When he was drafted in June, not many folks knew who Joona Saarelainen was. The 18-year-old was taken in the 5th round by the Lightning after starting his professional career with KaPa in the Liiga last season. That may change soon if the speedy center keeps playing the way he has to start things off in the World Junior Summer Showcase taking place in Plymouth, Michigan right now.
Through two games (both against the U.S.) he has 2 goals and 1 assist.
The 5’9″ center has found himself starting on the wing during the two contests, but if he keeps playing the way he has so far (he also had a couple of assists in international games against Czechia and Switzerland earlier in the month) not only will he find himself on the roster for the U20 World Championship in December, he could be one of their top players.
The Lightning are probably going to let him develop in Finland with KalPa next season, but he could be a diamond in the rough for the scouting staff. As you can imagine, some teams were dissuaded by his lack of size, but by all reports Saarelainen is tough on the puck and dedicated to playing a two-way game.
We’ll see how he continues to progress, and going up against veterans in the Liiga will be a good test to see if he can fare well against bigger competition. If he continues to produce, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him jump over to North America in the 2026-27 (which is closer than it sounds). That could line up nicely with the Lightning having opportunities for younger players to make the team.
Other Hockey News
The player review series continued yesterday with Conor Sheary [Raw Charge]. It wasn’t the best of seasons for the veteran, but there are two years left on his contract and time for him to show the faithful what he can do.
Andrei Vasilevskiy (and old friend Mikhail Sergachev) pop up on a list of players that could benefit from positive regression this season [Daily FaceOff]. While they were the worst numbers of his career, there are plenty of NHL goaltenders that would have taken Vasy’s numbers last season. That being said, we all wouldn’t mind seeing him bump everything up a notch.
If you want to see Andrei play, or head out to see Sergy’s return to Tampa, the team announced that single-game tickets will go on sale starting Friday August 16th at 10:00 AM. Advance ticket sales for “the Lightning Priority Access Club, Flex Plan holders, those with Chase credit cards and recipients of the Lightning Insider Newsletter” will take place earlier that week.
The Lightning held onto their #2 spot in The Athletic’s ‘salary cap era’ franchise rankings.They also gained a point on the top team of the era, the Pittsburgh Penguins. The team of writers was impressed with the moves Julien BriseBois made, even if they may not agree with them.
After a summer of will they/won’t they trade rumors, the Carolina Hurricanes finally signed Martin Necas to a two-year contract [Canes Country]. They keep him (and his offense) in the fold with a deal worth a reported $6.5 million per year. With the loss of Jake Guentzel in free agency (yes, he was technically traded, but it was close enough), losing Necas (which I just realized in an anagram of “Canes”) would have been a big blow.
A little further north, Brock Faber signed a longer-term deal as he agreed to an 8-year, $68 million deal with the Minnesota Wild [Star Tribune]. The Calder Trophy runner-up is set to be a cornerstone for the Wild’s blue line for many, many years.
