WJC NEXT STEP FOR TUULOLA

The Flames are looking for Eetu Tuulola to amp up the power grid during this IIHF World Junior Championship.
Certainly no one could accuse the super-sized Finn of being a shrinking violet.
Not at 6-foot-2 and 230-lbs.
Harnessing that size, taking the strength and applying it on an NHL level is always a learning curve for a 19-year-old.
In Buffalo, pitted against the best junior-age players on the planet, represents the next step in the process.

Back home after an exploratory year abroad - 18 goals, 31 points in 62 starts - for the Western Hockey League's Everett Silvertips - Tuuola has put up eight goals and a dozen points for hometown HPK Hameenlinna of the SM-Lliga over 28 starts.
A sixth-round (156th overall) pick of the Flames in that bountiful 2016 draft, the big right-winger cracked the Finnish roster for this year's tournament, but his selection was touch-and-go.

"He's playing with the men now and all the reports we've gotten have been positive,'' says Flames' director of amateur scouting Tod Button.
"The tournament that really put him over the top for us was the Under-18 in North Dakota."
There, operating on the third line, Tuulola helped the Finns claim gold in 2016.
"You'd like to see him be that prototypical power-forward type, someone who creates space for the smaller guys, goes hard to the net.
"In a tournament like this, we're hoping he's the one to get the greasy goals, the one counted on to, as I said, create room, especially against the bigger teams.
"We'd like to see him start doing that on a more consistent basic.
"This is a big tournament for him in terms of development."