Detroit Red Wings 2018 draft pick: Center Otto Kivenmäki
By Ash Thompson
The Detroit Red Wings selected an undersized but offensively gifted center with their final pick in the 2018 NHL entry draft. Otto Kivenmäki is a Red Wing.
With their seventh-round pick in the 2018 NHL entry draft, the Detroit Red Wings selected a diminutive Finnish center. Otto Kivenmäki stands 5’8″ and weighs 154 lbs. He was the 191st player to find an organization in the draft.
In an interview with flamesnation.com Marco Bombino, who is probably the best publicly available resource for Finnish junior hockey information had this to say:
"Otto Kivenmäki is on the smaller side, but there are not many Finnish draft-eligible prospects with similar attributes. A world-class skater with blazing speed and sublime agility, his acceleration is almost second to none. He makes tight turns and can leave defensemen in the dust. He’s got great hands and vision as well. The small Ässät center did miss the U18 World Championship where he would have had more exposure. While Kivenmäki will need considerable development time in Finland, I would be fairly surprised if he goes undrafted."
Well, Bombino need not be surprised. The Red Wings appear to have confidence that the current trend toward smaller, faster, more athletic players will continue. There was a time where a player with that height and weight would have had to possess hall of fame levels of skill to even be considered for a draft selection. Times have changed.
Left shot centers are by no means a rarity, but players with elite speed and quickness that can actually do something with the puck are. Kivenmäki fits that bill to a T. According to finnprospects.com he is a flashy player who needs to learn to work within a system, rather than doing everything on his own. His defensive game is abysmal, and he is out of position a lot, which he tries to make up for with athleticism alone.
Along the boards, a player of Kivenmäki’s size cannot hold up very well at any level, and that is going to slow his ascension through the ranks of North American hockey. The North American ice surface is smaller, and players of this size need to find a way to be effective in tight quarters.
A player with offensive upside but size deficiencies is still a good get for the Wings in the seventh round of the draft. Kivenmäki has a long road to becoming an NHL caliber player, but he is not hopeless by any means. The Red Wings are hoping he becomes the next Martin St. Louis.