Arttu Kärki

December 2023 – Arttu Kärki has already made waves in his draft +1 season, with 14 goals scored through his first 18 games as a first year player with the Soo, helping to constitute one of the better offensive starts for a blueliner in the history of OHL. He has been a consistent threat on the powerplay, currently tied for second in the league with 11 powerplay markers. The 2023 third-round pick is now set to represent Team Finland at the 2024 World Juniors, where a strong showing could go a long way towards proving that offensive output to be legit. Taylor Davis

June 2023 – Kärki was selected 96th overall by the Golden Knights. Pat Quinn

December 2022 – Production-wise, Kärki has started the season very well. His 22 points in 17 games for Tappara’s U20 team is second among all defenders in U20 SM-sarja. However, he has scored a lot against lower-level competition, which is a relevant point in this season’s U20 SM-sarja, as there is a wide gap between the league’s best and worst teams. His stat line is still impressive and shows his potential to produce offense.

Kärki plays an offensive-minded game. He handles the puck well and plays especially well on the offensive zone blue line, where he can deke players and get shots through traffic. He can get to good top speed and isn’t a bad skater by any means, but has a lot of room to improve in terms of foot quickness and explosiveness to improve his ability to retrieve pucks in the defensive zone. Kärki has some issues with his defensive game, and he is prone to committing bad turnovers when forced to make a play. He is still working on playing at a higher pace and will need to do that consistently to limit his negative plays as he works toward a career in North America. Kärki has draft value, but I see his style being way more suitable for Europe than North America until he improves his processing speed and shows a greater ability to make plays under pressure. Eetu Siltanen