Vancouver Canucks prospect Aku Koskenvuo is taking inspiration from current Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko as he develops his game.
The Canucks selected Koskenvuo 137th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft. He played 17 games as a sophomore at Harvard University last season, recording 2.95 goals against average and a .910 save percentage.
Despite NCAA rules preventing on-ice training during the season, Canucks goaltending development coach Marko Torenius has been in regular contact with Koskenvuo, reviewing game footage and sharing clips of Vancouver top goalie Thatcher Demko.
“I tried to pick up on the fundamentals of Demko’s game and see how I could translate them into my game, and, so far, it’s helping,” Koskenvuo said to NHL.com.
“I like how simple his game is, how he’s systematic. He’s very controlled, but, at the end of the day, when the situation needs it, he can break off that and make big saves.”
Koskenvuo has been diligently working to adopt the structured Canucks system into his own game.
“How I play the game (is) that I play most of the situations the same way to make the game more systematic, so there are less swings in performance,” he explained.
“How fast your head snaps, where your eyes go, how your blades are on the post. Very small stuff, but it’s small details that make the big picture, so they’re very important, and I think it has improved a lot.”
With Demko as his inspiration, Aku Koskenvuo is positioning himself as a promising prospect in the Vancouver Canucks’s goaltending pipeline.
Vancouver Canucks goaltending coach Marko Torenius’ thoughts on Aku Koskenvu
Vancouver Canucks goaltending coach Marko Torenius has high hopes for prospect Aku Koskenvuo as he continues his development. Torenius emphasized the importance of the upcoming season for the young Finnish netminder.
“It’s a really important season coming for him,” Torenius said to NHL.com.
“He’s a little bit under the radar, but if he is able to get a little more game experience, I think he will also gain some confidence, and you can start to see who he really is.”
Koskenvuo has also impressed Canucks director of goaltending Ian Clark.
“He hits 10 out of 10 on a few of them,” Clark said. “He has prototypical size (6-foot-4) and a prototypical body for the goaltending position, and the athleticism and compete and all those things I’m always looking for.”
The Canucks coaching staff believes Koskenvuo has the raw abilities to potentially become an NHL goaltender.
