The Tampa Bay Lightning like drafting undersized players with high hockey IQ. They just don’t like to do it when that player is a defenseman. Considered by some to be the second best defender in the draft, Finnish blueliner Ville Heinola may be the one to change that history.
As Geo mentioned in his preview for Matthew Robertson, during the Al Murray era, the Lightning have not been big on drafting defensemen who are on the short side of six feet. At the pre-draft combine, Heinola was measured at a haircut under the six foot mark (official measurement 5’ 11.