Joel Armia – NHL Draft Profile
2011 Scouting Reports | 13 Jun 201111. RW Joel Armia – Assat (SM-Liiga)
DOB: May 31/93 | Shoots: R | Height: 6.03 | Weight: 191lbs
Midterm Rank: 9 | League Rank: 1st SM-Liiga | Country Rank: 1st Finland
Finland’s Joel Armia heads into Minnesota as one of the biggest enigmas of the first round of this crop. The lanky winger had a solid rookie season in the SM-Liiga but cooled down after a quick surge to start the season. While the consensus opinion of Armia is wavering, we still believe that Armia has the high-end potential to make a Top 15 pick worthwhile.
One of the first things you’ll notice about Armia is his size, as the 6’3″ winger sticks out like a sore thumb. While he still needs to work on filling out his frame, a winger with his combination of skill-level and size is certainly an enticing package for any NHL team. Armia is at his best when he’s involved in the game and has the puck on his stick in the offensive zone. He’s got a high-end skill-set and can create offensive opportunities with his puck handling and ability to protect the puck with his size.
Armia is an adept playmaker and distributes the puck fairly well, but you can tell that his bread and butter is as a shooter. He’s got a solid release and does a good job of getting shots off in traffic. Shot power is good and as a sniper, he’s definitely among the top draft eligibles in that department. He has the unique ability to take a game over when he’s on, but he needs to do so more consistently to be effective at the NHL level.
On the notion of consistency, that’s one of the major issues that continue to dog Armia in the eyes of scouts. While Armia can be a force when he has the puck, he goes through too many stretches where he’s not engaged in the game and has limited effectiveness. Instead of being a player that makes things happen, Armia is certainly guilty of being a passenger at times which is something that he has to change to be a successful NHL player.
The competitiveness also needs to translate more to the other two-zones as well. Like most young offensive players, Armia can fall victim to missing his man on the back-check, and being weak on puck battles in the defensive or neutral zones. Some of these issues may have been unfairly scrutinized as he is playing against older professionals, so there is a chance that some of these issues may be mitigated as Armia adds strength to his frame; allowing him to compete more effectively against stronger opponents.
Whoever ends up selecting Armia will certainly be getting an unpolished “project” type pick. His offensive upside and skill-level are enough to have any team salivating about a potential top line winger, but it comes at the expense of some much needed coaching and a test of Armia’s inner drive to be a successful NHL player. We still feel there’s a lot of work for Armia to achieve success at the next level, but as the 2011 NHL Draft enters that phase of uncertain picks between 10-20, Armia is the type of player that projects to have home-run type potential.
Pros: Big Frame, Strong Release, Solid Creativity/Vision
Cons: Consistency, Competitiveness, Two-Way Play
Skill-set Comparison: Thomas Vanek
Tags: 2011 nhl draft prospects, Joel Armia, Scouting Report
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