{"id":572784,"date":"2026-05-12T03:45:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T03:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/572784\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T03:45:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T03:45:20","slug":"capitals-2026-nhl-draft-targets-center-oliver-suvanto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/572784\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitals 2026 NHL Draft Targets: Center Oliver Suvanto"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/nhl\/teams\/washington\/\" data-i13n=\"sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link\" data-ylk=\"slk:Washington Capitals;sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link;itc:0\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Washington Capitals&quot;,&quot;ySubModuleName&quot;:&quot;anchor_text&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Washington Capitals<\/a> have two aces up their sleeve entering the 2026 NHL Draft with two first-rounders, with that primary selection being at No. 16. And, if the team holds onto that pick, one name that could be an option is center Oliver Suvanto.<\/p>\n<p>Suvanto, a Finnish pivot, is the No. 3 ranked European skater by NHL Central Scouting. He projects as a reliable, middle-6 center at the highest level.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Fresh off a point-per-game season with Tappara&#8217;s U18 team, Suvanto spent just three games with the U20 club before making the full-time jump to Liiga, the top flight of professional hockey in Finland.<\/p>\n<p>Through 48 games playing against grown men, he had two goals and nine assists for 11 points while taking on second-line minutes. He also appeared in a playoff game.<\/p>\n<p>Suvanto is a big-bodied, two-way center who excels in a shutdown, defensive role and can complement the offense. The 6-foot-3, 207-pound pivot is a strong skater with a high hockey IQ and good awareness, using his frame and stick to win 1-on-1 battles.<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s strong around the boards, stays in position and supports his defensemen and has good hands that allows him to make good plays. While he&#8217;s not the flashiest playmaker or goal scorer, he can get to the gritty, dangerous areas to generate opportunities and is strong at the net-front.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>While his skating and consistency need work, he&#8217;s a player that&#8217;ll more than come into his own and find success and a large role at the highest level.<\/p>\n<p>Washington is known to take the best player available rather than prioritize position, but Suvanto&#8217;s upside and potential makes him a surefire selection, especially if he&#8217;s still available in the middle of the first round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Capitals have two aces up their sleeve entering the 2026 NHL Draft with two first-rounders, with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5114],"tags":[191,5,4,1693,465,41478,190,109,5222],"class_list":{"0":"post-572784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-capitals","8":"tag-capitals","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-nhl-central-scouting","12":"tag-nhl-draft","13":"tag-oliver-suvanto","14":"tag-washington","15":"tag-washington-capitals","16":"tag-washingtoncapitals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116559552379490046","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}