he’s a 4th round pick from the 2009 draft, A lot of you are going to think I’m crazy but Vatanen is already justifying my mancrush. He’s a small d man at 5’8 165 but he has all the tools in the world to be an impact offensive defensemen.
In 9 pre-season games in the FEL he had 6 goals and 4 assists. That goal scoring number is insane now will he keep it up once regular season play starts? Unlikely European leagues are known to ride older players but Vatanen has a good chance of getting 1st unit PP minutes.
And vs his age bracket in U20 games he has 5 goals and 6 assists, so again what stands out is the goal scoring. He’s an excellent puck mover who competes hard, a lot of people are going to knock his size but give me a team of players with talent that compete, he was considered the TOP conditioned player at the NHL draft combine.
Kyle Woodlief made an interesting comparison to Nicklas Kronwall who played a similar game at his age, if Vatanen can add a couple of inches and about 20 pounds over the next few years he could end up being one of the steals of the 2009 draft.
To me he could be anywhere from MA Bergeron, a similar small D and Kimmo Timmonen but we need to be patient with him I think it could be rewarded in time.
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