I'm sure Vatanen was twice the offensive player Nakyva is, but I'd still like to believe that the scouts saw something within the coaching structure and positional play to believe that a similar sized D, with similar age, and skating skills could be of benefit to the organization. I'd take half a Sami Vatanen offensively...
I'd agree mostly what Padawan already said about Näkyvä (we support the same team JYP Jyväskylä here in Finland it seems). Näkyvä has an upside with his offensive talent, but he's a bit different type of player than Vatanen, who was a flashy coast-to-coast kind of guy when need be at least back here in Finland. Compared to Vatanen, Näkyvä is more of a stay-at-home d-man, but has his strenghts also on PP. He made mistakes every now and then when he played in Finland, and sometimes choked on the blue line - the thing Vatanen never usually did. He's not as fast either, but on the other hand does play better all-around game than Vatanen. Is that enough in the NHL, I obviously hope so, but there was a reason why he wasn't sorely missed when he left JYP (there was a bunch of Näkyvä-"haters" in JYP fans due to his lack of consistency). Hopefully his time in Sweden and with Luleå has helped him get better and consistent, but quite frankly I was a bit surprised that Preds signed him. Still, hope for the best, because after all he does have what it takes to become a NHL-player, but I wouldn't count on it.
("Näkyvä": that must be a helluva name to pronunciate for most people except for the Finns)
