Prospect Info: 130th overall: Vancouver selects Toni Utunen (D, Tappara)

[StreetHawk]

I'd be shocked if we sign him. He's a very marginal prospect with no skills that project to think he could move up levels well.

Without any realistic shot of being an NHLer he probably has no interest in coming over to play in the A.

 

[MS]

Without any realistic shot of being an NHLer he probably has no interest in coming over to play in the A.

He's going to have a nice Markus Kankaanpera-type career where he plays another 15+ years in the Liiga and captains a team there for a decade and maybe turns up as the #7D at a World Championships for Finland at some point. And in the year 2038 there will be posts on this board to the effect of 'Wow, this guy is still playing!'

He's a small, slow defensive defender. There is just no upside there. Like I said in a post from several months back, if you brought him over to NA he'd basically be a Mitch Eliot 3rd pairing nothingburger. He probably wouldn't embarrass himself ... but there's just no point. You give ELCs to guys who have an ability to project to help the NHL team.

 

[Vector]

 

[Vector]

And that's the end of this chapter.

 

[ziploc]

Welp.

 

[Gstank]

BUT HE PLAYED IN THE WJC HE WS GOING TO BE AN NHL PLAYER /s

this is directed at everyone who puts value in the number of players a team has at the WJC

 

[EpochLink]

Another BUST from the previous regime.
What can ya do.

 

[Grub]

Another BUST from the previous regime.
What can ya do.

You can have closure that a Benning spawn never got to maturity.

 

[VanJack]

No real surprises here......had a pretty stellar junior career in helping lead Finland to a WJHL championship. But as an undersized d-man without much offense, Utunen been little more than a depth guy in Finnish Liga.

I see the Wild have walked away from their 2018 first round draft pick-Filip Johannsson--making him a UFA. Maybe the Canucks take a look at him as a right-shot d-man, although hasn't done much in the SHL.

 

[StreetHawk]

No real surprises here......had a pretty stellar junior career in helping lead Finland to a WJHL championship. But as an undersized d-man without much offense, Utunen been little more than a depth guy in Finnish Liga.

I see the Wild have walked away from their 2018 first round draft pick-Filip Johannsson--making him a UFA. Maybe the Canucks take a look at him as a right-shot d-man, although hasn't done much in the SHL.

Most European players if there isn’t a path to becoming an nhler there’s no reason to come over to the A.
I doubt most other Europeans are signing deals just to be in the A at age 22 unless there’s some legit future for them in the NHL.

 

[MS]

No real surprises here......had a pretty stellar junior career in helping lead Finland to a WJHL championship. But as an undersized d-man without much offense, Utunen been little more than a depth guy in Finnish Liga.

I see the Wild have walked away from their 2018 first round draft pick-Filip Johannsson--making him a UFA. Maybe the Canucks take a look at him as a right-shot d-man, although hasn't done much in the SHL.

Filip Johansson had a weirdly massive SHL playoffs this year out of nowhere. That might get him a contract somewhere.

But that was a weird pick from day 1 - hugely off the board for a guy rated in the late 2nd round with no real obvious standout tools.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

No real surprises here......had a pretty stellar junior career in helping lead Finland to a WJHL championship. But as an undersized d-man without much offense, Utunen been little more than a depth guy in Finnish Liga.

I see the Wild have walked away from their 2018 first round draft pick-Filip Johannsson--making him a UFA. Maybe the Canucks take a look at him as a right-shot d-man, although hasn't done much in the SHL.

2018 is shaping up to be one of the worst drafts in history. Maybe it's Covid, maybe some of those 'late' round picks are still coming but are delayed by Covid? Either way, that's a whole lot of not much so far.
The only NHL regular drafted after Utunen is Sharangovich...that's it. Not much better if you look at it from Johansson (#24) down. People are pissed we took Woo over Romanov? I remember at the time some people being disappointed that Mcisaac was taken ahead of Woo 1 spot.

2018 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com

A sortable list of players drafted in the 2018 NHL Entry draft, including their career scoring after being drafted

www.hockeydb.com

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Filip Johansson had a weirdly massive SHL playoffs this year out of nowhere. That might get him a contract somewhere.

But that was a weird pick from day 1 - hugely off the board for a guy rated in the late 2nd round with no real obvious standout tools.

And an HF boards favorite was taken 1 spot after him, and Bokk is back playing in Germany now. He was on just about everybody's 'steal' list after the draft iirc.

 

[Fatass]

And an HF boards favorite was taken 1 spot after him, and Bokk is back playing in Germany now. He was on just about everybody's 'steal' list after the draft iirc.

The lower the pick, the less likely to grab a future player. That’s why we needed to be collecting more picks during the Benning era.