He's entering his draft year around where Juolevi and Sergachev were ranked. Liljegren is entering the year as the consensus #2, remember at this time last year it was Matthews then a drop off to Chychrun and Puljujarvi. So things can rapidly change. I do think it will be tough for Vaakanainen to replicate Juolevi's rise though, as he was the best defender on a WJC team, and the #1 D on the Memorial cup team, which got him a ton of exposure.how does he compare as a prospect to Juolevi and Liljegren and what is his NHL comparable?
As for what he projects as, I haven't seen enough to make a firm statement. From what I can gather, his style sounds closer to Sergachev than Juolevi. Not as smooth as Juolevi (very few young D-men are), but he seems more physical and has a better shot.