The Top 20 countdown of our 2025 Cult of Hockey Prospect Series resumes. Players only fall off the list once they:
-Make the NHL
-Get dealt to a different organization
-Age out, or…
-Drop off the map.
#12 – Viljami Marjala
(Voters: David Staples, Kurt Leavins, Jim Matheson, Ira Cooper).
The left-handed Left Winger (although he also plays Center) was selected #159 overall in Round Five of the 2021 NHL Draft by Buffalo. But after two seasons spent in the QMJHL and another few in the Finish pro league, the Sabres chose not to sign him. Hmmm…
Suddenly a Restricted Free Agent, Marjala was picked up by the Edmonton Oilers in June and promptly inked a two-year ELC at a cap hit of $872,500, or $85,000 in the minors (PuckPedia). Marjala had a deal with Karpat in Finland which seemed to signal he would 100% stay in Europe but it had an out-clause. In North America, he is waivers exempt and would be an RFA at the end of his current deal.
Marjala stands 6’1 and weighs in at 176 LB. He is twenty-two years old and will be twenty-three in January. So, he is done growing an unlikely to fill out much more. He plays at a good pace and can certainly make plays. Probably more of a creator than a finisher as his statstics would attest.
He was nearly a point-per-game player in his first campaign in Quebec in 2020-21, going 5-22-27 in 30 GP. He followed that up with 13-33-46 in 68 GP in 2021-22. Marjala then returned to Finland for three pro seasons. With TPS Turco of SM-liiga Marjala he made steady progress, from 9 points in 15 GP, to forty to 8-44-52 in 54 GP this past year. Although his goal scoring regressed from 17 in 2023-24 (he was Rookie of the Year) to just 8 in 2024-25.
Here is what the scouts say:
Elite Prospects:
-“Marjala is aware and deceptive. As he approaches defenders in the wide lane, he surveys his options, calculates the speed of his teammates and their routes, but doesn’t reveal their position to defenders. He looks them off and keeps a neutral body position, stick at his hip and shoulder pointed down ice, buying time for his target to skate into position”.
Dobber Prospects:
-“A skilled offensive forward who can play at center or wing. An excellent skater and capable of making plays at high speed”.
Greg Boysen, Hockey Writers:
-“Uses his vision and enhanced instincts to create scoring chances for his teammates”.
Other pluses:
-Viljami Marjala plays a smart, responsible defensive game of hockey. He has good awareness of where he is on the ice and in which situations.
-He has decent compete and a low center of gravity, will win some board and puck battles you might think someone his size may not.
Where does he need work?
-He has a heavy shot and good aim but is not a volume shooter at all. Sure, he is primarily a playmaker. But he needs to trust those shooting skills a bit more.
-A reasonable skater but does not possess that extra gear allowing him to separate from defenders. Every step he can pick up will be critical to making it.
General observations:
-Word is that Marjala had not turned his nose up at North America at all, rather Buffalo balked at bringing him over. That is curious. The Sabres have been starved for talent. But they may also not be a model of NHL scouting and development, either.
Projection:
-A Top six AHL player with a shot at some NHL games in down the road. It is not clear whether Marjala and his agent would see that as a viable option. Adding skill to an AHL lineup that has lack it the last few years is not ‘nothing’. But if not, it is feasible the Oilers could lend him back to Karpat.
-My Take: He can either handle the physicality and the pace of North American
pro at the age of twenty-two or he can’t.
No time like the present to find out.
Next up…prospect #11 from my Cult of Hockey colleague David Staples.
Now on Bluesky @kurtleavins.bsky.social. Also, find me on Threads @kleavins, Twitter @KurtLeavins, Instagram at LeavinsOnHockey, and Mastodon at KurtLeavins@mstdn.social.
This article is not AI generated.
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Bruce McCurdy, 1955-2025.
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