Music: {allcanada} HEALTHY JVR CONSIDERS FINNISH OFFER

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

{allcanada} HEALTHY JVR CONSIDERS FINNISH OFFER

The National Post describes how 23-year-old Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk is considering an offer to play for club team Tappara in Finland.

Though van Riemsdyk is still optimistic the NHL season can still be saved, his choice might be made up for him if the deadline to stage an 82-game season is not met by the end of the week.

"Ideally, you want to be here playing," he said. "You obviously want to start things in Toronto. I think we have a great group of guys and a lot of talented players. I want to be a part of that. But at the same time, it would be a great experience to play in Europe."

Van Riemsdyk has been skating in Minnesota with a group that includes Wild forwards Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise. The 23-year-old, who opted not to undergo surgery for a degenerative hip condition this summer, said he is healthy and looking forward to showing Toronto fans what they received in a trade for defenceman Luke Schenn.

The Leafs are too. Immediately after the trade was made, general manager Brian Burke called the 6-foot 3, 211-pound forward a "thoroughbred" and head coach Randy Carlyle expressed a desire to move the winger to the middle where he would be able to better use his size.

Despite a lack of NHL experience at centre, van Riemsdyk said he welcomed the challenge and had been working on his positional play during shinny.

"You try to do that a little bit," he said. "That will be a challenge now … when we get started, it will probably be a much shorter camp and much quicker learning curve, as you would say.

"Hopefully, we can do some great things if and when we play hockey this year."