Obviously very old info from his draft year, but since people were asking, maybe someone will find this interesting:
Vaakanainen, Urho
LD – JYP (Finland) 6'00.5" 185 RANKING: 11
Urho has been transferred several times. He joined the Blues U18 program in 2013-14 and developed with them, making his debut in Finland's top men's league last season with them. Due to Blues' bankruptcy, his rights were transferred to JYP. He didn't have as much offensive success in regards to points per game as he did with Blues but he did have a successful second season in Finland's top men's league. Urho had the option of joining the Memorial Cup Champion Windsor Spitfires after being selected at the 2016 CHL Import Draft, but chose to remain in Finland. He played a lot of international hockey this year. He opened up at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament. Then he played in the World Junior Championships. He finished the year at the IIHF World Under 18 Championships.
Urho is a smart all around defenseman with great hockey sense. He has good puck moving ability and strong offensive upside. He is also a good skater and can rush the puck up ice with confidence. He has a decent shot from the point. Along with his offensive tools, Urho is probably best known and even more successful on the defensive side of the game. He is very solid defensively without playing a very physical style of game. He wins a lot of battles using his stick and body positioning down low. He has the skating to keep up with opponents down low who have possession. He is excellent on the rush and is extremely difficult to beat in one on one situations on the rush. He handles all game situations well and has skills that make him an asset, regardless of the situation.
Urho has good size, but could handle to fill out his frame a bit. He would also benefit from being a little tougher to play against physically. He has good offensive skills but projects a little more as a defensive defenseman who can contribute offensively when called upon, and really gives him an asset to his game that a lot of other defensive first defenders don't have. We think he is one of the more NHL ready defenders in the draft.
“Both he and Heiskanen just played they way they were asked to play in Montreal They were both still good in my opinion, but they have a lot more potential than they were asked to give there. When I’ve seen them elsewhere they have showed me a lot of that potential. I’ve been high on Vaakanainen going back to Grand Forks...not quite as high as I am on Heiskanen, but I really like his game. I was talking about his offensive upside with one Scout and told him I think he’s really underrated in that department. He used the word untapped and I think the tap is about to be opened.” - HP Scout, Mark Edwards
”As far as the higher end players in this draft go, I probably had less chats with Scouts about Urho than any of the others. He just seemed to keep a lower profile than the other top players.” - HP Scout, Mark Edwards
”Oh (Rhymes with truck) he’s really just a solid around player. At the start of the year I thought he was really high risk but he’s a real good skater and he’s settled down a bit.” - NHL Scout (April 2017)
“He’s pretty simple, but I think his offensive potential is untapped.” - NHL Scout (May 2017)
