After selecting Alexander Command, a physical and two-way Swedish center at 12th overall in the first round of the NHL Draft, Sunny Mehta decided to trade down from the 35th overall pick. He sent 35 to Chicago in exchange for the 37th and 119th picks. When that 37th pick came up, the Devils selected Matias Vanhanen from Finland, out of the WHL.
Matias Vanhanen is a playmaking, shifty forward. He had 21 goals and 66 assists and only 6 PIMs for the Everett Silvertips of the WHL this season after scoring
47 points in 42 games in the Finnish U20 league in 2024-25. He also had 12 goals and 12 assists in the playoffs for Everett this year. In World Juniors, Vanhanen had six assists in seven games for Finland’s U20 team. Per Mitchell Brown’s CHL tracking, Vanhanen is an excellent passing transition player, though he has work to do defensively (though that may be hard to see at times with his whopping +58 in 62 WHL games), and his shot is rather weak. But he does go to the net, which could make up for some of that lack of shooting talent.
Please see Vanhanen’s highlights from HSD prospects below.
At first glance, I like the pick. He’s a straight-up hockey player: he works with speed and creates goals by either going to the net or finding his teammates who are heading there. At 5’11” and 176 pounds, he is not a massive physical presence on the ice, but he has the speed and puck skills to be difficult to dispossess when in motion. Adding his vision to that mix, the Devils might have a great third-line playmaker on their hands.
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