| Kalle Kangas | Jokerit U20 | U20 SM | L | D | 6’4″ | 205 | Vantaa, FIN | 2005 | 2022-2023: C+ |
U18: 4 Nations Tournament, Finland vs Team USA, February 8, 2023: Kangas totaled 17:55 in ice time including a team leading 5:42 while short handed. He did not play on the power play. Kangas is a big strong left shot defender with a shoulder width skating base and a good first step. While killing penalties we noticed a more explosive first than we had seen in previous viewings. We still feel that his shoulders are too far out over his toes, but his skating base was narrower and his hips looked lower which we feel allowed for a quicker first step. We love that fact that he was involved in a post whistle dust up and received two minutes for roughing. On the play he showed strength while boxing out and when Team USA’s forward gave him a rabbit punch he responded exactly how he should. Two things that we did not like and will be watching for with the first being that he had two point shots blocked. On both attempts he had ample time to change the angle by moving laterally or fire a miss direction wide to the short side of the net to continue the cycle and net front chaos. The second thing is a body language issue. There was a play midway through the first where his partner looked him off along the offensive blueline and rather than continuing with the play Kangas literally took his right hand off his stick and put his palm to the rafters. On the night he finished even with 0 points, 1 shot, 2 PIMs and had 2 shots blocked.
U18: 5 Nations Tournament, November 10th vs Team Sweden and November 12th vs Team Czechia: Kalle Kangas showed to be Finland’s best defender. Makes good reads on pinches, when to clear pucks out of the zone and when to make tape to tape passes. Plays at a consistent level. Good penalty killer. Understands leverage and body positioning. Reliable defenseman. Needs to work on puck handling in tight areas and foot speed…feet are a little heavy. Needs to keep his feet underneath him or else he will get exposed with smaller quicker players. (Scout: Greg Puhalski)
U18: Hlinka-Gretzky Tournament: Finland vs Canada, August 5, 2022: Kanga totaled 12:43 in ice time including 0:04 while on the power play and 0:52 while short handed. Standing at 6’3″plus he is big strong left shot defender. He has a bit of an “A” frame skating base and for our liking carries his bottom hand too far down the shaft of his stick when carrying the puck. We feel this head out past his toes skating posture impacts his mobility. But we also feel this is something that can improve as he gains core strength. The perfect example of this came on Team Canada’s first goal when he got caught flat footed in transition. Rather than closing on the Canadian forward he stopped, got his weight out past his toes so when the opposing forward used a change in speed Kangas got beat wide and really didn’t get his stick on the man. Again he looks to be bigger than 6’3″ so we will continue to watch his skating / posture progress. He finished the night -1 with zero points, 0 shots, 0 hits, 1 giveaway, 3 takeaways and he won 67% of his puck battles.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images