About Teemu Hartikainen, Scott Reynolds asks:
"how many 19-year-olds put up between 0.45 and 0.75 points per game in the SM-Liiga and never make it to the NHL? I don’t know the answer but I think it would be good to know before you convince the guy to buy a house in Edmonton."
Between 1980 and 2004, 22 players have met this criteria (adjusting to last year's offensive levels – 2.61 G/G, 1.66 A/G.) Here's the list, showing their NHL scoring through age 25:
| Season | FNL PPG | NHL GP | NHL G | NHL A | NHL PTS | |
| Reijo Ruotsalainen | 1980 | 0.61 | 389 | 99 | 217 | 316 |
| Joni Pitkanen | 2003 | 0.62 | 340 | 40 | 135 | 175 |
| Mikko Koivu | 2003 | 0.57 | 282 | 57 | 127 | 184 |
| Jere Lehtinen | 1993 | 0.51 | 266 | 65 | 100 | 165 |
| Sami Kapanen | 1993 | 0.50 | 242 | 68 | 88 | 156 |
| Niko Kapanen | 1998 | 0.51 | 158 | 6 | 35 | 41 |
| Hannu Jarvenpaa | 1983 | 0.47 | 114 | 11 | 26 | 37 |
| Ville Peltonen | 1993 | 0.70 | 73 | 9 | 19 | 28 |
| Tony Salmelainen | 2001 | 0.51 | 70 | 6 | 12 | 18 |
| Juha Lind | 1994 | 0.48 | 39 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Janne Kekalainen | 1990 | 0.50 | 27 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Vesa Viitakoski | 1991 | 0.73 | 23 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Tuomas Pihlman | 2003 | 0.66 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Jarkko Varvio | 1992 | 0.61 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Marko Jantunen | 1991 | 0.57 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tony Arima | 1981 | 0.57 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Timo Saarikoski | 1989 | 0.52 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Keijo Sailynoja | 1990 | 0.49 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tommi Pullola | 1991 | 0.60 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mikko Luovi | 1993 | 0.45 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kimmo Rintanen | 1993 | 0.66 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Janne Laakkonen | 2002 | 0.57 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Average | 0.56 | 93 | 17 | 35 | 52 |
Niko Kapanen and Ville Peltonen were late-bloomers and did more in their late 20s. That gives Hartikainen a 33% chance of having a reasonable NHL career and a 25% chance of playing regularly during his entry-level contract. But don't expect anything anytime soon – only Pitkanen and Ruotsalainen played regularly in the NHL before they were 22.
