With their first-round pick in the first round of the NHL draft, the Washington Capitals did something they haven’t done in 20 years: They drafted a player from Finland.
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Oliver Suvanto, 17, a 6-foot-3, 213-pound center was Washington’s choice with the No. 18 overall pick and is the first Finn selected by the Capitals since Oskar Osala in the fourth round in 2006.
Though he doesn’t turn 18 until Sept. 3 — making him eligible for this year’s draft by just 12 days — Suvanto played for Tappara in the Finnish Liiga this year, competing against grown men at the top professional level in Finland.
Suvanto tallied just two goals and nine assists in 48 games, but his two-way ability is a standout attribute that made him a desirable pick.
“[We liked] that combination of his skating, his size, his character,” said Ross Mahoney, Washington’s assistant general manager in charge of the draft. “He’s a very smart, intelligent player, also. … We see him being a second-line center for us in the future.”
“Oliver Suvanto is the most complete and mature 17-year-old center seen in Liiga since [Florida Panthers star] Aleksander Barkov,” Jukka-Pekka Vuorinen, NHL director of European scouting, told NHL.com before the draft. “He has already been trusted in key roles for powerhouse Tappara. His strong skating, balance and physical strength make him highly effective in face-offs, battles and defensive coverage. A natural two-way player, he combines reliability and intelligence, rarely making mistakes while consistently supporting both ends of the ice.”
Rare is the team that admits, heading into a draft, that it plans to draft strictly for positional need. Nearly every franchise intends to draft the best player available at its slot, and the Capitals are no exception — but if all else was equal, they were hoping to get a center or a defenseman in the first round this year.
With Suvanto’s selection, they accomplished that goal.
“We kind of had a layer of six or seven players, and he was in that layer, for sure,” Mahoney said. “We were happy to get him. We had talked about a bigger center or a bigger defenseman, and it was more a center that was there for us today.”
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“It’s always a bit of a surprise when the team picks you,” Suvanto said. “I think they didn’t give that much signs for that, but I think the interview at the combine went well. I had a little smell from that, but it was a surprise.”
Suvanto acknowledged that he’s not the most offensively productive player — though he said it’s an area of focus and something he wants to improve — but he takes significant pride in the responsible style he plays.
“I would say I’m a two-way player,” Suvanto said. “I try to be responsible in the defensive zone and try to create also in the offensive zone. I’m a big guy. I can battle, win the pucks. I like protecting the puck.”
Suvanto projects as a player who will take on difficult defensive matchups and be a reliable, physical presence for Washington in coming years.
“Suvanto has the profile of a powerful two-way center that makes things difficult on opposing teams’ top players,” wrote FloHockey’s draft analyst Chris Peters. “… He has all the physical tools you could want, but he has had a hard time scoring with any level of consistency and a lackluster World U18s didn’t calm those concerns. So why would Suvanto still be [ranked] this high? Big centers with defensive acumen, physicality and high-compete play a lot and for a long time.”
In the rest of the first round, there weren’t many big surprises or off-the-board picks for the other teams in the league. As expected, Penn State forward Gavin McKenna was the No. 1 overall pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs — and his selection was announced by Maple Leafs fan and singer Justin Bieber, an Ontario native.
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