Never heard of Teuvo Tervainen? Many in hockey circles are familiar with the name, and believe the NHL will get to know him pretty quickly, too.
Height: 5 11 Weight: 165 Shoots: Left
Team: Jokerit (SM-Liiga)
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Country: Finland
NHL Central Scouting ranking: No. 2 ranked skater in Europe
According to HockeysFuture.com, "Teravainens stock for the 2012 NHL Draft has risen faster than he can skate a lap around an international-sized ice rink. And if we are to believe what scouts are saying about the latter, thats faster than most of the prospects available in this years crop of future hockey stars... His size, or lack thereof appears to be the main obstacle standing in the way of scouts freely proclaiming him as one of the outright best players of the draft."
Hes similar in stature and style and skill to Patrick Kane. This kid has that kind of skill. Hes a Patrick Kane style player.Tony McDonald, Carolina Hurricanes director of amateur scouting.
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EliteProspects.com says, "A solid scorer with very good playmaking and fantastic on-ice vision. Has excellent hockey sense and puck-handling. Very creative and calm with the puck, effective on the power play. Able to play his way out of trouble but needs to gain strength."
"He joined Jokerit right after the Christmas break after a fast start with the club's Under-20 team and proved to be a player with outstanding hockey sense and great overall skill," NHL Director of European Scouting, Goran Stubb, told NHL.com. "He was 17, but running the power-play. He's not overly physically but is not intimidated by the physical game."
A speedy, scoring winger out of Finlandmeaning hes inevitably compared to Teemu Selanne. Unfair, sure, but its not without reasonTeravainen has speed to burn, a tremendous offensive skill set and the best hands in the draft, according to McKeens Greg Burstyn. Hes got the potential to become an offensive stud.
His size, however, is an issueat just 165 pounds, theres not much to him. While the equally svelte Ryan Nugent-Hopkins jumped into the NHL last season, its important to remember hes a special kind of talent.