A 2024 draftee makes his debut on our listing of the top young players in the Penguins’ organization
The 2024 version of our PensBurgh Top 25 Under 25 countdown continues with the debut of a 2024 draftee.
Graduates and departed players from last year’s list
The best of the rest
#25: Raivis Ansons
#24: Kirill Tankov
#23: Isaac Belliveau
#22: Taylor Gauthier
#21: Chase Pietila
#20: Emil Jarventie
#19: Kalle Kangas
Another 2024 overage defenseman in our list (and ranked higher than a player draft ahead of him in Chase Pietila), Joona Vaisanen is a familiar story for Kyle Dubas drafting. The youngster made his way up through the rankings in the Finnish system before jumping the pond to play in the USHL last season to prepare for the commitment he made back in 2022 to Western Michigan. The highlights of the successful 2023-24 season, from WMU:
He guided the team to the Clark Cup Final, while producing 40 points on nine goals and 31 assists in 53 games. His 40 points were fourth most among defenseman in the league. He also posted a +31 plus/minus, which was the fifth highest in the league and fourth highest among blue liners.
At Dubuque, Vaisanen was coached by Kirk MacDonald — who also recently joined the Pens’ organization as the new head coach of Wilkes-Barre. MacDonald, naturally, was pleased that Pittsburgh ended up drafting one of his former players. As the Trib put it about the mini Dubuque reunion during Pittsburgh’s development camp last month:
“It was pretty awesome to hear his name called by us, and I think that he’s a guy (who’s) a great skater, can move the puck, whose defending is a little underrated, in my opinion,” MacDonald said. “He did a great job for us last year.”
Suffice to say, Vaisanen made an impression on MacDonald over their lone season together at Dubuque.
“Great work ethic. He didn’t wear a letter for us in Dubuque, but he was a great leader for us. He’s a first-year player, so (I) didn’t know him coming in, but I’ve got nothing but good things to say about him. I think he’s got a bright future. I think it was a pretty good pick in the late rounds.”
A further scouting report comes from the Elite Prospects website:
Väisänen has nearly every modern defenceman skill set: He activates, shifts the defence towards him before passing, sets up chances, uses space before shooting, and closes space off the rush early. With the puck, he’s a manipulator; he fakes one way to get the opponent to chase, then accelerates in the opposite direction.
An example of using some space was sneaking up to score this goal last season:
Another look at Joona Vaisanen’s goal as @fightingsaints pull within one. #ClarkCupPlyoffs | @WMUHockey pic.twitter.com/bPzfw9bPhA
— USHL (@USHL) May 11, 2024
“I think I’m a strong skater and good at moving the puck, so I think that’s what I emphasize in my game and I’d like to improve those more,” Vaisanen told the Trib. “There’s still some things I need to improve on and make me way better.
“I think I need to get way stronger and more powerful off the ice, with a few things on the ice, too. That’s going to develop me way more.”
Why does Vaisanen come in a few spots ahead of a player in Pietila that Vaisanen was drafted two rounds after just a few weeks ago? In some sense, upside and having a better skillset in skating and moving the puck. In another realm, the Pens over-drafted Pietila in order to guarantee they could select him, they felt they could wait on Vaisanen. Vaisanen also got to show his stuff for Finland’s World Junior team and compete against top players in his age group (like top draft pick Will Smith in the picture accompanying this article).
Another reason is the transient nature of this tier, there isn’t much difference between being ranked 18 and 21 in this year’s list. Both are overage defensemen with longshot NHL futures at this point, future development paths remain unknown.
The Pens will learn a lot more about Vaisanen after the upcoming 2024-25 season and seeing how he fares taking a step up in competition to the NCAA level. It is likely to take a few years to see how much, if any, investment they will get on their return, but Vaisanen’s progress is worth monitoring in the future.
