Can Teemu Kivilhalme Make the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager, Kyle Dubas has had a whirlwind offseason.

One of the additions Dubas made to the Toronto Maple leafs roster was defenseman Teemu Kivihalme.

Kivihalme was drafted at 140th overall in the 5th round in the 2013 draft. Seeing as he was drafted by the Nashville Predators, a team known for its defensive development, it isn’t hard to see why Kivihalme got lost in the weeds in their system.

He has a solid scouting report; 6’0, 180lbs, average-sized two-way defenseman with good puck-moving skills and very good skating ability. A very smart player who makes the right decision most of the time and can be relied on both ends of the ice.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Kivihalme

Teemu comes from Savage, Minnesota and grew up playing on North American ice, playing highschool hockey in Minnesota, junior hockey in North Dakota and college hockey for Colorado.

From 2014 to 2017, Kivihalme played for the Colorado Tigers, men’s college team. In three seasons for Colorado, Kivihalme put up 36 points in a combined 107 games. His first season he put up 11 points, the second season saw 15 points, but the third season he only managed to put up 10 points. Let’s be fair, Colorado at the time wasn’t exactly a good team either, going 20-79-8-0 in that three year span. (hockeyreference.com).

After Teemu spent 3 seasons in Colorado, he decided to go back to his ancestral roots, in Finland. Kivihalme has dual citizenship, because of his parents, but has not represented Finland or USA internationally.

Going back to Finland, proved to be the correct decision for Kivihalme’s development. This allowed him to gain valuable experience in a winning culture in Karpat. Kivihalme helped his club achieve success in both seasons. Kivihalme helped Karpat win the SM Liiga title the first year and were runners up, the following season.

Taking a look at Kivihalme’s stats, it’s really encouraging, as it looks like he was a very useful defender for Karpat. In his two seasons, Teemu put up 50 points in 104 games with Karpat. This previous season saw Kivihalme put up 30 points and was Karpat’s top scoring defender. (hockeyreference.com).

This now brings us to what we can expect from Teemu- A dependable, puck moving d-man, who is capable of eating up important minutes for the Marlies or Toronto Maple Leafs. Teemu signed a one year contract at $925,000. With one year to prove himself, he does not have the most time to get acquainted with the teams and systems he will be playing with. With this in mind, it leads some to believe he could very well start the season with the Leafs.

Teemu hasn’t played a game for the Toronto Maple Leafs yet, but some are already putting him on the Leafs roster. He has certainly looked good in the rookie tournament, but the answer as to why he looked good is in the name of the tournament. He was playing against rookies, as opposed to men in Finland.

Thinking of where Teemu could end up in October is tough, but Toronto should view Kivihalme as a potential long term asset. Seeing as Toronto is established as an elite team, they should try and develop him as much as they can, instead of rushing him. The NHL is the best league on the planet and forcing someone who isn’t ready for the NHL, seems like a mistake to me.

Teemu has to show that he can keep up with the pace of the NHL in the preseason, or his tenure with Toronto will be a very quick one. I like his overall game and what he brings to the Leafs organization. With this in mind, Teemu looks to be in the Toronto Marlies top four to start the season.

Being a defenseman in Toronto is a great problem to be in- the media is hard to deal with, but the payoff of playing is huge. Teemu has shown that he can battle through adversity and be dependable. Now that Teemu is in Toronto, he is going to have to show why it was worth it to take a chance on him.