Prospect update: Sami Vatanen.

From The Hockey News:

JYP’s Sami Vatanen, 18, recently broke the Finnish SM-liiga rookie
defenseman points record when he scored his sixth goal and 28th point
of the season, one more than Tero Konttinen amassed playing for Pori
sst in 2006-07.

Vatanen, an Anaheim Ducks fourth-rounder
(106th overall) in 2009, is averaging 19:44 of ice time per game and
has emerged as an offensive force on the squad; he’s currently ranked
fifth in team scoring with 29 points in 51 games – 14 points ahead of
the next JYP defenseman.

“The whole season’s been a surprise,”
he said. “I didn’t think that I’d be playing a regular shift in the
SM-liiga, I thought I’d play a couple of games and then go back to
juniors or the Mestis (Finnish Div. 1) farm team. I’ve been playing in
a much bigger role than I expected.

“I don’t know what really
happened a few years ago, all of a sudden my development was just off
the charts, or straight up. Not sure why, but I hope I’ll keep
developing like this.”

This entry was posted in Anaheim Ducks/NHL and tagged by J.P. Hoornstra. Bookmark the permalink.

About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.

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