Sandis Vilmanis

Ian Moran’s Thoughts: At 6’1″ 195 pounds Vilmanis has an NHL frame right now. He has a bowlegged skating posture and deep knee bend that allows him to be very balanced, but as he continues his development he will need to continue working on his lateral quickness and first step. The game I watched him the most was against Team USA at the U18 World’s where he finished with 1 goal and 1 assist in a 13-3 loss. Normally a player standing up on the bench drives me bananas, but not in a game like this where Vilmanis was on his feet ready for his next shift. On his goal he showed nice defensive anticipation, hand eye and game awareness when he picked off a pass and accelerated past a defender before ripping a beauty short side shelf. In the same game I feel the play he made leading up to his assist is a glimpse of what we will see in his future. Again he showed nice acceleration and power as he drove wide to beat the US defender, as well as showing the core strength to hold off a cross check to his hip. On the play I would have loved to see him lower his shoulder to drive to the far post, but at that point in the game it was 11-1. Vilmanis has shown a quick release that really uses the whip on the stick to generate torque and an expanded shooting area when one-timing. With a sneaky wide dribble he also has some surprising wiggle in his 1on1 game. He makes defenders lean, then quickly shifts the puck out wide before showing the body awareness to get his hips in front of the defender.