Claimed:Niklas Kurri - Elite 2-way Forward Prospect [6/6 FINAL]

[nikkurri17 109]

The Saskatoon Wild have been enjoying an excellent season. The club has clinched the Conference Championship and looks to be a favorite to take home the VHLM Championship this season. The team has received incredibly balanced scoring throughout the line-up. Through 64 games, the team has 9 players who have scored over 50 points, 7 of those players are scoring at more than a point per game. Jarome Iginla is leading the Wild attack, scoring 54 goals and adding 49 assists, good for 103 points. Scoring is not the only reason Saskatoon is on top right now. The wild have received very solid goaltending from Gunnar Skovsgard. The goaltender has played every minute in net for the Wild. Skovsgard has posted a 2.26 goals against average and a .906 save percentage, Very respectable statistics in the high scoring VHLM.

Niklas Kurri is a player who may be flying under the radar a little bit on a team that features a ton of talent. The Finnish center has played a very important two-way center role for the Wild and is among the teams key contributors. The Wild's second line center, Kurri contributes in all areas of the game and has steadily been improving throughout the year. Jari's nephew Nik is certainly no slouch in the offensive zone, but that's not the area of his game that has stood out. Niklas Kurri can be found among the leagues leaders in a number of the key defensive statistics. Kurri leads the Wild with a plus/minus rating of +54. That impressive stat ranks 6th in the entire VHLM. Kurri leads Saskatoon winning 54.4% of his face-offs. Kurri ranks 7th in the VHLM in face-off percentage. Kurri is also tied for 4th in the league with 2 shorthanded goals, despite the fact he did not begin the season on the teams special teams units. Kurri has registered 123 hits and blocked 16 shots as well.

Offensively Kurri ranks 9th on the team in scoring. Niklas has scored 19 goals and has assisted on 32 others. Kurri's shot is deadly accurate, scoring those 19 goals on just 108 shots. The Wild's second line of Kurri centering offensive wingers, Iginla and left wing Ashton Galbraith, has definitely been one of the keys to the teams success. Kurri may not have shown the same scoring ability of his legendary uncle just yet, but he has definitely shown flashes of greatness. I would expect Kurri's offensive production to continue to improve as the Finn gets more acclimated to the professional game.

The Saskatoon Wild will be disappointed with anything short of a VHLM Championship. The management staff deserves a lot of credit for assembling the team's group of players. Kurri was the clubs 3rd round pick in the most recent VHLM Dispersal draft. On top of that G.M. Kendrick acquired one of the top defenseman in the VHLM in Borje Samuelsson. Will the team be able to meet their own expectations? Only time will tell.

Edited November 9, 2014 by nikkurri17

[R1c3Muncher 69]

Nice read!! Hopefully he's a difference maker in the playoffs!

[Molholt 2,185]

Content: 3/3 - It looks like Kurri is well on his way to a successful career, both on the stat sheet and with point tasks! Great work.

Grammar: 2/2 - 

The wild -- Wild

Appearance: 1/1 - One image followed by a wall of text. At least the text was split into proper paragraphs, but I'd like to see some variation in type styling or some more images to liven it up a bit.

Overall: 6/6

[James 77]

Claimed