HF Article
Registered User
- Nov 16, 2005
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With the wealth of talented young defensemen coming out of Finland's junior hockey program lately, it's hard to imagine that just three years ago there was a serious dearth of prospects.
Unfortunately, that success has many of the top defenders — either juniors like Mikko Vainonen (NSH/Kingston) and Julius Honka (2014 draft-eligible/Swift Current), or young pros like Olli Maatta (PIT) and Rasmus Ristolainen (BUF/Rochester (AHL)) — heading to North America.
As a result, the number of defensive prospects still playing in Finland are limited to late-round picks and/or potential unrestricted free agents.
Two exceptions are Karpat's Ville Pokka (NYI) and Esa Lindell of Jokerit (DAL) — both of whom played key roles for Finland's gold medal-winning squad at the 2014 World Junior Championship in Malmo, Sweden.… read more
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