Little more than a year ago, the sky was the limit for Juuso Pärssinen.
Called up from Milwaukee just a blink into his first professional North American campaign to inject some needed offense into the Nashville Predators lineup, the rookie forward instantly delivered a return on investment, and then some.
After netting his first career goal in his NHL debut on Nov. 12, 2022, Pärssinen would tack on another five goals and 19 assists through 44 more games.
He wouldn’t, however, return to the Admirals.
This season has been a different story.
Posting just 12 points (8g-4a) in a near-identical number of appearances as his debut season total, this year Pärssinen was sent back down.
“Some of the young players up here just get leveled out a little bit, because it’s a very hard league,” Milwaukee Admirals General Manager and Predators Director of Player Development Scott Nichol said. “If you lose your confidence in the NHL, it doesn't matter who you are, it's very hard to get back.”
In the eyes of the Predators front office - and perhaps in Pärssinen’s too – confidence, for one reason or another, was missing.
“We know he's a much better player than he's showing us right now,” Predators Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “And he probably hates to hear it, but it's probably the best for his game. And when we get him back, we know he’ll be a better player.”
Make no mistake, Pärssinen’s AHL assignment is about development, not punishment. Having heard the same news early on in their respective NHL careers, Nichol and Brunette may understand that better than anyone.
“I think you take pride in putting your players in positions to succeed and helping them become the best version of themselves,” Brunette said. “I take that pretty personally too, because I believe that I try to get the best out of my guys.”
“I think in the kids’ minds, they’re disappointed, absolutely,” Nichol said. “But it's part of the plan and part of the growth of the player to kind of get his confidence, get his scoring and get the playmaking that he had at the end of last year back.”
Like Nichol and Brunette before him, Pärssinen has already met the adversity head on.
In his first three games, the forward has played key minutes on both Milwaukee’s power play and penalty kill units and recorded two assists and a +1 rating in the process.
“You can’t go down to the American League and pout; no one's feeling sorry for him, but that’s not how he’s wired,” Nichol said. “He's super competitive, and like all these kids, their end game is playing in the NHL.
“There’s never a smooth path to the NHL, and sometimes there can be a little bit of bumps in the road. But it's how you respond to it, and so far, he's been fantastic.”
