2021 Flames Top 25 Under 25: #5- Juuso Valimaki

Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports #5- Juuso Valimaki

Position: Defence

Age: 22

2020-21 Team: Calgary Flames (NHL)

Stats: 2 G, 9 A, 11 Points in 49 Games

Drafted in 2017, Round 1, Pick 17

2020 Ranking: #4 (-1)

The opinions of Valimaki over the past few months have been drenched in disappointment and concern, but how fairly can he be assessed yet? Scoring at a point-per-game pace with Ilves Tampere of the Finnish Lliga with 19 points in 19 games, Valimaki built a lot of hype for his return to hockey after missing all of 2019-20 with a torn ACL.

His transition back to the NHL in January under Geoff Ward was rocky and awkward as many of the Flames were. He played somewhat better after the switch to Darryl…