Juolevi was 2016's riser, he didn't start the season on the radar the same way Sergachev and Chychrun did. But come late June, he was the first defenseman off the board.
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Juolevi was third in both points and primary points, behind Sergachev and Chychrun. When looking at primary point percentage, Juolevi is second behind Sergachev (70 percent) with 67 percent of his points being primary.
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Juolevi and Mete, they seemed to go opposite directions. Mete, who was selecetd in the fourth round, 100th overall, tallied 44 points, 29 primary, in 50 games. While he didn't have the same shutdown role as Sergachev, Mete saw increased responsibility on London's backend, especially as the season progressed. Juolevi saw his point total remain the same (42), but his primary points total decreased by 3, to 25.
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What happened to Juolevi? What led to Dale Hunter giving Mete the responsibility many thought would go to Juolevi? To be clear, in their draft year, Mete and Juolevi played together for a significant portion of the season. In their D + 1 year, Hunter separated the two. For the majority of the year, both pairings played relatively even minutes. Juolevi found himself as the match-up guy, owning the fifth highest Quality of Competition in the entire OHL. He also found himself playing on the penalty kill, while Mete took the lion's share of the power play reps.
To be fair, this is a part of Juolevi's game that needed significant development. If he is going to be the No. 1 defenseman the Canucks hoped, part of the requirement is being able to shut down the other team's best, at even strength and on special teams. While it is important to improve the defensive side of the game, Juolevi's offensive impact and general poise on the ice regressed. Hunter had hoped that by splitting the two, it would allow him to have two a game-controlling players on the back end, both offensively and defensively.
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Then the world juniors happened. Mete was cut from Team Canada. Juolevi was a lock to be Finland's stalwart on the back end, meaning he was out of the London lineup for the better part of a month. When Juolevi left for the WJC, he totaled 21 points in 26 games, that's significant offensive progress over his last season. Finland famously fell from grace and Juolevi looked like a shell of himself on the ice, eventually losing the trust of his coach (who was fired, mid-tournament).
Instead of anchoring a blueline that was supposed to be one of the deepest in the tournament, he lost ice time to draft eligible D-man Miro Heiskanen and Detroit draftee Ville Saarijarvi. Juolevi had nine points in seven games in 2016, and only two points in six games in 2017. When you evaluate a player against his peers, I expected Juolevi to be the premier D-man at the tournament, along with Sergachev. For most of the event, he looked lost on the ice, committing turnovers and almost becoming a liability at times. His biggest strengths, his skating and ability to make a great first pass, seemed to evaporate. His feet stopped moving, he become nervous with the puck and it led to defensive headaches.
While Juolevi was part of what he termed an embarrassment to Finnish hockey, Mete was back in London endearing himself to Hunter. The Knights went 4-2 while Juolevi was gone, Mete had seven points and was the Knights best defender. Mete gained Hunter's trust on the penalty kill and as a shut down guy. Juolevi returned and looked shellshocked. His production fell to 21 points in the 32 games played after the WJC. While that may not seem like a dip, it's a 15 percent drop in points/game. I'm not a big plus/minus fan, but if you're supposed to be a premier player, playing on a perennial contender, I may look at it. Prior to leaving, Juolevi was +17. In the 32 games afterwards, only +9, and he was a minus player in eight games.
Mete only played 17 games after Juolevi returned, and was +16. He was much less volatile than Juolevi, only a minus rating in two of 17 games, registering 14 points.
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Fast forward to training camp, and Canucks fans are concerned, and Canadiens fans are elated. Travis Green left Juolevi behind as the Canucks went to China, calling him average in his showings. Translation: I expected more. He shows me his skills, but not consistently. Meanwhile, fans in Montreal are ready to anoint Mete as the answer to Who is going to be paired with Shea Weber?