Bruins Breakdown Film Session: Urho Vaakanainen vs the Anaheim Ducks (1-24-22)
- Bruins Breakdown
- Jan 26, 2022
- 4 min read
One Bruins player who has impressed recently is defenseman Urho Vaakanainen. While his stock has dropped considerably over the past few years due to uneven play in both the NHL and AHL, Vaakanainen is still just 23 years of age and shows the signs of becoming a dependable middle pairing defenseman. In previous NHL call-ups he has shown the skills that made him a top prospect, but has struggled with consistency and getting overpowered by the bigger, stronger forwards at the NHL level. This time around, Vaakanainen has done a better job in using his skating, active stick, and overall hockey sense to be a far more effective defenseman. Coach Bruce Cassidy has rewarded him as well, as he has consistently logged over 20 minutes TOI, and played a lot of PK minutes. With that being said, lets take a look at some of his game from Monday night vs the Anaheim Ducks.
THE GOOD:
This clip, from the Ducks power play opportunity in the first period, shows Urho at his most effective while defending. He holds a tight gap as Trevor Zegras (#46) and Troy Terry (#19) cross into the zone. When Terry fumbles the puck on the boards, Urho closes on him quickly, causing the puck to pop up into the air and into the corner. After some support by his partner Clifton, Urho gains control and ices the puck.
Another clip from that same power play. As the Ducks dump the puck behind the net, Urho closes on Derek Grant (#38) while defending the passing lane to Trevor Zegras. While he does overcommit a bit and struggles to pin down the 6'3, 210 lb. Grant, Vaakanainen stays with it and after some support from Conor Clifton, he tracks down the puck and clears it.
Another area where Vaakanainen excels is puck retrievals/transition. This seems like such a simple play, but having defenseman who execute things like this is crucial in todays NHL game. Here, he gets back to the puck quickly, turns the net, processes the play quickly and hits Tomas Nosek on a nice breakout pass. It does not lead to a chance for the Bruins, but subtle plays like this go a long way in helping teams create offense from their own zone.
Here is another small, subtle play that highlights Urho's effectiveness in turning defense to offense. Paired with Brandon Carlo, he starts by providing an outlet behind the net for a D-to-D pass. When Carlo struggles to control the puck, Urho shades back toward the slot. When he sees the opportunity, he fills the seam and provides support, taking a short area pass from Carlo and quickly moving it to Tomas Nosek so the Bruins can get going the other way.
One final aspect of Vaakanainen's game that I have been impressed with is his ability to hold the offensive blue line. In this clip, Urho anticipates Zegras chipping the puck up the boards to Rickard Rakell (#67) and closes him off before the puck is even there. He then uses his quick stick to stop the attempted clear and send the puck back in deep, allowing the Bruins first line to go back to work.
THE BAD:
These are the kind of ugly defensive plays that happen from time to time with Urho. The Ducks flip the puck to center ice where the Bruins actually have a numbers advantage. This is a play where Urho needs to either be sure he is going to be able to whack that puck back into the Ducks zone or eliminate Terry from the play with a hit. Instead, he flails at the puck with his backhand as gets knocked over easily by Max Comtois (#44), allowing Troy Terry to enter the zone and score. To be fair, Charlie McAvoy's gap control is poor and Tuukka Rask needs to make this save, but Urho should have stopped this play before it started.
This is a similar play. While it may not have been a very smart idea for McAvoy to come cross ice to try and throw a huge hit, Urho again gets caught waving at a 50/50 puck in the air.
While nothing comes of it, this is the sort of situation that requires a stronger play. The Bruins are lucky the puck doesn't squirt loose to the high slot where Troy Terry would have a partial breakaway.
While he has greatly improved in this area, Urho is the victim of puck watching here. While it can be chalked up to fatigue, young defenseman cannot have these sorts of lapses if they want to win a full time roster spot. When the puck is cycled behind the net to Ducks forward Isac Lunderstrom (#21), Urho seems to be stuck between attacking or blocking the passing lane to Sam Steel (#23).
He gets caught staring at Lunderstrom, and leaves the passing lane open. While David Pastrnak and Erik Haula are in good enough position defensively to disrupt the shot, it still gets through to Rask. If they are not able to get there in time, that puck ends up in the back of the net.
FINAL THOUGHTS: When watching this game live, I thought it was a fairly poor effort from Vaakanainen. Upon re-watch, that was not really the case. Despite the team having an off night, Urho was fairly solid outside of a few plays (one which ended up in the back of the net). He defended well for the most part and used his skating/passing to successfully break the puck out consistently. He has been a steady presence on the backend and continues to earn his minutes. When Matt Grzelcyk is fully healthy, Bruce Cassidy will have a tough decision to make regarding his 6 blueliners.
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