The Canucks started addressing the biggest need in their prospect pool with their first pick of the 2018 NHL Draft and didn’t stop in rounds two and five, adding two more promising defencemen.
The Canucks have leaned towards speed, skill, and hockey sense over size, and did so again with the 130th overall pick. In the fifth round, the Canucks selected Finnish defenceman Toni Utunen.
Utunen is on the smaller side, measuring in at 5’11” and 170 lbs, but makes up for his lack of size with a smart, calm, and poised game. He was one of the defencemen I identified as worth drafting in the back half of the draft, as he has top-four potential, but slid down rankings partly because of his lack of size.
The other reason he slid down the draft might be that he set expectations too high. He played in the World Under-18 Championships as a 16-year-old and impressed, then had a standout performance at the Ivan Hlinka tournament, posting three points in four games.
He wasn’t able to live up to the expectations created by those strong international performances, but still had a solid season in Mestis, the second-tier league in Finland. He played against men, tallying 12 points in 28 games for LeKi. He also played 11 games in the top-tier Liiga.
Playing a defensive role against men at such a young age is a good sign for success, though not as strong as if he played the full season in Liiga.
Hockey Prospect describes Utunen as a “solid two-way defenceman” and praises his hockey IQ, noting, “he reads the play nicely and usually plays a simple game so that he doesn’t make a lot of mistakes on the ice.”
Utunen is a strong skater and, while he isn’t likely to lead the rush, picks his spots well to jump up and join the attack. Mostly he uses his skating to get back to pucks quickly and transition the puck up ice with a strong first pass, or to close gaps and keep forwards to the outside.
Leadership is another strength for Utunen, as he captained Finland’s gold medal-winning U-18 team at this year’s World Championships. That’s the type of character the Canucks crave.
While Utunen projects as more of a stay-at-home defensive defenceman, that’s mainly due to a lack of offensive creativity rather than a lack of puck skills. That bodes well to his ability to handle the puck in the faster-paced NHL.
He also possesses a strong shot that he gets off quickly enough to be a weapon at the next level. The offensive side of his game won’t be a strength, but he could still surprise. If he can find the game that showed such promise for Finland internationally, he could be a late-round steal for the Canucks.
