Sami Vataanen

Sami Vataanen

With the 74th pick the Ducks selected a puck moving defensemen out of Finland, Sami Vataanen.

Vataanen is a really skilled player but the drawback on him is size, at 5’8 and a 165 pounds Vataanen is not the biggest guy on the ice, but that does not deter him from playing a tough game, he’s known to dish out some pretty good hits from time to time. Vataanen was also one of the top rated conditioned players at the NHL Combine, if he could even grow to 5’10 and 185 pounds this could be a player who can be a very good top 4 offensive Dman.

His greatest strength is on the power play, with his quick feet and decision making he is able to QB the PP at a very solid level, he also has a good slap shot and in my opinion the most important thing from a point man…able to get shots thru to the goal. You do not need an overpowering slap shot to be a threat to score, you need that hockey sense of knowing where to put the puck, guys like Nik Lidstrom and Scott Niedermayer do this as well as anyone despite not having Pronger or Chara type slap shots. Also one thing I like is his shot fake, for an 18 year old he sells it really well.

Sami really opened eyes with his performance at the U-18’s recording 5 assists in 6 games, but namely he led a finland comeback in the 3rd period against Canada in the bronze medal game and was without a doubt the best player on the ice during that frame, he was everywhere, making good passes carrying the puck into the zone and even laying some solid hits.

Kyle Woodlief compares him to Nicklas Kronwall, who was a similar size to Vataanen at the same age, size is a bit of a concern but the league is trending more towards how talented you are as opposed to how big you are, Anaheim Ducks head amateur scout Martin Madsen commented that Vataanen could be the ducks future PP QB.

Vataanen also recently led team Finland in scoring during a recent U20 tournament, he had 3 goals, 4 assists for 7 points and was named the top defensemen as well as overall PLAYER of the tournament.

I would compare him to Brian Rafalski but will inevitably be compared to Kimmo Timmonen due to the Fin ties, and similar size. He will be a player of great interest to me just due to the set of skills he brings.