Oliver Suni – Oshawa Generals – Player Profile

Height: 6’2”

Weight: 188 Pounds

Date of birth: February 13, 2002

Hometown: Kempele, Finland

Position: Right Wing

Shoots: Right

OHL Draft: Round 1, 44^th overall, 2019 Import Draft

NHL Central Scouting Rankings

A native of Kempele, Finland, Oliver Suni played his 2018-2019 season in Finland’s Junior B SM-Sarja League for the Karpat Under-18 squad. In 23 games, Suni scored 19 goals and assisted on 17 others. He also gained a lot of international experience while representing Finland at the World Hockey Challenge Under-17 (Silver Medal) notching 3 helpers in 6 contests to go along with 6 goals and 10 assists in 20 international contests for the season. The Oshawa Generals would select Suni with the 44^th overall pick at the 2019 Canadian Hockey League’s Import Draft.

Suni began this season last August representing his country once again, this time at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup. There, Suni would have three helpers in 6 contests.

The Ontario Hockey League rookie had a fantastic start to his season, scoring 8 goals and assisting on 15 in his first 26 games. But on December 6, Suni went hard into the boards with Kitchener Rangers’ Micheal Vukojevic and suffered a shoulder injury.

The Injury kept Suni out of game action until his return on January 25. While he scored in his return, his production took a dip to 4 goals and 5 assists in 16 games. At the time of his injury, he was second in points per game among rookies, second only to Kingston Frontenacs wonder kid Shane Wright.

First and foremost, you have to love Suni’s size. And he’s not afraid to use it, whether its in on the forecheck, plowing through opposition defenders, driving to the net and even in his own zone to separate the opposition from the puck.

For a bigger player, you have to like Suni’s skating. His first few steps are surprisingly strong and bordering on explosive. Combined with his size, he has the confidence in his skating to drive to the net. Yet, he’s not afraid to keep possession and make things happen. His vision is very good and we think his playmaking skills are underrated.

Some question his shooting ability, but we beg to differ. We think he has an excellent wrist shot, deceptive release and accurate. But more importantly, when a play isn’t there, he’s not afraid to put the puck low and on net with the purpose of creating a second chance opportunity.

Suni is also very adept at the defensive game, and this being his first season in North America, it comes as a bit of a surprise. As already mentioned, he’s not afraid of the physicality to separate opponents from the puck. But he also has an incredibly long reach and gets that stick into lanes to take away passes and disrupt plays.

It’s a tale of two stories with Suni. Early season Suni told us he had second line potential. Latter season Suni tells us he’ll be a third liner who is strong defensively and can put up some points. Unfortunately, the layoff got in the way. But I wouldn’t bet against him topping off as a second liner in the NHL.