When the New York Islanders selected Otto Koivula in the fourth round of the 2016 NHL Draft, there wasn’t much expectation surrounding him. We knew he was a native of Finland, and he was going to be playing hockey for SM-Liiga, that’s pretty much it.
The chances of him not only coming over to the US but coming over and becoming a part of the future plans were slim, but credit to Koivula he’s been pretty good the last few years.
After being drafted he had a 30 point season as an 18-year old scoring 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) in 50 games.