The Montreal Canadiens have signed winger Jesse Ylonen to a three-year entry-level contract. This deal begins next season and carries him through the 2022-23 season.
The Canadiens have agreed to terms on a three-year, entry-level contract (2020-21 to 2022-23) with forward Jesse Ylönen.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 26, 2020
Habs Ink Jesse Ylonen
Ylonen has spent the past two season playing for the Lahden Pelicans (Lliga) of the Finish Elite League. Over those two seasons, he had put up 25 goals and 24 assists for 44 points in 106 games. He was originally drafted in the second round, 35th overall in the 2018 NHL Draft by the Canadiens.
This past season he put up 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 points in 53 games. He also racked up 14 minutes in penalties.
What This Means for the Future
The 20-year old Finnish forward came to North America after signing a one-year, one-way deal with the Rocket de Laval on March 2nd. Ylonen didn’t see any action with the Rocket as the AHL season was eventually cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Looking ahead at next season, Ylonen will look to start the season in the AHL to get used to North American hockey. This will give him the opportunity to play with higher skilled players than he did in Liiga. It will be interesting to see how Ylonen adjusts to North American hockey.
Last Word’s own Ben Kerr had this to say about Ylonen in his scouting report last summer, “Ylonen couples his strong skating with good stickhandling skills. He protects the puck well and can make moves while at top speed. He combines his quick cuts, with strong dangles and toe-drags. This makes him dangerous off the rush. While he works to protect the puck down low and does a decent job in the cycle game, he could be even better with added muscle mass. Ylonen is getting stronger on the puck and this has improved his game but there is more room to go. He has the patience and poise to wait for an opportunity to make a play and then hit a teammate with a tape-to-tape pass.”
He ranked Ylonen as the Habs 8th best prospect at that point.
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