Ottawa Senators: All Aboard The Roby Järventie Hype Train

With the 33rd overall pick in the 2020 NHL entry draft, the Ottawa Senators chose Finish left-winger, Roby Järventie and may have won the draft as a result. 

OK, that’s a hot take in a relatively small sample size and might be jumping the gun just a little but it’s impossible to ignore what the 18-year-old sniper has been doing, playing in one of the top professional leagues outside the NHL, SM-Liiga. The Tampere, Finland born Järventie has been steadily turning heads for the past month and not just for his stunning flow that protrudes out from his Red Bull bucket, seriously though that’s a confident look.

Red Bull gives you wings

The Red Bull helmet is the perfect innuendo as it’s rewarded to the best U20 player on each team in the Liiga and Järventie has the wings right now as he continues to fly up the Senators prospect pool rankings. Järventie, since being drafted by the Sens, has produced 6 goals, 6 assists in just 14 games played for Ilves Tampere and the most impressive feat has been the fact that he’s been this productive while playing largely on the third offensive line at just over 13 minutes per game. Järventie’s game is simple, he can beat you from anywhere on the ice. Also worth noting that these goal calls are easily the best in the business, turn that volume up!

Pure sniper

This was Järventie’s latest act of disrespect to the opponent’s netminder, demonstrating his ability to find a quiet spot in the zone and release the puck in a split second. Järventie could quickly become a household name if he makes it on to Finland’s World Junior roster, here’s a look at Scott Wheeler’s projected lineup for the Finns.

It could be very premature to start mentioning Järventie as a “steal of the draft” territory just yet but what he’s been able to do is almost unmatched when it comes to immediacy of impact with regard to the league that he’s currently dominating in his draft +1 year. In fact, as Trevor Shackles points out below, only Erik Karlsson has demonstrated the same level of dominance in a men’s league during the year that followed his draft.

Something about Järventie screams star potential, on one of the very few swings that Pierre Dorion and Trent Mann elected to make at the draft and they may have hit the home run that fans were hoping for with the 6’2 Fin. Time will tell if the Senators found another gem with a pick used outside of the first round in 2020 but if Järventie continues on this tear, we will see him in Ottawa much sooner than anyone would have imagined just over a month ago. The Roby Järventie hype train has officially left the station, all aboard!