Why we should be excited about Aatu Jamsen

UJamsen Career

I don’t think a lot of people were expecting Aatu Jamsen to be drafted in the NHL. Coming from the u18-SM-Sarja Jamsen was a player that was unranked by the NHL central scouting. The skilled winger scored 21 goals and added 26 assists in 24 u18 games that year. After a very impressive season LA decided to take a chance on Jamsen with their 7th round pick. The majority of us were a bit surprised about this pick but we all know that Jamsen was going to be a long term project. At 6’1/154 pounds Jamsen was clearly not ready to make the jump from u18 to pro so he played the entire season in the u20 SM-sarja with the U20 Pelicans. Aatu dominated the u20 with 56 points in 36 games finishing second in points. Out scoring a lot of top NHL prospects Jamsen earned a spot on the U20 SM-sarja second all stars teams.  

This season

Jamsen started this year in the u20 where he was dominant collecting 13 points in 7 games. He quickly earned a call up to the Pelicans first team and made his pro debut in the Liiga. In 7 games he scored a beautiful goal and added 2 assists. Surprisingly Jamsen was loaned to a Mestis (2nd Finland pro divisons) club before getting send back to the u20 SM-sarja. I’m expecting him to stay in junior for some time before probably  ending the season with the pelicans. Jamsen development is awesome; he seems to be getting better and better every game. His ability to set up teammates and create dangerous scoring chances makes him a valuable player. Jamsen progression gives us hope to see him with the kings one day even if he still has a long way to go.

Projections

Jamsen played in 3 exhibition games with the Finland u20 squad in preparation for the 2022 world junior championship. Aatu will be fighting to gain a spot in a talented Finland team. If jamsen is able to crack the lineup he would gain a lot of respect in the NHL and could start to make a name for himself. It’s going to be interesting to see what Jamsen will do in the next couple years as a lot of options would be available for him. Would he stay in the pelicans system playing a limited role in one of the top mens league in the world. Or would he join the LA Kings organizations to make a better transition in North America. Personally I would like to see him continue his development in Finland for 1 or 2 years and when he would be ready the kings could possibly bring him to their AHL or ECHL trying to make him an NHLer one day.