{"id":12375,"date":"2021-12-10T04:05:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T04:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/?p=12375"},"modified":"2021-12-10T04:05:00","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T04:05:00","slug":"predators-sign-top-prospect-eeli-tolvanen-to-3-year-entry-level-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/?p=12375","title":{"rendered":"Predators sign top prospect Eeli Tolvanen to 3-year, entry-level contract"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Adam Vingan, USA TODAY NETWORK \u2014 Tennessee<\/span>Published 10:30 a.m. CT March 29, 2018 |\u00a0Updated 2:44 p.m. CT March 29, 2018<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Predators’ first-round pick from last year participated in the team’s morning skate Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Heralded prospect\u00a0Eeli Tolvanen\u00a0to a three-year, entry-level contract Thursday.<\/p>\n

Tolvanen, who participated in Thursday’s morning skate and\u00a0is expected to make his NHL debut this weekend, will receive\u00a0the maximum allowable contract\u00a0for entry-level players \u2014 $925,000 in total salary and up to $2.85 million in potential performance bonuses.<\/p>\n

Such a deal usually is reserved for top draft picks. Tolvanen\u2019s terms are identical to those of Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (No. 1 in 2015), Buffalo’s Jack Eichel (No. 2 in 2015), Toronto’s Auston Matthews (No. 1 in 2016) and New Jersey’s Nico Hischier (No. 1 in 2017) when they entered the NHL.<\/p>\n

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Tolvanen, drafted by the Predators in the first round (No. 30) last June, is considered among the league\u2019s most talented prospects.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old forward had 19 goals and 36 points in his rookie KHL season, which ended last week\u00a0when Jokerit was eliminated in\u00a0the second round of the playoffs.\u00a0Both totals were the highest by an under-19 player in league history.<\/p>\n

More:\u00a0<\/strong>Predators prospect Eeli Tolvanen parts with KHL team<\/span><\/p>\n

Tolvanen, who scored six\u00a0times in 11\u00a0playoff games, also shined on the Olympic stage, totaling nine points in five games for Finland.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayoffs are coming, and I know they\u2019re a really good team, so it\u2019s easy to jump in because there\u2019s a lot of good players and they\u2019re going to push me forward,” Tolvanen said. “That\u2019s a good thing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Andrew Nelles \/ The Tennessean<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It’s important to temper expectations for Tolvanen. He’s not coming to Nashville now to\u00a0supplant the Predators’ top forwards, but to complement them.<\/p>\n

“He had a really good year in the KHL,” Predators coach\u00a0Peter Laviolette\u00a0said. “I watched him play a lot\u00a0in the Olympics. I thought he was excellent. What he did in the playoffs in the KHL is incredible for such a young kid. But now he’s a young kid coming to the National Hockey League, the best league in the world (with) the best players in the world.<\/p>\n

Rexrode:\u00a0<\/strong>Predators’ trade deadline answer? It’s 18-year-old Olympic star Eeli Tolvanen<\/span><\/p>\n

“We hope it’s a seamless transition, but you never know. Sometimes it isn’t with young kids. We’ve got lots of time. He doesn’t have to come in here and carry a team or carry the load.”<\/p>\n

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As far as this season is concerned, Tolvanen’s tremendous release and savviness with the puck should enhance the Predators’ depth, leading to a more prominent role in future seasons.<\/p>\n

More:\u00a0<\/strong>Predators’ lineup should get even stronger with expected arrival of top prospect Eeli Tolvanen<\/span><\/p>\n

“He’s an offensive player, so he’s got to trend toward the top two lines, which maybe if you get him in the lineup, maybe you could actually say you have three offensive lines,” Predators general manager David Poile said. “I’m not against that. He’s not a fourth-line player or a checker. He’s an offensive player.<\/p>\n

“Arguably with his success, he should get some time on the power play. It’s probably not how much he plays. It’s just where he plays.”<\/p>\n

Tolvanen can appear in up to nine games this season without burning\u00a0the first year of his contract. Playoff games\u00a0count toward that total.<\/p>\n

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KHL<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
✔<\/b><\/span><\/span>@khl_eng<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u2013 Youngest hat trick in KHL history<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u2013 Most points by U19 players in a single KHL season (36 Pts, 49 GP)
\n\u2013 2-time rookie of the month
\n\u2013 6-time rookie of the week
\n\u2013 2018 #<\/span>KHLAllStar<\/span> appearance
\nThanks for an amazing season, @<\/span>eeli1999<\/span>!<\/p>\n

Good luck in the NHL!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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Reach Adam Vingan at avingan@tennessean.com and on Twitter @AdamVingan.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Adam Vingan, USA TODAY NETWORK \u2014 TennesseePublished 10:30 a.m. CT March 29, 2018 |\u00a0Updated 2:44 p.m. CT March 29, 2018 The Predators’ first-round pick from last year participated in the team’s morning skate Thursday. Heralded prospect\u00a0Eeli Tolvanen\u00a0to a three-year, entry-level contract Thursday. Tolvanen, who participated in Thursday’s morning skate and\u00a0is expected to make his NHL … <\/p>\n

Read more “Predators sign top prospect Eeli Tolvanen to 3-year, entry-level contract”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}