TORONTO – Mike Babcock is cautiously optimistic that Miro Aaltonen might end up factoring into the Toronto Maple Leafs plans next season.
The head coach indicated that he knows “a fair bit” about the 23-year-old Finnish forward who agreed to terms with the organization on Friday. And Babcock expressed hope that Aaltonen will make a push for a job with the NHL team in 2017-18.
“Until he gets here, until we see him play every day with us, I don’t know for sure,” Babcock said before Saturday’s game against Chicago. “What I do know is he plays fast, he shoots the puck, he’s a competitive guy. We think he’s a guy who can help our roster.
“Now he’s got to make the transition and he’s got to have a big summer, and I think he will.”
Aaltonen is coming off a breakout season, where he put up 19 goals and 44 points in 59 games with Vityaz Podolsk. That was the highest total among any under-24 player in the KHL this year.
He also had some strong performances with the Finnish national team, which helped attract NHL interest.
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The Anaheim Ducks originally selected Aaltonen in the sixth round of the 2013 draft, but he never signed with the team. The Joensuu native played five years in the Finnish domestic league before going to the KHL.
Aaltonen has played both centre and left wing, and is said to have added more muscle to his five-foot-11 frame in recent years. While Leafs forward Leo Komarov has never met his fellow Finn, he was impressed by his offensive output in the KHL.
“That’s good,” said Komarov. “We’ll see.”
The KHL has proven to be a pretty good pipeline for the Leafs. They signed forward Nikita Soshnikov as a free agent in March 2015 and brought in defenceman Nikita Zaitsev last May.
Zaitsev, in particular, has exceeded expectations. He’s currently leading the team in ice time during his first full NHL season.
“The great thing about Zaitsev is we didn’t have to have this conversation [about his potential] in the middle of the year,” said Babcock. “So I didn’t have to tell you what I thought. Because I would have said: ‘Yeah, he’s going to be a 5-6 ‘D.’
“I had no idea.”
There is at least some hope Aaltonen could beat the projections as well. He’s a skilled player and the Leafs have an organizational need to fill at left wing.
Since he’ll be playing on an entry-level contract, Toronto will have the option to move him freely between the NHL and American Hockey League next season.
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