused ice hockey in Finland has reduced the puck’s role to being a risk avoider.

In recent years, the importance of the play-driving back has skyrocketed in the league where every talent wants: the NHL. No NHL team today tries to achieve success without firstly having 1-2 playmaker backs and at least two more who can skate, distribute the puck – and defend.

In addition, the biggest young offensive back stars have also gotten better at defensive play. Cale Makar, Miro Heiskanen and Adam Fox don’t really have much in common with an Erik Karlsson, who almost yawns when it comes to defending his own goal.

All-round expertise is today’s tune for slopes that want to reach the top. But if you look at the young skiers in Finland and in our junior national teams, such comprehensive packages are extremely rare.

Either it’s a matter of guys who are reminiscent of the “old school” offensive back – that is, one who is really weak at defending, or it’s big guys with their sights set on the first short pass. And the modern defensive game with a strong stick is in short supply.

The future of top hockey (NHL + JVM) is to defend upwards, challenge as fifth and attack on a wide front, often without position. The back game has a central role all over the ice now and in the future. People should have woken up to that in Finland – many years ago.

The FM league, which is all about getting results, usually becomes the villain when the back problem is aired from time to time. The fact that the other series (mestis, A-junior league) do not maintain a high enough level also receives criticism. Like the association’s lack of vision regarding the evolution of the game. And the big rinks.

The question is: are there any clear-sighted players in Finnish hockey who, instead of looking for culprits, or denying responsibility, take the matter and say it as it is?

That is to say, the international success threatens to come to an abrupt end if Hockey Finland does not find a model for nurturing modern all-round defenders who can meet the NHL’s demands. And then all parties lose.

Thank you for reading.

Sources: The Hockey News, hockeydb.com, NHL.com