Coming in as the 96th ranked prospect in our consolidated ranking is diminutive forward Kristian Tanus.

Like Lukas Wernblom, Tanus has shown very well in the international tournaments this season and thus comes in the latter parts of our Top 100 because of that. You should never overvalue these short tournaments but allow it to get looks on players who have been buried in other systems and thus aren’t always seen regularly or considered.

Let’s take a look a the small Finnish forward.

 

Since Tanus played all of his season in the U20 leagues and then followed that up with playoff games in U20 and U18, there isn’t any draft that can be used.

Without a doubt, Tanus is small and that will the biggest issue for him going forward. It’s likely why he will be passed over in this draft. But he is a worker out there and tries to do everything he can to overcome that size.  He is relentless on the puck and has some really noticeable puck moving abilities that showcase his passing skills and offensive awareness.

He does need to try to drive the net a bit more as he relies heavily on his puck distribution over anything else. His patience with the puck is something that really stands out, as he isn’t afraid to hold onto the puck or make a couple little moves with possession to open up space and time

The Tampere native is very agile on his skates, using his edges to dash and dart around the ice to lose coverage and draw defenders to him. What he lacks in size, he makes up for in elusiveness.

Tanus just kept producing at various tournaments with four assists in four games at Ivan Hlinka, ten points at the 5 Nations Cup and then seven points in seven games at the U18 World Championships to close out the season.

As mentioned above, I won’t be surprised to see Tanus be passed over the draft given his size but he is expected to head to Liiga next year and could further help his stock with a good performance there. Furthermore, he will likely be in the conversation for a spot with Team Finland at the World Juniors for the next two seasons.

If he can assimilate well to the pro ranks and continue to perform well at the various international tournaments, we may see a team take a flyer on Tanus after his draft plus one season or draft plus two years.

No matter what – selecting Tanus is a roll of the dice but his skill set is intriguing.