{"id":12398,"date":"2021-12-10T04:07:17","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T04:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/?p=12398"},"modified":"2021-12-10T04:07:17","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T04:07:17","slug":"flames-first-rounder-juuso-valimaki-arrives-at-development-camp-with-ambitious-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/?p=12398","title":{"rendered":"Flames first-rounder Juuso Valimaki arrives at development camp with ambitious goal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WES GILBERTSON<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Published on: July 4, 2017 | Last Updated: July 4, 2017 5:44 PM MDT<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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He is, for now, just a face in the crowd.<\/p>\n

Calgary Flames first-rounder Juuso Valimaki touched down in the Stampede City several days back, but the blonde blue-liner has yet to be singled out by any autograph-seeking, selfie-snapping hockey fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody has said on the street, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re this guy,\u2019 \u201d Valimaki said. \u201cBut maybe that will happen someday \u2014 I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Valimaki achieves his lofty goal, it will happen ASAP.<\/p>\n

After Tuesday\u2019s medical exams and fitness testing at Flames\u2019 development camp, the 18-year-old reiterated what he told reporters just moments after he was called to the stage at No. 16 overall at the 2017 NHL Draft \u2014 that his aim is to earn a full-time job at the Saddledome this fall.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s what every recent first-round holler \u2014 from Sean Monahan to Sam Bennett to Matthew Tkachuk \u2014 has proclaimed when they arrive for their first development camp, although Valimaki faces the longest odds of any of those newbies.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that teenage defencemen rarely make that jump immediately after being drafted. And as you\u2019ve probably heard, the Flames\u2019 back-end is suddenly stacked, arguably among the NHL\u2019s best thanks to the trade acquisition of shutdown sort Travis Hamonic and a new contract for coulda-been free-agent Michael Stone.<\/p>\n

Still, you can\u2019t fault the kid for shooting for the stars. Or shooting to join the stars.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m doing everything what I can to play with the Calgary Flames next year. That\u2019s what my goal is right now,\u201d said Valimaki, who piled up 61 points \u2014 19 goals and 42 helpers \u2014 in 60 regular-season appearances last winter for the Western Hockey League\u2019s Tri-City Americans. \u201cIt\u2019s not the end of the world if I still play in junior, but I\u2019m working to play in the NHL.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it\u2019s not going to be easy. Physically, I think I have a pretty big body, and that\u2019s not going to be a problem. Once I get used to it here and the camps later in September, I feel like I could be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s already been a whirlwind \u2018off-season\u2019 for Valimaki, and that\u2019s not about to change.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-2, 215-lb. prospect attended the scouting combine in Buffalo, the draft in Chicago and then scooted to Vancouver to spend a few days with a pal before Friday\u2019s flight to Calgary. (Asked for his first impressions, he replied: \u201cI like it. I think it\u2019s good that it\u2019s not the biggest city in the world, but it\u2019s still a big city. There\u2019s everything we need. And I\u2019ve only heard great things about the fans here.\u201d)<\/p>\n

After his stay at development camp, which started with Monday\u2019s Amazing Race-esque team-building session and wraps with Friday\u2019s scrimmage at WinSport\u2019s Markin MacPhail Centre, Valimaki will return home for a wee bit of downtime before a brief tune-up with the rest of Finland\u2019s most talented teen pucksters and a trip to the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, Mich.<\/p>\n

Tired yet? We haven\u2019t even mentioned the Flames rookie camp or the Young Stars Classic in Penticton, followed by main camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then it\u2019s time for the season,\u201d Valimaki said.<\/p>\n

A season that he hopes to spend in Calgary.<\/p>\n

Flames general manager Brad Treliving could probably write the cheque for a new rink if he had a dollar for every time that he\u2019s stressed that you can\u2019t make the team in July, but this marks the starting point in Valimaki\u2019s quest to stick around the Saddledome for the 2017-18 NHL campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust show them who I am as a person and as a player,\u201d Valimaki said of his game-plan for development camp. \u201cWork really hard, compete really hard and just try to be myself here, every day and every second.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click Here: tyrone gaa jerseys<\/a><\/p>\n

wgilbertson@postmedia.com<\/p>\n

Twitter.com\/WesGilbertson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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WES GILBERTSON Published on: July 4, 2017 | Last Updated: July 4, 2017 5:44 PM MDT \u00a0 He is, for now, just a face in the crowd. Calgary Flames first-rounder Juuso Valimaki touched down in the Stampede City several days back, but the blonde blue-liner has yet to be singled out by any autograph-seeking, selfie-snapping … <\/p>\n

Read more “Flames first-rounder Juuso Valimaki arrives at development camp with ambitious goal”<\/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-12398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12398","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=12398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}