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.