Today we had the good fortune of being approached by Marco Bombino. Marco is a writer for McKeen’s Hockey, Finn Prospects and Finnish website Jatkoaika. He is the creator of Finnish Junior Hockey as well. Seeing as the Pats selected Finnish Prospect Emil Oskanen, he wanted to give fans of the Pats a little more in depth look, it is in it’s entirety below.
“Emil Oksanen, who was picked by the Regina Pats in the CHL Import Draft, is an offensively gifted forward. He had a good first season Espoo United at the second highest men’s level in Finland, putting up 13 goals and six assists in 48 games. He added a 1-5-6 stat line in 11 playoff games. The team struggled at the start of the season but started to improve considerably as the season progressed. Oksanen also managed to do so. He was named the league’s rookie of the month in March.
Oksanen, who can play both wings, has an excellent wrist shot that is both quick and accurate. He likes to shoot even from bad angles and his shot can surprise goalies because of its great velocity. The late 1998 born prospect also handles the puck very well, displaying soft hands and the ability to move into open space to receive passes, both on forehand and backhand. He is creative and has good set-up skills on the power play. Not the most powerful or speedy skater but has improved his quickness.
The biggest areas for improvement are his physicality and defensive game. While Oksanen has pretty good size at 6’1
and 180 pounds, he is not much of a physical force at the moment. He can also work on his positioning and anticipation away from the puck.
Oksanen went undrafted in this year’s NHL Draft, despite finishing the season strong, and has one year left on his contract with Espoo United. However, if he decides to move to Regina for next season, I think he would be a first or second line forward – one who can contribute a lot on the power play and put up points at even strength, too.”
You can find Marco Bombino on twitter (@Marco_Bombino)
