As expected, Canadians were booked in the NHL draft 2022 the most – 89 in total.
Timo Uusitalo,
Jonne Niemeläinen,
STT Sports
A total of 14 Finns were booked this summer at the NHL booking event.
The first two goalkeeper bookings of the event ended up with Finnish players, when the Buffalo Sabers grabbed JYP with the 41st booking number Topias Leinonen and Seattle Kraken pick up 58. with reservation Kärppien Niklas Kokon. Last season, the youngsters mostly defended pucks in their clubs’ U20 teams, and in the spring they won bronze at the under-18 World Cup.
Leino, 18, was considered one of the best goaltenders in the draft.
– He has a clear toolkit for the NHL. He is a 195-centimeter and athletic goalkeeper with the ability to make really challenging saves, Athletic reporter Corey Pronman analyze in site monitoring.
Before Kokko, Seattle had booked the big Ilves berth as the 49th player Jani Nymanin. The NHL’s newest entrant, Seattle, was considered one of the winning teams in the draft, as the Canadian forward Shane Wright unexpectedly fell into the club’s arms for the fourth reserve shift.
Also another striker from Pirkanmaal, already comfortably given responsibility in Tappara’s champion team Top Rönni booked in the second round when the Calgary Flames took the center forward as the 59th pick.
Kulonummi’s first Finnish defender
Finnish tops in the draft age group Joakim Kemell and Brad Lambert got their NHL booking as expected already in the opening round, although only in the second half of it. The Nashville Predators took the opportunity to pick Kemelli in the top ten with number 17, and Lambert ended up with the Winnipeg Jets as the 30th player.
In the third round, Arizona drafted a winger Miko Matikan at number 67 and St. Louis grabbed the center Aleksanteri Kaskimäki six numbers later. The first Finnish defenseman was reserved at number 84, when Nashville picked up the transfer to Tappara for next season Kasper Kulonummen.
The number of Finnish NHL bookings fell below 15 for the first time since the 2015 booking event. Last year, a total of 16 Finns were booked in rounds 2–7, and 17 Finnish names were called out at the 2020 booking ceremony.
The best Finnish years of the 2010s were 2017 (23 reservations) and 2019 (22).
As expected, Canadians were booked in the 2022 NHL draft – 89 in total, 48 from the United States, 27 from Sweden, 23 from Russia, 14 from Finland, 9 from the Czech Republic and 6 from Slovakia.
The league’s first booking round was organized on the night between Thursday and Friday Finnish time. Finnish time, the second booking round started on Friday evening, after which the remaining five booking rounds were organized.
1. Juraj Slafkovsky, hk (Montreal)
2. Simon Nemec, pl (New Jersey)
3. Logan Cooley, (Arizona Coyotes)
4. Shane Wright, hk (Seattle)
5. Cutter Gauthier, hk (Philadelphia)
6. David Jiricek, pl (Columbus)
7. Kevin Korchinski, pl (Chicago)
8. Marco Kasper, hk (Detroit)
9. Matthew Savoie, hk (Winnipeg)
10. Pavel Mintjukov, pl (Anaheim)
17. Joakim Kemell, hk (Nashville)
30. Brad Lambert, hk (Winnipeg)
2nd round:
41. Topias Leinonen, mv (Buffalo)
49. Jani Nyman, hk (Seattle)
58. Niklas Kokko, mv (Seattle)
59. Topi Rönni, hk (Calgary)
3rd round:
67. Miko Matikka, hk (Phoenix)
73. Aleksanteri Kaskimäki, hk (St. Louis)
84. Kasper Kulonummi, pl (Nashville)
5th round:
148. Otto Salin, pl (LA Kings)
7th round:
194. Petteri Nurmi, pl (Montreal)
197. Santeri Sulku, hk (Philadelphia
199. Riku Tohila, hk (Chicago)
222. Joel Määttä, hk (Oilers)