CA’s top 20 Canucks summer prospect rankings: #19 Aku Koskenvuo

Welcome to our second instalment of our countdown of the top 20 prospects in the Vancouver Canucks‘ system. Today is goaltender Aku Koskenvuo, who wraps up his collegiate hockey career with his sights now set on a fresh start and a ton of playing time in pro hockey.

Aku Koskenvuo

Next year’s team: Kalamazoo Wings | Age: 22 | Position: Goalie | Height: 6’4 | Weight: 173 lbs | Shoots: Left | Drafted: Fifth round, 137 overall, 2021 | Last year’s rank: 16 (-3)

In his first season with Harvard, Aku Koskenvuo got into two games. In his second season, Koskenvuo got into 17 games, posting a .910 save percentage. In his third and final collegiate season, Koskenvuo played in 21 games, putting up a .902 save percentage.

While the poor stats this past season certainly hurt him in our rankings, it’s hard to really know what the Canucks have in Koskenvuo. But we’re about to find out.

Koskenvuo will follow in the footsteps of fellow prospect goaltender Ty Young when he joins the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings next season. Young absolutely ran with that opportunity and is set to be a main piece of the Abbotsford Canucks’ plans next season as a result. Can Koskenvuo do the same with the chances he’ll be given in Kalamazoo? Even if it’s not to the same extent as Young — an organizational-best .926 save percentage — Koskenvuo finding success in his first season of pro hockey would be a very nice development for him and the Canucks.

And never say never. After all, Young’s junior career wasn’t necessarily anything to write home about, and yet he now finds himself knocking down the door to AHL starts in just his second season of pro hockey.

Koskenvuo fits the same profile that most of the goaltenders the Canucks have drafted under the watchful eye of Ian Clark (including Ty Young). He’s big, he’s got long limbs and solid mobility, and comes with plenty of raw tools.

“For me, I’m a big believer when it comes to scouting in evaluating the intangibles when it comes to goaltenders,” Clark said in an exclusive interview with CanucksArmy in 2021. “Technique and structure and all those types of things are very tangible. Those are things we can kind of do with our eyes closed. They’re very tangible and very blueprint-y.”

“When I look at Aku, I look at a goaltender that may be a little bit raw, a little bit green with some of the structural stuff, you know, there’s some blemishes there that we can easily transform and reorganize in his game, but some of those other areas which are much harder, he has in spades.”

Can the Canucks work similar magic with Koskenvuo that they did with Young and turn those raw tools into success at the ECHL level? We will soon find out.

Previous profiles in our countdown:
#20: Ilya Safonov

Tune in tomorrow to find out who will come in at number 18!