Nashville Predators: How Eeli Tolvanen Fits Into the Future
By Chad Minton
With the No.30 pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, the Nashville Predators took sharp-shooting Eeli Tolvanen. He’s the perfect addition to an already great team.
Fresh off of their wild Stanley Cup run, the Nashville Predators had themselves a solid draft to ensure this year was no fluke, taking Eeli Tolvanen with their first-round pick of the NHL Entry Draft.
Out of Sioux City of the USHL, Tolvanen brings very impressive offensive numbers with him, and a nose for getting shots on goal. It’s somewhat shocking that the Predators have him considering how late in the first round that they picked.
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His Offensive Firepower
Tolvanen is coming off a 30-goal season with Sioux City, and also has loads of experience playing for Finland’s national teams. Check out his offensive firepower in this highlight film from NHL Prospects on YouTube:
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Like any young draft pick, there’s things he still needs to improve on. Perhaps his ability to play without the puck is his biggest weak spot, per Adam Vingan of the Tennessean.
That type of weakness is something you’re willing to overlook in return for his raw talent on offense. He’ll get coaching in areas like skating without the puck against NHL-level defensemen, while creating scoring chances for his teammates.
The Predators still lack consistent scorers to hang with the other highly-skilled offensive teams in the league, like the Pittsburgh Penguins. That’s why the Tolvanen pick is such a smart one, especially considering his draft selection of 30th overall. The pick is widely a popular one, and ESPN NHL Insider Corey Pronman has good things to say about the pick:
Not only does the pick fill a need, but even possibly is the “steal of the draft”, per Vingan. We may look back on this pick and consider the Predators incredibly lucky for Tolvanan to fall into their hands.
How Tolvanen Fits with the Preds
Tolvanen’s ability to be a pure scorer is exactly what the Predators need for the long term. Someone who can take over games when the rest of the offense isn’t clicking. We already know the defense is elite, and there’s players who can get hot at the right time.
The Nashville Predators do have some solid young scorers in Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson and Kevin Fiala. They still need add onto that, and even more so now that James Neal is a member of the expansion Las Vegas Golden Knights.
If you think back to the Stanely Cup Final against the Penguins, the Predators ran out of gas on offense. A player like what Tolvanen expects to become on the NHL level is what the Predators needed in that moment.
It won’t take long for Tolvanen to get to Milwaukee, so that the organization can see his development on the professional level. From what I’ve seen in limited footage, he’s not far from being ready. Tolvanen joining the Predators roster sometime in 2018 is highly likely, but injuries could thrust him into the lineup next season.
After more development in the AHL to fully round out his game, Tolvanen might end up being the Predators’ future 40-goal scorer that’s always been missing. They’ve already got a championship-caliber defense that just needs more offensive weapons. Tolvanen fits that perfectly, therefore making this a very successful draft at first glance for GM David Poile.