Medicine Hat Tigers selected Oskari Kuntonen (centre) 51st overall in the 2020 CHL Import Draft on Tuesday (Photo courtesy of Oskari Kuntonen / Instagram)

By Scott Roblin

CHL Import Draft

Tigers select Finnish playmaker Kuntonen in CHL Import Draft

Jun 30, 2020 | 10:20 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – After two straight years of selecting Danes, the Medicine Hat Tigers went to Finland for their lone pick in the 2020 CHL Import Draft.

Holding the 51^st overall pick on Tuesday, the Tigers selected Finnish forward Oskari Kuntonen from the Pelicans U18 program.

“Really smart player, reads the ice really well, high IQ guy,” said Tigers director of player personnel Bobby Fox. “He has a little bit of grit to his game, he’s not going to shy away. He’s going to have to adjust to the pace a little bit, but we think we’re a perfect place for him to develop and get faster.”

The 17-year-old Kuntonen is coming off a breakout season with the U18 team, netting 16 goals and 46 points in 39 games to finish second on his team in scoring.

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This year’s CHL Import Draft featured more uncertainty than most years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with questions raised about the likehood of European players choosing to come overseas.

Tigers front office staff admit those concerns factored in to Tuesday’s draft, though are confident that Kuntonen will be sporting the orange and black this fall whenever WHL camps open.

“There’s a lot of concern for players coming over [asking] when does the season start?” said Fox. “But, in general it still has the appeal, the Europeans still look at this as a way to get to the NHL. One of the things we like about it is until we can bring him over he has a place to play.”

“So, we have an agreement in place where once we get going, we’re going to get him in here and get him into the lineup.”

Kuntonen becomes just the second Finnish player selected by Medicine Hat in the CHL Import Draft, joining two-year Tiger defenceman Patrik Karkkonen selected in 2010.

Medicine Hat now has three import players in their system following the protection of both forward Jonathan Brinkman and pending overage netminder Mads Søgaard, through they’ll have to part ways with at least one due to the CHL’s maximum of two imports.

Though, Fox said they’ll cross that bridge in the coming months.

“We have until the yet to be determined overage deadline at this point,” he said. “So, we have some time. We’re going to figure out roster needs, but no decision has been made at this point.”

The OHL’s North Bay Battalion used their first overall pick to select Russian forward Matvei Petrov, who scored nine points in nine games with Team Russia at the 2019 World U-17 Hockey Challenge in Medicine Hat.