Veeti Louhivaara

February 2025 – Louhivaara has the stereotypical late-round archetype of having one particular strength and room to improve everywhere else. His strength lies in his ability to cover the bottom of the net, being extremely strong in the butterfly and dropping into it at the speed of light. He has explosive lateral movement and can react to cross-crease chances well, if they’re unelevated. Louhivaara struggles much more when it comes to top-half chances against him, and it is a direct result of him hunching over when he drops into the butterfly. This opens up lanes for attackers to pot home relatively easy goals against him even if he reacts to them as quickly as he can. When positioned well, his glove is strong enough and he has solid puck-tracking abilities. Until he irons out his hunching issue, though, he is going to struggle at higher levels. In five or six years, there may be a backup-caliber goalie here if his kinks get ironed out. JP Gambatese