With their first second round pick, #42 overall, in the 2017  NHL Draft, the Carolina Hurricanes followed a familiar pattern in taking a Finnish forward in Eetu Luostarinen. (2015 was Sebastian Aho and 2016 was Janne Kuokkanen.)

Eetu Luostarinen profile

Luostarinen is a player who rose rapidly during the 2016-17 season starting from being a lower-round draft pick and ultimately being rated as a second-round pick by Bob McKenzie at TSN. Even with the rapid rise, the Hurricanes took Luostarinen early obviously not wanting to risk not getting him later.

Luostarinen projects to be a good all-around center. He has projectable size at 6 feet 2 inches tall and is smooth skater. He is credited for having soft hands and also a high hockey IQ. Sounds a little bit like Sebastian Aho and Janne Kuokkanen which is encouraging.

Eetu Luostarinen preliminary reading list

Clickable links to articles on Eetu Luostarinen.

Marco Bombino at Finnish Junior Hockey recently profiled Eetu Luostarinen HERE.

The team from Draftin Europe like Luostarinen in the third round in their article scouting Europe for Canes and Coffee earlier this week.

Ben Kerr at Last Word on Hockey captured Luostarinen’s recent rise and buzz and heading into the draft.

Luostarinen has only recently risen rapidly up the rankings, but TSN’s Bob McKenzie was early and aggressive in boosting him and had him at #56 in his final rankings.

TSN’s draft profile has Nick Bonino as a comparable.

Have you seen other good articles on Eetu Luostarinen? If so, please give us a heads up on Twitter, via email or using our comment form, so we can add to our reading list.

Go Canes!