Do you remember recently reading a draft report about a 5’9’’ Finnish prospect? If you did, I do hope you liked it, because today we are doubling down on undersized Finns born in January of 2002.
Born just one day after Roni Hirvonen in a city less than 200 kilometres away, Kasper Simontaival also measures 5’9” and, interestingly, several rankings have him getting picked in the same fringe first-round range as his compatriot. Their skill sets, however, differ quite a bit, almost like Simontaival being the Yang to Hirvonen’s Yin. Where Hirvonen is a shrewd playmaker, Simontaival is a sniper equipped with a blazing shot.