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Jarventie Generating Early Returns in Finland

November 18, 2020, 4:58 PM ET [21 Comments]
Michael Stuart
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Perhaps the biggest story in the Ottawa Senators prospect sphere these days is the scorching start that 2020 33rd overall pick Roby Jarventie has delivered for Ilves Tampere in the Finnish professional league. Jarventie, who is barely a few months north of 18 years of age, has been playing at nearly a point-per-game pace to start his year. Heading into today’s action, he had tallied six goals and 12 points in 14 games; it didn’t take him long to add to those lofty totals:

While the NHL equivalent of point-per-game play in the Finnish league isn’t particularly noteworthy, the fact that Jarventie is doing this in a professional setting against older and more experienced players has to give the Senators tremendous optimism about his future.

At absolute worst, Jarventie’s hot start provides Ottawa with some quiet satisfaction after many accused them of reaching for the six-foot-two winger at 33rd overall. Regardless of the weaknesses in his game that had many prognosticators predicting him as a late second or early third round pick, Jarventie is delivering on the scouting promise that he would be able to score goals. For a Senators team that is going to need game-breaking talent to develop and make its way onto the roster, the gamble is worth it. That’s especially true considering how safe they played it with the bulk of their draft picks this year.

Of course, even with all this optimism, it’s worth making note of the fact that the sample size here is incredibly small. Moreover, Jarventie is in the absurdly early stages in what will hopefully be a long career. Drawing conclusions based on his performance in Finland to date would be foolish, but it’s surely better for the early returns to look like this than the alternative. Even if the percentages regress a little bit for him - which they will - the key is to continue this trajectory with solid all-around play and flashes of brilliance.

As always, thanks for reading.
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