Finland's Gem: Ville Leino

Ville Leino was picked up from the Detroit Redwings February 6th as a 26 year old Rookie. Leino was known for being one of the best players over seas, but had failed to show his ability in a European friendly Detroit system. The Wings felt that he wasn't a needed a piece and put him on the trading block. The Flyers were having some depth scoring problems with Giroux and JVR not meeting high expectations through mid-season, Holmgren knew the kind of player Leino had the potential to be and felt that they could sacrifice their 7th Defenseman O.K. Tollefsen and a 5th round pick.

5 monthes later, Leino is the Flyers 5th leading scorer with 6 goals and 9 assists, in only 16 games. He had only put up 13 points in 55 games this season with Detroit and Philadelphia combined. He started off the playoffs slow versus the Devils, but then once Carter and Gagne went down he turned his game up, now holding the Flyers record for most points in the postseason by a rookie.

This scoring isn't a suprise to Leino or the Flyers or any of his followers. In 2008, while playing for Jokerit of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association (SM-liiga), Leino was the receptiant of the Lasse Oksanen Trophy for the league's top player in the Regular Season. The equivalant of the NHL's Hart Trophy. He put up 28 goals and 77 points in 55 games.

The adjustment to North American hockey didn't take long as in Detroit Redwing's AHL affillate Grand Rapids Leino put up big numbers, 46 points in 57 games. But in the NHL it was a different story as his season with Detroit did not go as GM Ken Holland had wanted it, and so he was traded.

Then the Flyers and Coach Laviolette come in. It was not kept secret that Laviolette likes a gritty, hard fought style of play from his team. Lavvy once asked about Ville's playing time said "well, he's a rookie." Leino was more of a finesse player who could dangle with the best of them. This did not figure into Lavvy's plan and Leino's call up were few and far apart.

In the Post Season Ville Leino has been everything the Flyers and Peter Laviolette could ask for. He's add tough on puck play to his play-making style, and that has led to many chances and goals. When Jeff Carter went down Leino stepped right up and bumped Carter off of his own line, of Hartnell and Briere. In Game 3 he did not let the Flyers hang their heads and let Chicago dominate this series, after Patrick Kane scored a breakaway goal to make it 3-2 Hawks not even 3 minutes into the third after Leino missed a hit to break up the play. Ville came down 20 seconds later and found a rebound on his stick that he buried to tie the game.

Laviolette's opinion's have changed drastically on the rookie saying "He has so much energy, you can double shift him with anyone. What we've been impressed with is his ability to stop and start and cut back and do a whole bunch of stuff with the puck." In Game 3 Leino got the Game Tying goal and many great passes that his linemates failed to bury in 23 minutes of ice, also logging 5 takeaways proof that his mind game is flawless and his energy is flowing.

Ville Leino was defiantly a risk considering the Flyers defensive depth situation with question marks from those 5th and 6th Defensemen, and if Leino hadn't produced like he had this may have been looked at as a bad deal. But all those thoughts have been erased with his amazing play in these playoffs. Leino's play has made him defiantly worthy of a new contract for next season and hopefully he will be a Flyers well into the future.

Ian Laperriere said it best when telling Ville Leino, "Hey, Detroit shoulda traded Datsyuk instead of you."