[Sandman]

More Draft Thoughts (few more RHD to consider):

There were many fans of Finland Hockey that were upset to see 6'2",180lb RHD Sebastian Soini left off the Hlinka roster, after all- he's been considered one of the top defensemen in his age group for a few years now. Even without a trip to that tournament, Soini has been busy enough this season with stops in Ilves' U18, and U20 leagues, and even a cup of tea with the top men's Liiga, with the longest stretch being on loan to Koovee of the Mestis- Finland's second tier, with 4 points in 23 games. Despite being amongst the youngest prospects in the upcoming draft with a June 10th birthday, he has looked solid, if not spectacular against men in limited ice-time.
Soini is a stalwart in the D zone, and is poised and patient with advance anticipation and awareness, proactive positioning, and airtight gap control. He will use his size and reach to break up plays, but has a fair amount of 1-on-1 skill, and is also a fearless shot-blocker. Soini's puck-movement game starts with his picturesque retrievals, and his ability to seamlessly convert the defense to offense with crisp, tape-to-tape breakout passes. He may not be a burner, but he's a smooth skater with 4-directional mobility and excellent balance and agility. He has the edges to pivot away from attackers, the east-west to get into lanes and block passes, and the backwards smoothness to maintain gaps. Soini will battle along the boards for posession, and uses his body to shield the puck, while also keeping the crease clean and tidy. He makes good decisions with the puck, particularly when making the first-pass, but has the skill and vision to pull off some high-end plays. Like most Europeans, he exhibits good puckhandling and control, and has built-in deception in his feet and stick to fool defenders, and beat them in one-on-one confrontations.
In 2022-23, Soini was the 7th highest scoring U-18 defenseman in the U20 league, at the tender age of 16, with 10 points in 28 games. It's hard to gauge his offense this season, as he's spent most of his time in a men's league, where youngsters like him are typically not given the ice-time or responsibility needed to put up numbers, but those stats suggest that the potential is there. In the Mestis, there are only currently 5 players under the age of 18 that have played there, and Soini has played the most games by far on that list, and is second in scoring to LW Ondrej Kos. Soini has a strong point shot, can find the passing lanes in the offensive zone, and has shown the ability to make smart pinches in the past. He needs to get stronger, and keep working on his speed, but I think he'll he be a middle-pairing D someday in the NHL. 2nd/3rd round.

Czech-born RHD Dominik Badinka moved from Finland to Sweden before the season started, and the 6'3",183lb rearguard started his journey in Malmo by dominating the J20 league, with 12 points in 15 games to go with 39 PIM. Since then, he's been up in the top men's league, the SHL, and has only 1 point in 23 games in limited deployment and ice-time. Despite his age, he's reportedly looked quite good against men in the defensive zone. In Finland, in 2022-23, he was 13th in D scoring in the U20 league for Jokerit, 1st for players under-18, with 26 points in 43 games. He followed up his Finnish experience with a trip to the Hlinka Gretzky for Czechia, and scored 2 points in 5 games. Not a lot of defensemen get 0.80 ppg in their draft year in the J20- that mark puts him in the same stratoshere as Sahlin-Wallenius (.85), Radivojevic (.85), and Freij (.81). The only draft-eligible defenseman from that league to eclipse that mark from last year's draft was Sandin-Pelikka (1.16). Badinka is an older player in this draft, with a Nov.27th birthday.
This is a highly intelligent player, able to think ahead due to his acute anticipation in all 3 zones. He knows where to be to block plays, intercept passes, and cut off lanes- he's excellent defending the rush as well. He makes a big physical contribution, dominates along the walls, and is a bulldozer in the crease. He exhibits strong stick positioning, and well-timed poke-checks. Badinka is very mobile for his size, with fantastic 4-way manouverability, and is hard to knock off the puck with his size and balance. He can rapidly turn the play around to offense with his puck-retrieval ability, and can play the puck out of danger while under pressure with accurate breakout passes- or he can opt to carry it up the ice himself with his puckhandling. On his way through transition, he can also embarrass would-be checkers with his fine array of 1-on-1 moves and deception. He will stay high and run the point more often than not, but he will jump in to act as an extra forward off the rush, or pinch down low if the opportunity presents itself. He has an above-average point shot, and soft hands around the net, and can QB a powerplay. He's like a heat-seeking missile, always looking to assert himself physically, but they say he needs to pick his spots a lot better as he can sometimes blow plays looking to engage opponents. The same can said for his decision-making from time-to-time- he doesn't always see the best option, and should keep things simple. This kid is a very underrated player who is flying under the radar, but I'm betting he's taken in the first part of the second round.