Veeti Vaisanen 2024 NHL Draft Profile

It’s that time of the year for The Win Column’s NHL Draft Rankings and Draft Profiles! The 2024 NHL Draft will take place on June 28 and 29 at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

Next up for us is the Finnish left-shot defender Veeti Vaisanen. Vaisanen’s projected selection varies greatly depending on the source; he is expected to go anywhere from 25th to 83rd. This likely makes him a mid-late second-round pick.

PLAYER	POSITION	HANDEDNESS	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	AVG TOI
Veeti Vaisanen	LD	Left	6’0″	179 lbs	13:28

Vaisanen’s On-Ice Production

YEAR	DRAFT RELATIVE	LEAGUE	TEAM	GP	G	A	P
2020–21	D-3	U16 Mestis	KooKoo/Titaanit U16	13	4	5	9
2021–22	D-2	U16 SM-sarja	KooKoo U16	15	4	9	13
		U18 SM-sarja	KooKoo U18	25	3	9	12
		U20 SM-sarja	KooKoo U20	5	1	1	2
		International-Jr	Finland U16 (all)	5	0	2	2
		International-Jr	Finland U17 (all)	3	1	1	2
2022–23	D-1	U20 SM-sarja	KooKoo U20	37	3	19	22
		WHC-17	Finland U17	6	0	3	3
		International-Jr	Finland U17 (all)	9	0	3	3
		WJC-18	Finland U18	5	1	1	2
		International-Jr	Finland U18 (all)	20	2	4	6
2023–24	D+0	U20 SM-sarja	KooKoo U20	7	2	2	4
		Liiga	KooKoo	50	2	8	10
		WJC-18	Finland U18	5	0	2	2
		International-Jr	Finland U18 (all)	2	0	3	3
		International-Jr	Finland U20 (all)	4	0	0	0

Now, ten points in fifty games doesn’t seem that impressive, but for a 17-year-old to find a regular shift in the Liiga is impressive on its own.

In addition, with his average ice time only being 13:28 and only seeing around 46 seconds of power play time, suddenly, the point production is looking quite impressive.

Veeti Vaisanen was born on February 15, 2006, in Hamina, Finland. The young Finn has been in the developmental system of the Liiga’s KooKoo since the 2020–21 season and has shown significant growth during that time. From playing U20 as a 16-year-old to now being in the top Finnish league as a full-time regular at the age of 17.

Vaisanen has also represented his country on multiple occasions at the U16, U17, U18, and U20 levels. The 6-foot-0 defender has also made appearances in the Hilinka-Gretzky Cup, earning a bronze medal.

Vaisanen has a bit of a trophy case, having also won the Finnish U20 Rookie of the Year in the SM-Sarja.

Vaisanen tends to be a transitional two-way defender with a notable high motor, passing skill, and instincts.

Vaisanen’s strengths

Skating/Transitional play

From the get-go, Vaisanen proves to be a player with a good motor that is a puck-moving transitional force that can attack any situation in a multitude of ways.

Even before offensive transition begins, the Hamina product displays a calm and collected demeanor under pressure, showing some element of advanced poise. Matched with decent edgework and balance, he can shake opponents off to generate a rush or pass up the ice.

Although Vaisanen has an unproblematic stride and isn’t the fastest skater, he has great agility and edgework. In addition, he can read offensive breakouts well and generate bursts of speed, allowing himself to be a capable fourth attacker on offensive transition.

Rush play can see him as a good puck mover who generates the beginnings of chances for that his forwards can then take and run with.

In other instances, he sees the ice well and, through quality short passes, can lend himself to quick one-up outlet passes out of the defensive zone.

Transition is an area where Vaisanen should be able to generate more offence in the future as he becomes more familiar and confident with play reading and more comfortable adding muscle and adjusting to his fully grown frame.

Offensive instincts

An area that Vaisanen also shines in revolves around zone play, as he has good hockey IQ, offensive instincts, and play support.

Vaisanen shows quality hockey IQ through his sheer motor and ability to anticipate where plays are coming from, adapting accordingly through smart play pinches, screen plays, or activations that display his lane creation abilities.

Vaisanen also proves to be a capable facilitator. With his aforementioned passing ability, he is often able to be the safe fallback option for his teammates, showing some positional responsibility.

Often, in transition and zone play, Vaisanen just makes the safe, simple play, showing his capable decision-making even when there aren’t many options.

Defensive play

Generally, this is an area under development for Vaisanen, but the Finn shows good promise here through positioning, defensive habits, and aggressiveness. After all, he starts 50% of his shifts in the d-zone for a reason.

In his own zone, he proves to have a high compete level. He is relentless on his man, positioning them to the outside, tying up opponents’ sticks often, boxing lanes, and has some moderate physicality. This compete level—mixed with physicality and positioning—has contributed to him winning 55% of his puck battles.

Vaisanen displays hockey IQ once again through passable defensive awareness. He can identify lanes and play options, often killing chances against along the board through body positioning before they even begin.

Lastly, Vaisanen is also quite the teammate, as he shows little hesitation entering into shot lanes, and blocking shots.

Vaisanen’s areas of improvement

Risk assessment

This is one of the main drawbacks of Vaisanen’s game, as he struggles with overcommitting both in gap control and in the offensive zone.

In defensive transition, the Finnish defender will display high aggression, wanting to close a gap quickly and pinch players into the boards or make a bad decision. However, this often backfires, as more experienced players can avoid this ‘wrecking ball mentality.’ Because of this, the left-shot defender is often at risk of playing catch-up on a quick-moving play.

Another area this risk assessment falls flat is his shot selection. Bluntly, Vaisanen has very poor shot selection, often settling for shots that are either just inside the blue line or ones that have layers of traffic.

This may be a contributing factor to why he only has a 47% shot accuracy for the 2023–24 season and 10 points.

Consistency

This is more generalized and quite common for younger players, but Vaisanen struggles with getting overpowered due to a lack of muscle. This results in higher-quality chances against and not being the most intimidating defensive presence.

Another area that needs slight improvements is his puck handling, as bobbles are frequent enough for them to be a concern (but not a major one).

These are both areas that will improve with time and practice, so nothing too worrisome.

Potential

All things considered, a lot of the areas of improvement are very teachable things that will develop with time and experience.

Vaisanen has all the tools to be a quality top-four defenceman in the league, if his development cycle goes according to plan.

Comparables

An NHL comparable to Vaisanen would be that of Tampa Bay Lightning defender Mikhail Sergachev. They both have decent hockey IQ, passing, and a capable all-around game.

Fit with the Flames

Likely a top-four defenceman in a similar situation to Rasmus Andersson.

Summary

Risk: 2.5/5

Seen as a genuinely safe option for the transferability and growth of his game, Vaisanen doesn’t have any more risk than any other second-rounder. The only question that remains is whether the organization that drafts him wants him in North America or Finland next season.

Reward: 4/5

Even looking at games he played from November to now, the young Finn has shown a lot of growth in his game. The transferability of his defensive, offensive, and puck-moving qualities makes him an ideal underestimated pick in the second or possibly even third round of this year’s draft.

Check out all of The Win Column’s individual player profiles of selected 2024 NHL Draft prospects:

Tyler RohlederJune 1, 2024

5 minutes read