Urho Vaakanainen

Urho Vaakanainen To Play For Finland At World Juniors

December 21, 2018 at 2:13 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 1 Comment

Urho Vaakanainen is no longer listed on injured reserve on the Boston Bruins website, but he won’t be coming back to play in the NHL for the next little while. That’s because the 19-year old defenseman is off to join Finland at the World Junior Championship in Vancouver, adding another legitimate force to a team that has gained a few over the last week.

Vaakanainen hasn’t played since taking a Mark Borowiecki elbow to the head in late October, a play on which he suffered a concussion. He has been working his way back slowly and skating with the Bruins, but he’ll make his return to game action for Finland instead. That kind of an upgrade is incredibly important for the country’s hopes in the tournament, especially given the recent additions of Eeli Tolvanen and Henri Jokiharju as well.

In fact, Vaakanainen projects to play alongside Jokiharju on Finland’s top pairing, one that could very well challenge for the best in the entire tournament. The two have both shown an ability to compete at the NHL level already, and could very well return there after a medal run in early January. Boston has gotten a little more healthy on the blue line of late, but could decide to insert the 19-year old if they feel he can help.

At the very least, this is a good sign for Vaakanainen’s future after the uncertainty surrounding his concussion. It’s hard to know how early brain injuries can affect a player’s career, but we’ll get to see if he can shake off the rust quickly and show off his smooth defensive ability against some of the talented forwards around the world.

John Moore Out, Bruins To Debut Two Rookie Defensemen

November 16, 2018 at 3:05 pm CDT | by Zach Leach 2 Comments

When GM Don Sweeney and the Boston Bruins front office were looking ahead to this season, they were anticipating a strong starting six on defense with veteran depth and promising rookies in reserve. A quarter of the way through the season, the Bruins have yet to play a game with all six of their projected starters: Zdeno Chara, Charlie McAvoy, Torey Krug, Brandon Carlo, Kevan Miller, and free agent addition John Moore. Instead, the team has rotated through ten different defensemen due to continuous injury issues. Tonight, they’ll add two more.

In the Bruins’ Wednesday night game against the Colorado Avalanche, they lost captain Chara to an apparent knee injury. He joined McAvoy (concussion), Carlo (upper-body), Miller (hand), and rookie Urho Vaakanainen (concussion) on the shelf. Then today, Moore was unexpectedly absent from morning skate and the team announced that he was day-to-day with a lower-body injury of his own. The loss leaves the Bruins with just one starter – Krug – in the lineup and missing all of their regular right-side defenders. Krug and Matt Grzelcyk are the only active defensemen who played a game for Boston last season.

When the Bruins take on the Dallas Stars tonight – and likely Saturday at the Arizona Coyotes as well – they will roll out a defensive corps that includes three rookies. Jeremy Lauzon has skated in six games with Boston already and the team announced that Jakub Zboril and Connor Clifton will make their NHL debuts tonight. Zboril, 21, is a 2015 first-round pick who has been slow to develop but has been a capable shutdown defender in the AHL. Clifton, 23, was a college free agent out of Quinnipiac University who signed with the Providence Bruins last year and earned an NHL contract with his play. While all three rookies have shown promise, they hardly seem equipped to play the roles expected of them early on in their NHL careers. The current Bruins defensive figuration has just 667 career NHL games to their credit and just 262 not counting Krug. Boston needs some luck and strong outings by Tuukka Rask tonight and Jaroslav Halak tomorrow to survive this unbelievable injury bug.

Mark Borowiecki Suspended One Game

October 24, 2018 at 4:20 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 13 Comments

The verdict is in, and Mark Borowiecki will be forced to sit one game for his elbow to the head of Urho Vaakanainen last night. The Department of Player Safety announced the suspension today, and included an explanation:

While we accept Borowiecki’s argument that he was not aiming for Vaakanainen’s head and only trying to defend his crease, Borowiecki is still responsible for the fact that he recklessly delivered a blow to the head of his opponent with sufficient force to cause an injury.

The Ottawa Senators defenseman has been suspended previously, as he was given a two-game ban for boarding Tyler Toffoli in 2016. Though the league mentions this prior suspension, it notes that it was several seasons ago and for a different type of incident. It would have been taken into account, but clearly the DoPS believed they should not hand out a more severe punishment this time around.

