B’s go for help on the blue line
Take Finnish defenseman Vaakanainen
CHICAGO — With the player movement that often happens around the NHL draft each year, there is always a hint of anticipation that the Bruins will be one of the teams that make a move.
And sometimes they pick a teenager that no one outside the draftnik cognoscenti knows anything about.
That’s what happened last night at the United Center when the B’s used the 18th overall pick on lanky Finnish defenseman Urho Vaakanainen from the Finnish Elite League club JyP Jyvaskyl. His numbers don’t jump out — 2-4-6 scoring totals in 41 games — but he is confident.
“I think I’m a great skater, I’m good with the puck. I have a good first pass. I’m a complete package, a twoway defenseman,” said the 6-foot-1, 181-pound Vaakanainen, who did have 3-3-6 totals in five games at the World U18 tournament last year.
Vaakanainen’s contract with his Finnish club has one more year and Bruins general manager Don Sweeney expects him to come to North America after that.
“I was expecting to go in the first round, but I wasn’t expecting to go to Boston,” said Vaakanainen. “I met them at the combine but that’s it. That was the only meeting with Boston. I didn’t know they were that interested. I think the interview (at the combine) went fine.”
But while the player wasn’t aware that the B’s were watching him closely, Sweeney said the organization was tracking his progress intently.
“He’s got confidence because he’s played against men for the last year and a half as a 17-, 18-year-old player. That comes across in our interview, and I’m sure with you guys,” said Sweeney. “We actually had one of our Finnish scouts (Erkki Rajamaki) that worked with his dad and knows the family. There’s a little bit of a history that we’ve been tracking. You try to do your due diligence, not just talking to the player himself, but understanding what drives the player. There’s never going to be a full book on him, because they’re still young players and they’re still maturing.”
While the numbers aren’t impressive, Sweeney stressed the stats when playing against his peers reveal a player with more offensive upside.
“His gap control and skating ability are really good. He’s been playing in the Finnish Elite League at a very young age for a year and a half now, he’s played on the world stage as well,” said Sweeney. “We think there’s a lot of upside, as a 200-foot player, getting back, being able to transition pucks but also being able to cover ice which I think is an important part of the game as the game continues to evolve as a skater.”
He’s never been to Boston, but Vaakanainen does know one thing about the Bruins. “All I know (is) Tuukka plays there, that’s pretty much it,” he said of B’s goalie Tuukka Rask.
As promised, this draft was very hard to predict after the top two picks, forwards Nico Hischier and Nolan Patrick. Various draft sheets were all over the place on their judgments on Vaakanainen. Hockeyprospects. pegged him at No. 11, TSN’s Bob McKenzie had him at 22 and the Red Line Report had him ranked as the 50th best prospect.
“Strengths are his skating and smooth pivots and transitions and getting a chance to play against men. He’s at least playing pro hockey over there,” said Red Line Report’s Kirk Leudeke. “Weaknesses are that there’s not a lot of there to him. He’s not an exceptional passer, he doesn’t have an exceptional shot. He’s not a guy that jumps out at you as someone with high creativity and hockey sense. He’s just a solid defenseman.”
The B’s went in hoping to get a veteran left shot defenseman, but it didn’t materialize, at least not yet.
“I was on record as offering our first-round pick for targeted, specific players and we did do that,” said Sweeney. “I don’t blame teams for not necessarily wanting to do, so we were comfortable going ahead with our pick and continuing to build what I think is a good group of guys going forward.”
Sweeney said he’ll keep trying to make a move today and beyond, but with the first-round pick used, that’s one less chip to play.