Former NHL player and current Sport Manager with the Lahden (Lahti) Pelicans Janne Laukkanen sat down with Eyes on the Prize to speak about Jesse Ylönen’s progression and adjustment to the professional ranks..

”We have been talking to Montreal a little bit, they have been asking us what we do here. They have never given us any negative feedback about anything so I think we are doing [well], and we have the same goal [for Ylönen to succeed].”

It is clear that the Canadiens have a keen interest in their European players, and that they are following their progress closely.

“One more year for us and the next year I think he will be ready for NHL; because there are little things that he needs to work on, his physique, his skating and his Hockey IQ are pretty good,” Laukkanen said. “We hope that he will have a good year here and then we will be proud when he will be done and ready for the NHL.”

Jesperi Kotkaniemi has showed the Finns that the step between Liiga and NHL is smaller than they thought, the confidence and mentality will benefit the Finnish talent factory enormously and maybe most importantly for Montreal Canadiens fans it will benefit Jesse Ylönen.