"Urho Vaakanainen came to the Rangers as the main return in the Jacob Trouba trade. With little to no expectations, Vaakanainen had what was essentially a stress free debut and first season with the Rangers. The 2017 1st round pick didn't look that bad on a terrible defense, putting up 2-13-15 in 46 games in mostly third pairing minutes with rotating defense partners."
"Paired mostly with Braden Schneider (523 TOI), the duo was actually much better together than they were apart, but that may be due simply to small sample sizes. Vaakanainen didn't play more than 33 minutes with any other defenseman (Will Borgen), so it's tough to put value in his numbers away from Schneider. The duo didn't have great possession stats together, but no one on the Rangers blue line outside of Adam Fox had good possession numbers."
Urho Vaakanainen arrived in New York as the primary return in the Jacob Trouba trade and delivered a low-pressure rookie season. He recorded 2 goals and 13 assists for 15 points in 46 games, mostly in third-pairing minutes with rotating partners. He skated primarily with Braden Schneider (523 TOI), where the pairing posted better results together than apart despite small sample sizes. Vaakanainen profiles as a defense-first defenseman who denies zone entries and skates well. He adds stability to the depth chart without much offensive upside and carries a limited ceiling under a defensive-minded coach.
Read at Blue Seat Blogs
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]