[Sandman]

RW/LW Ville Koivunen (Karpat U20) 6'0"165lbs: In 2019-20, he dominated in the Finnish U-18 League with 71 pts in 37 games. This year, he leads his team in the U20 League with 49 pts in 38 games. Potential first-rounder Samu Tuomaala is his teammate, and has only 31 pts in 30 games. Koivunen was also 2nd in scoring on Finland's U-18 team with 10 pts in 7 games. He has been talked about for a few years, and he's put up great numbers everywhere he's played-he has a lot of offensive skills at his disposal, like vision, IQ, good shot, stickhandling. He can singlehandedly carry a team's offense. Why is he projected to go in the 3rd/4th round? He's easily pushed off the puck, and his skating isn't so good. (This is why I didn't put him on my list of players that I liked in the U-18's).

I had a thought though: people said the same thing about Marc Savard, but he got his skating up to an acceptable level, and went on to be a star. The team that gets this guy with a later pick will be getting a gem if he can improve his speed-he has everything else.