Unfortunately for the Boston Bruins, Vaakanainen is likely going to be out longer than the player who injured him. The young defenseman was in just his second career game, but suffered a concussion and was almost immediately ruled out for the remainder of the game. The team will have to take it slow with their prized prospect, given his importance to the team’s long term plans on the blue line. The Bruins are back in action tomorrow, and it would be extremely surprising to see the young defenseman available for the game.

That leaves the Bruins in a tough spot given that Torey Krug, Charlie McAvoy and Kevan Miller are all still out of the lineup. Head coach Bruce Cassidy indicated to Eric Russo of NHL.com that the team will have to look at the Providence Bruins for help to get through these injuries, mentioning Cody Goloubef among other candidates.

Ottawa meanwhile will have Cody Ceci back in the lineup on Friday while Borowiecki sits out, giving them at least another experienced option to soak up minutes on the blue line. After that, the suspended defenseman will be able to rejoin the club and finish out their Western Conference road trip through Vegas and Arizona. He’ll have to stay on his best behavior for a while, or else face increased scrutiny from the league for his physical altercations.

Mark Borowiecki To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

October 24, 2018 at 9:06 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 5 Comments

The Ottawa Senators could be without a key defenseman for a few games, after the league announced today that Mark Borowiecki will have a hearing with the Department of Player Safety to determine a potential suspension. Borowiecki elbowed Boston Bruins defenseman Urho Vaakanainen in the face last night during an altercation in front of the net, but wasn’t penalized on the play. Vaakanainen suffered a concussion on the play.

Borowiecki is familiar with the DoPS from his two-game suspension in 2016 for boarding Tyler Toffoli of the Los Angeles Kings. That previous suspension will be taken into account, and given Vaakanainen suffered an injury another ban seems likely. The league is trying hard to take head shots out of the game, and though this incident wasn’t a full body check to the head, Borowiecki obviously targeted the young Bruins defenseman’s face as he came in to try and find a loose puck. While that decision was made in an instant, the league will take its time in determining any supplementary discipline.

The Senators play again on Friday and Sunday evenings, as they start a Western Conference road trip that takes them to Colorado, Vegas and Arizona. Luckily for the team, Cody Ceci is expected to be back in the lineup by the team’s next game, giving them back the player they depend on the most on defense.

Minor Transactions: 10/20/18

October 20, 2018 at 9:53 am CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

It’s a busy Saturday around the NHL with 13 games on tap so there is likely to be plenty of roster movement throughout the day. We’ll keep tabs on those moves here.

Late last night, the Ducks announced that they had sent winger Troy Terry down to San Diego of the AHL and recalled winger Pontus Aberg to take his place on the roster. Terry had yet to record a point with Anaheim in six games so they’re hoping a trip to the minors will get him going. He’s off to a good start after posting three points on Friday night. Meanwhile, Aberg was claimed by the Ducks late in training camp but they re-waived him shortly thereafter. He has a goal and an assist in two games with the Gulls so far this season.
With just six defensemen on their active roster, the Senators were expected to bring someone up in advance of tonight’s game against Montreal. They’ve now done so, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve summoned blueliner Christian Jaros from AHL Belleville. Jaros has already played in two games with the big club after making the team out of training camp, collecting an assist while averaging 10:32 per night.
The New Jersey Devils also made a couple of moves late last night as well, as the team announced they have assigned forward John Quenneville to the Binghamton Devils of the AHL, while recalling forward Kevin Rooney. Quenneville, the team’s 2014 first-round pick, made the team out of training camp, but hasn’t recorded a point in four games. The team hopes to get his offense going in Binghamton. Rooney, the 25-year-old penalty-killing forward scored 14 goals with the Binghamton Devils last season and had two assists in five games this year.
The Dallas Stars assigned forward Roope Hintz to the Texas Stars of the AHL, according to NHL.com’s Mark Stepneski. The 21-year-old had played five games with Dallas to start the season, but has failed to tally a point so far, especially Friday when he was given the opportunity to play on the team’s first line next to Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn with Alexander Radulov out. Hintz played a career-high 17:26 and only posted two shots, a hit and a block. “You get an opportunity like that, you got to be pressuring pucks, you got to be creating more turnovers,” said Dallas head coach Jim Montgomery (via SportsDay’s Matthew DeFranks). “Didn’t see enough. It wasn’t a bad game.”
With neither Charlie McAvoy or Kevan Miller having skated during the pre-game skate, the Boston Bruins announced they have recalled defenseman Urho Vaakanainen from the Providence Bruins of the AHL on an emergency loan. The 19-year-old is the team’s 2017 first-round pick and has two assists in six games in his first season in North America.

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Urho Vaakanainen