With the 173rd pick of the 2018 NHL Draft, the Columbus Blue Jackets selected Veini Vehvilainen, goaltender from Karpat of Liiga, the top Finnish league.
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 174 lbs
Catches: Left
Vehvilainen is an “overager” as he is already 21 years old. He has gone undrafted previously. When doing my research, I came across this draft preview by our colleagues at Stanley Cup of Chowder… from two years ago. He is undersized, which bucks the recent trend in the NHL. That’s a likely reason why he has been passed over for so long.
In his most recent season, he had a 1.89 GAA and .925 SV% in 35 games and in the playoffs he delivered a 1.57 GAA and .933 SV% in 17 games.
I wonder if he is someone who could make the move to North America sooner rather than later. This is a very intriguing addition to the Jacket organization’s goalie pipeline.