CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Saku Vesterinen will not be returning to the Charlottetown Islanders for a third season.
The 19-year-old defenceman informed the Isles Tuesday morning he will be signing a contract with KalPa. The contract with his hometown club in Finland had been offered to him for some time, but Vesterinen was waiting to see if he went in the NHL draft before committing to turn pro in Europe.
Vesterinen was not drafted on the weekend in Dallas and the Isles needed to know Tuesday in order to drop him from their protected list and select a player in Thursday’s CHL import draft. It starts at noon Atlantic.
“We want what’s best for Saku,” Islanders head coach and general manager Jim Hulton said. “It’s his home club that he played with growing up, so I think it’s a really good opportunity for him. We’re disappointed he’s not going to be back for his third year, but that’s hockey.”
Vesterinen had three goals and 16 assists for 19 points in his 57-game rookie season before scoring seven times and recording 35 points last season. He often was paired with captain Pierre-Olivier Joseph on the Isles blue-line.
“He was a big part of two pretty good hockey clubs here,” Hulton said. “It’ll be big shoes to fill, but we will try to address that on Thursday.”
With Vesterinen out of the mix, it appears the Islanders would draft a right-shot defenceman with its pick in the import draft, but Hulton was non-committal.
“It’s hard at 28 to be that specific,” he explained. “We want an impact player whether it’s a top-six forward or a guy that can step in and play in the top four on D.”
Hulton and assistant general manager Guy Girouard are busy doing their homework on players to determine who is free of contractual commitments in Europe to play this season in North America.
“We’re not tied into a specific age group,” Hulton said, noting they could take a player born in 1999 to 2001. “We think we’re a team that can make some noise right now, so the idea of bringing in a 19-year-old import is not out of the realm of possibilities.”
One change in this year’s draft is that goalies are now eligible to be drafted again. The last year goalies were eligible to be drafted was 2012. That year goalies drafted included Oscar Dansk, Joonas Korpisalo and Andrei Vasilevski.
If goalies go in the top of this year’s draft, it could push a few more players available for the Isles. Hulton also said he expected at least a couple of teams ahead of them to pass as teams can only have two imports on their roster. Four teams passed before the 28th pick in 2017.
Import players, who would be overage players next season or guys selected in the first round of the NHL draft do not count against the two maximum players for the draft as junior teams would not know if the players will turn pro this season. Teams would have to decide on who to keep at a later time but would only be permitted to have two on their active roster during the season.
The Isles also have a few other options on their roster for Vesterinen’s role and have invited Colin Van Den Hurk to training camp.
The 19-year-old right-shot defenceman played most of the past two seasons with the Kingston Voyageurs of the Ontario Junior Hockey League. The five-foot-11, 185-pound blue-liner has been close to making the Kingston Frontenacs the past two seasons. Hulton described him as a good puck-moving defenceman, noting he had nine goals and 21 assists for 30 points in 33 games last year with the Voyageurs.
“He looks like he could, on the surface, without the experience, replace Saku in terms of style.”
Drafting
The CHL import draft goes Thursday. The Charlottetown Islanders draft 28th overall. Here is a look at the players drafted 28th overall and by the Islanders since 2010.
28th Overall
2017 C Joni Ikonen, Hamilton
2016 LW Maxim Sushko, Owen Sound
2015 C Jan Dufek, Sherbrooke
2014 C Alexander Chirva, Kootenay
2013 C Vladislav Kodola, Sarnia
2012 F Patrik Zdrahal, Acadie-Bathurst
2011 C Tanner Richard, Guelph
2010 RW Michal Glinka, Moose Jaw
Islanders
2017 F Nikita Alexandrov, 50th overall
2016 D Saku Vesterinen, 29th overall
2015 Passed
2014 C Filip Chlapik, 11th overall, and C Filip Rydstrom, 56th overall
2013 RW Marco Sedlar, 31st overall
2012 Traded
2011 D Tomas Pavelka, 26th overall, and LW Matej Beran, 35th overall.
2010 Passed.
