It'd been 20 years since the Washington Capitals drafted a Finnish player. That changed on Friday, as they took center Oliver Suvanto with the No. 18 pick.
The long wait may be well worth it, too, with Suvanto's NHL comparable being no other than Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov.
Suvanto had a sense that D.C. might select him after having a good interview with them at the NHL Combine earlier in the month. He's also well-versed in Capitals hockey, having watched quite a bit of it while idolizing captain Alex Ovechkin growing up.
That said, being drafted, as is the case, was a surprise, and he's looking forward to he opportunity to represent Finland as he makes his way to the District.
"Obviously, it's an honor of course," Suvanto said, adding, "I'll try to be the first one to really establish our country out there."
When it comes to what he brings to the table, Suvanto prides himself on his two-way play. The 6-foot-3 pivot is a defensive center who battles hard and takes good care of the puck, and uses his size and reach to his advantage while getting to the high-danger areas in the offensive zone.
The 18-year-old made the jump to Liiga, the top flight of professional hockey in Finland, this past season and played multiple roles for Tappara.
"I try to be responsible in the defensive zone and try to create also in the offensive zone. I'm a big guy, I can battle, win the pucks. I like protecting the puck," Suvanto said.
While playing at the highest level in his home country, Suvanto said he was able to build on his skill set and learn quite a bit from playing against grown men, but noted that adding strength was a priority that really helped him round out his overall play.
It's something that he hopes to continue to work on as he develops in the coming years.
"I improved a lot in strength, and it helped me a lot in skating and obviously in battling," Suvanto said. "Like I said, I'm a big guy, but big guy needs muscle to wrestle in the corners."
Suvanto has not only looked up to Barkov and tried to emulate his style, also took away a lot from watching his father, Harri Suvanto, who played pro hockey in Europe in the 1980s and 1990s.
For Suvanto, being compared to Barkov means quite a bit, but he's also tried to learn as much as he can from his idol, who he got to skate with this past year as Barkov rehabilitated an injury.
"He told me a lot of things to work on, for example in face-offs, catching the puck, those basic things that he does so well, so I tried to just learn everything I could from him," Suvanto said.
As he sets his sights on making it to the NHL down the road, Suvanto said that he wants to improve not only his overall game, but his consistency and production as well.
"I want to improve a lot of my offense, I want to be a bigger threat there. I want to create more," Suvanto said. "I'm not maybe the point-maker guy or the leading goal scorer... I try to be a complete player, a two-way player, but I would like to be more maybe offensive minded."
At the end of the day, though, he's just looking forward to getting a chance to live out a long-time dream with Washington.
"I'm very excited to join the Capitals," Suvanto said, adding, "They got a good thing going on out there, and I'm very excited to join them."
