Dave Kallmann

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

As a 19-year-old kid living and working abroad, sure, Eeli Tolvanen does miss Finland and his family and friends there.

As a professional athlete, though, he’d just as soon get back to Music City.

Tolvanen, the Nashville Predators’ top pick in the 2017 NHL draft, returned to the Milwaukee Admirals last week after a stint with the parent club. The Nashville trip came a littler earlier than intended – necessitated by injuries – but is one he could repeat numerous times this season.

“To get a little jump on the NHL game, I think that was a good thing for me," Tolvanen said. "It gets me more hungry to want to get back there as soon as possible.

“The coaches said just go out there and do your best, that’s all you can do. I tried to do it. Those four games I played, I think I played pretty well.”

Tolvanen actually had his first taste of the NHL with three games in the spring. But this time – after 21 games in Milwaukee with the Nashville carrot dangling in front of him – seemed more real. Tolvanen picked up his first two points, a goal and an assist, in his first game back in the NHL on Dec. 1.

He played in four of five games while in Nashville before being shipped back to Milwaukee, as the Predators began to get forwards back from injury.

“Now he’s seen it, so he’s got a taste,” Admirals coach Karl Taylor said. “Now he knows he can play there but he has to play a certain way, and he knows his holes, and our job is to help him fill them.”

Tolvanen played two seasons of junior hockey in the USHL, so the smaller American ice hasn’t been entirely new to him, although there is still an adjustment as the speed increases at every level. In the nine months between Tolvanen’s first and second NHL stints, he clearly improved, he and Taylor agreed.

Tolvanen had four goals and seven assists with the Admirals before his call-up. The numbers may not be as flashy as he and the team had expected, but his growth on defense especially and away from the puck is nonetheless on pace, according to Taylor.

For the development of a young player such as Tolvanen – considered one of the top NHL prospects – Milwaukee and Nashville each offers a different advantage.

“Being here, you get a lot of ice time, you get a lot of opportunities,” he said. “Just being up there, it’s the best league in the world. You have to work hard every shift and every day, so I think that was a big thing when I was there, so just keep on trying to do it here. Bring my ‘A’ game every night.”

Taylor’s goal is to keep Tolvanen’s “A” game at the NHL level as long as possible while he’s in the AHL.

“It’s normal for them to have a speed drop-off because that’s where you’re playing,” Taylor said.

“If I see a slow-down in his game, I’ll bark at him from the bench, and he’ll know what I’m talking about. I’ll just have to say, ‘Tolvi!’ and he knows what the focus is.”

The focus? For Tolvanen right now, it’s making the most of his time in Milwaukee to get back to Nashville.