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Dobber: Juuso Valimaki is “the best player” in SM-Liiga

Photo credit: Candice Ward/USA Today Sports

By Ryan Pike

Oct 31, 2020, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 31, 2020, 00:39 EDT

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Folks, here’s a little inside scoop for you: the Calgary Flames are pretty excited about blueliner Juuso Valimaki. The Finn has had some injuries derail his first two pro seasons, but he’s off to a superb start to the 2020-21 in Finland’s top league, the SM-Liiga.

In fact, he’s doing well enough early on that Dobber Prospects’ head European scout, Jokke Nevalainen, declared him that league’s best player.

Here’s a snippet of Nevalainen’s pronouncement:

The former first round pick, who turned 22 a few weeks ago, missed the entire 2019-2020 season due to injury. He needed just a couple of games to find his game, and it’s been pure dominance ever since. He has 11 points in 11 games, and that includes the first two games where he went pointless. He might be a bit of a forgotten guy because of that injury but I believe he will be a top-four defenseman for the Flames as soon as this season. Do not be one of those people who forgot him.

Valimaki has two goals and nine assists for 11 points in 11 games. He’s tied for seventh in league scoring overall and is first among all defensemen. Ilves is 8-3-0 and in second place overall in SM-Liiga.

FlamesNation’s Top 20 prospect countdown begins on Monday! Last year Valimaki was voted the top prospect in the organization by our panel. Where will he slot in this year?