A recent report from ESPN Chicago indicates that Finnish super prospect Teuvo Teravainen will be joining the Chicago Blackhawks as soon as his Finnish league season is done.
Blackhawks coach, Joel Quenneville confirmed the report saying, “I’m expecting him to come here when his season’s done. We’ll see after that.”
General Manager Stan Bowman also seemed encouraged by the news. “I think when he left here in October, he was a little bit of a slow start,” Bowman said. “He had missed some games while he was in training camp with us. It took him a little bit to get going. I think he started playing well in December, and, ever since the world junior tournament, he’s been dominating.
“He’s been scoring every game. He’s the leading scorer of the team even though he hasn’t played as many games as other guys.”
According to ESPN, the Finnish national team will give Teravainen “its blessing” to skip the World Championships and join the Blackhawks. As such the only thing standing in Teravainen’s way right now is the fact that his Finnish team Jokerit, looks like they will be involved in the SM-Liiga playoffs. The team is currently in 7th place in the league and the top 10 will make the playoffs which start March 17th. The top six teams in the league will get a first round bye.
If they were to go all the way to the final, Jokerit could be playing as late as April 26th, after the start of the NHL playoffs. However his team could be eliminated at any point before that. It is something that Hawks fans should keep on eye on.
The 19-year-old Teravainen is one of the top prospects in the hockey world. He is a dynamic offensive player, who could add a real secondary scoring threat to the Blackhawks. However given his age, and the fact he probably needs to bulk up just a little bitter more, its unclear how useful he’ll be right away. This could be something where his impact is small this year, but big in the coming years.
Below is my latest scouting report.
Top Prospect, Teuvo Teravainen, Centre/RW,
Born Sep 11 1994 — Helsinki, Finland
Height 5.10 — Weight 165 — Shoots L
Drafted in the 1st round, #18 Overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2012 NHL Draft
Teravainen burst onto the scene in the second half of the 2011-12 season. Once though of as a 2nd or 3rd round pick, he rocketed up draft boards with a strong showing in the second half of the SM-Liiga season, a scintillating five nations tournament, and another strong perforance at the 2012 World Under 18s.
After being drafted in the first round by Chicago, he’s carried that over to the last two years playing as an 18/19-year-old against men in the SM-Liiga and dominating at the World Juniors with 26 points in 13 games, and leading his team to the 2014 World Junior Gold.
Teravainen is one of my favorite prospects to watch play. He has incredible hockey sense and vision, and is an extremely creative playmaker. Teravainen will attempt passes that most forwards don’t even dream about, feathering pucks through sticks and legs and putting them on the tape of his teammates. He shows incredible vision and passing skills in making these dynamic plays. Teravainen prefers to control the play in the offensive zone often working as a setup man working off the half boards. The has very good hands, and excellent stickhandling leading to a strong puck protection game despite his size. Teravainen also possesses a very hard and accurate one-timer and often unleashes it from the top of the circle. He is especially effective on the Power Play. He has shown that he is willing to take a hit to make a play, despite the fact he is often facing larger opponents. He could use increased upper body strength however, in order to help him win more battles along the boards.
Over the last two years, Teravainen has really worked to improve his skating. He has always had good top-end speed, but he’s made great strides in improving his first step, his acceleration and his agility. He’s surprisingly strong in his lower body, giving him good balance and allowing him to fight through checks, and to remain strong on the puck.
Teravainen is a bit undersized and this can cause him problems in the defensive zone. He can be overpowered by bigger, stronger opponents, and this may mean that his future is as a Right Wing (where he has spent some time when playing for Jokerit) instead of playing Centre (where he’s been used almost exclusively when playing on the Finnish National Squad). He certainly shows strong positioning in the defensive zone, and solid anticipation though, and this should help him going forward.
He appears to be destined for a role in the Blackhawks top-six, its just a matter of when and if he will need any AHL time.
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