RedWingsiä todella kattavasti seuraava Kukla's Korner on kirjoittanut tässä leirien aikana paljon myös Pulkkisesta, mm. seuraavia pätkiä:
"Pulkkinen’s NHL-level hands, slap shot, wrist shot, snap shot, one-timer, passing, poke-checking, playmaking instincts, attention to detail, ability to battle with and through bigger and stronger players and yes, even his defensive aplomb are all ready for prime time, his body isn’t.
Pulkkinen’s still a relatively skinny 5’10” or 5’11” with a classically European-trained body, all bulked up in the shoulders and calves, but thin and almost brittle in terms of his thighs, butt and abdomen. As such, he’d play a partial role with the Wings, getting in a game here or there and mostly find himself sitting in the press box, and the Wings don’t believe that kind of situation serves Pulkkinen’s interests best.
As such, Pulkkinen will go back to Jokerit Helsinki and hopefully display dominant and consistent form before competing for a full-time NHL spot a year from now.
I won’t deny that, as Savage suggests, some time in Grand Rapids wouldn’t hurt Pulkkinen or Jarnkrok, but they’ve been playing against men in two of Europe’s best leagues in the Finnish SM-Liiga and Swedish Eliteserien since their draft years, and while the Wings had the opportunity of giving Gustav Nyquist a chunk of time to adjust to pro play in Grand Rapids as his body slowly but surely developed over the past season, I get the sense that the Wings’ management believes that geometry and pace of play will be the two issues for Pulkkinen and Jarnkrok by September of 2013, and as such, they’re probably going to make the big club on a full-time basis."
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"Teemu Pulkkinen #62: And if Jurco is a pure sniper, Pulkkinen is the multi-tool shooter. One of his “assists” was a goal as far as I’m concerned, an absolute cannon of a one-timed slap shot that found the back of the net so surely that all I could do was laugh. Jurco’s a wrist shot/snap shot guy that loves to go to the net and score from in tight, like a power forward tends to do: Pulkkinen is much more well-rounded in that he can score from anywhere, and it doesn’t matter if we’re talking about a wrist shot, slap shot, backhand, one-timer, snap shot, deflection, rebound, anything…And just as importantly, Pulkkinen can pass almost equally well as he has excellent vision and senses plays developing ahead of time. If that wasn’t good enough, his skating isn’t fast per se, but he is deftly maneuverable in all directions, he skitters by much larger and stronger players, he’ll battle through them if he has to, and I was most floored by his defensive awareness as he’s just as willing to give up a scoring chance to go backcheck or pluck pucks out of defensive trouble as he is to score.
He’s simply not a well-built player by NHL standards—he’s all shoulders and calves, with a tiny little waist—and while he had no problems whatsoever on the smaller rink, I think he’d struggle considerably if he was playing against defensemen looking to knock his head off. That being said, with some more consistency when he does play against men in Finland, my Gord, folks, the Wings have a superstar in the making.
And that is why he will remain in Finland—because the Wings will leave him over there until he is ready to play in the NHL. There will be no AHL apprenticeship for him. He’ll just be ready and that will be that."
Tuossa alla olevassa linkissä on vielä hyvä video Detroitin prospektileiriltä ja yksi Pulkkisen lämärimaalikin on mukana.
http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/tmr/comments/red_wings_evening_news_on_prospects_free_agency_and_joey_kocurs_charity_sof/
Kaiken kaikkiaan ilmeisen hyvin on Pulkkisen kevät ja kesä sujunut. Lisää voimaa keskivartaloon tuossa yllä vielä kaipaillaan, mutta jopa luistelua ja puolustuspeliä kehutaan. Kaikesta päätellen hyvällä raiteella ollaan ja sen suuntaisesti olen itsekin ajatellut Pulkkisen pelistä, että puolustuspeli kehittyy kyllä ajan myötä ja junnuna kannattaa ne panokset laittaa ennen kaikkea omien vahvuuksien kehittämiseen ja hiomiseen eli Pulkkisen kohdalla hyökkäyspeliin. Tällä hetkellä tämä kehityskäyrä näyttää tuottavan hyvin tulosta, mutta toki harjoittelun tulokset nähdään sitten vasta ensi kauden mittaan.
