Oliver Suvanto played forty-eight games in Liiga, Finland’s top league, for Tappara. He scored 2 goals and 9 assists for 11 points. That certainly isn’t anything to sneeze at; playing in Finland’s top league isn’t easy. It’s a league of some of the world’s best hockey players. Would it make any difference if I told you that Suvanto was (and still is) only 17 years old while playing in a league of grown men?
Suvanto is big (6-foot-3 and 210 pounds big) and won’t turn 18 until early September. The young center held his own for Tappara, using his size and speed to be a tenacious forward, playing smart defense that kids his age usually haven’t grasped yet. Suvanto also reportedly has a “relentless motor” and just keeps coming at you. The Caps love to draft guys with high motors that don’t take off any shifts and keep playing no matter what. A team can never draft too many of those guys.
It’s Suvanto’s defensive game that makes him so intriguing. Not many 17 year-olds can do what he did in the Liiga last season. He was an integral part of the lineup, playing third and fourth line minutes for a pretty stocked Tappara team. That’s hard to do on any given night in an elite hockey league with thirty-year-old men, even more so if you’re not even old enough to vote.
While his offensive game didn’t impress that much, there’s plenty of time for home to grow. There have been comparisons to Alexander Barkov, who was Suvanto’s favorite player as a kid, the guy who he modeled his game after. Caps assistant general manager Ross Mahoney said that Suvanto works hard and “probably has more skill than people think.” Considering he won’t be eighteen until September 3rd, Mahoney may be right.
Feeling Finn-tastic at #CapsDraft HQ pic.twitter.com/8Kyazk3pNl
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) June 27, 2026
What sets him apart now is that motor of his, the one that has earned him a reputation for being tenacious and very competitive. A couple of years ago when he played an offseason floor ball game in Finland. Nikko Rantanen, the big Dallas Stars forward, was also there that day. Suvanto decided to see how he measured up to the towering NHLer. He relentlessly defended the towering Rantanen, pushing and shoving, never backing down. Relentless …at just fifteen years old! That takes some rohkeus. (Finnish for cajónes.)
With players like Tom Wilson, Aliaksei Protas, and Pierre-Luc Dubois, the 6-foot-3, 208-pound Suvanto figures to fit pretty well with the Capitals. The young Finn isn’t going to be the next Wanye Gretzky, but he might be the next Barkov which I’m sure would make the Capitals very happy. If he can fine tune his offensive game like he already has his defensive game, Suvanto could end up a draft day steal.
Of course, the big news about Suvanto and the Caps is that he’s Finnish. The Capitals haven’t drafted a Finn since Oscar Osala in 2006. The Caps haven’t drafted many Finns in their history. The last time they drafted Suvanto is the first Finn Washington has drafted in the first round since Mikko Elmo back in 1995. General manager Chris Patrick even cracked a joke in the draft room after the decided to take him with the 18th pick.
“People are going to go nuts we took a Finn,” Patrick said with a smile. “They say we never take Finns.”
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