Undersized defenseman who continues to shine impressively in every international showings. Although he is slightly built and in need of beef and more muscle, he is very athletic, and has shown himself an equal to the grown men playing against him in the Finnish pro league. He possesses high end mobility, agility, an excellent skating stride and vision and makes solid defensive zone reads. A four-direction skater who easily transitions to his back pedal and calmly handles the attacker when middle zone turnovers happen. He is very good around his own net, and has a very active stick, clogs lanes and either moves the puck to the right place in transitions, or will skate the puck out, even under pressure. Plays calm and makes good decisions under pressure in his own end. Reads and anticipates the play well, activating from the defensive position flawlessly as he carries and passes the puck so well. A power play quarterback who distributes well and gets it on net when he shoots. The negative is that he may not be able to get that much bigger and needs girth and muscle. So he is what he is: a extremely agile puck carrier who simply is not a big man. Hasn't the NHL had room for a few of these?
--Bill Placzek--
