Topias Leinonen
Topias Leinonen is the best European goal available for the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Chicago Blackhawks have had a bit of luck with North American goalies over the past few years but a couple of Finnish goalies have also found their way to Chicago. Antti Raanta and Kevin Lankinen are two prime examples and now another one could be of consideration.
Topias Leinonen is the number two overall goalie in the draft and the top European guy. He is 18 years old and hails from Finland. This is someone that is going to take some time developing but the raw skills are clearly there with him.
Leinonen is someone that has played for a few different teams this season including the U18 World Championship squad that came in third place. He is a big goalie that uses his size to his advantage in a hybrid butterfly style. He has an extremely fast glove which will help him make big saves.
Chicago needs to be better at developing strong goalies like this. If they were to take a risk on a big goalie like Leinonen, they better put in the work to get him to where he needs to be. That would mean they have three young netminders in the system that can go far in their careers.