2025 Rangers Report Card: Urho Vaakanainen

This post is part of an ongoing series of Rangers Report Cards, grading the performance of each member of the 2024-25 New York Rangers. To view more report cards in this series, go here.

Expectations

To Rangers fans, Urho Vaakanainen may have just seemed to be a throw-in for the Jacob Trouba trade. But long before that, he was a prospect that many folks were excited about, myself included. Drafted 18th overall in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins, Vaakanainen was regarded as a strong skater that was one of the more well-rounded defensemen in his draft class. A puck-mover with a strong hockey-IQ, Vaakanainen was never the type of player to impress fans with his counting numbers, but turned lots of heads with his poise in all aspects of the game.  

When the shortcomings of the New York Rangers reached a boiling point, team captain Jacob Trouba had no choice but to waive his trade protection and accepted a move to Anaheim. The fact that Chris Drury was able to unload his full salary without any retention was a win in itself, but the fact that he was able to get a draft pick and a player like Vaakanainen in return was incredible. However, despite the praise many had for the former first round pick, the Rangers were now set to be Vaakanainen’s third team early in his NHL career. 

Now, before labeling that a concern, it’s worth noting that his development has gone through some interesting trials and tribulations. Prior to 2023, Vaakanainen really only had one year where he played close to a full season's worth of games in professional North American hockey. Prior to the world shutting down for COVID, Vaakanainen was on pace for a full season with the Providence Bruins of the AHL. Outside of that, every other season since being drafted he spent time either bouncing back-and-forth between the NHL and AHL, sitting in the press box as an extra skater or occasionally, facing setbacks with an injury.  

After being dealt to Anaheim as a part of the Hampus Lindholm blockbuster, Vaakanainen would play 68 games in the 2023-24 season, which still ranks as the most games he’s played in a single season. Yet that wouldn’t be the season he put up career high numbers as believe it or not, that came this year with the Rangers. 

That being said, there really weren’t any expectations for Urho Vaakanainen aside from being an option for the Rangers as they began to navigate the early stages of shaping a new identity. 

Performance

46 GP—2 G—13 A—15 PTS

In just over half a season’s worth of games played in New York, Vaakanainen put up a career high tally of 15 points—16 if you include his one assist in Anaheim earlier in the season. Remember, this is a player that was never regarded as someone who puts up a ton of points for you, so that in itself could be a good sign from one of the newer Rangers to join the team this season. 

When acquired in the Trouba trade, Vaakanainen was still recovering from an injury so it took some time before he made his Rangers debut. His first game took place in one of my dishonorable mentions for some of the worst losses of the Rangers season, when they came up empty handed against the Nashville Predators in a 2-0 loss. Not a great first impression, seeing as he was caught flat-footed after an atrocious turnover from Chad Ruhwedel to give up the first goal. However, it was the first game back after missing time on a night where the Rangers didn’t score to begin with—no harm, no foul. 

While the results for the team weren’t great to close out the month of December, Vaakanainen was beginning to regain his footing in a third pair role, mainly with Ruhwedel while K’Andre Miller was injured, and then eventually with Braden Schneider. He came out of those games with an even +/- rating, averaging about fifteen minutes of ice time down that stretch. 

January would prove to be a much better month as Vaakanainen picked up five assists across 14 games with a +3 rating. He carried a similar pace through February where he picked up two goals and two assists all while becoming a late addition to Team Finland for the first and only 4 Nations Face-Off—a notable honor for Vaakanainen despite only getting there as a result of injuries and the league sort of running out of Finnish defenseman options. Finland was a massive underdog in that tournament and despite being on the ice for five goals in two games against Canada and the United States, he helped his team pull off a massive win against their rival nation, Sweden in a 4-3 OT thriller.  

Vaakanainen finished out the season precisely how you want a bottom-pairing defenseman to perform: good for a couple of assists here and there, well north of even on the +/- scale, keeping his nose down and being a solid, reliable presence on the back end more nights than not. Vaakanainen spent the majority of his time on a pairing with Braden Schneider which, at its worst, really did not work, but at other points was fine. 

With Schneider playing through a torn labrum, it’s hard to know how much of that had to do with chemistry versus Schneider being nowhere near 100 percent. At other points, Vaakanainen got some runway on the top pair with Adam Fox which, call me crazy, I do think could work when all else fails. However, there were times in those instances where he was being exposed and it felt similar to Fox carrying Ryan Lindgren through his bad stretches. 

At Vaakanainen’s best, he was in a third pair role, whether it was with Zac Jones, Schneider, or even Ruhwedel. He’s a quality stay-at -ome defenseman that, in the right situation, can be an effective part of the D-core. Problem is, when you have Carson Soucy, Will Borgen, an inconsistent K’Andre Miller and a broken Braden Schneider to fill out the rest of the picture, he blends in more with what’s going wrong than right. 

Grades

Author Grade: C+

Banter Consensus: C-

Final Evaluation

All things considered, Urho Vaakanainen made a strong enough impression with the Rangers for Chris Drury to sign him to a two-year extension. Two years with an AAV of $1.5 is perfectly fine for someone who is mainly a sixth defenseman, or a seventh defenseman with a really strong surrounding cast. Problem is, there is a great deal of doubt surrounding this team’s core of defensemen entering next season.

The Rangers acquired and extended both of Will Borgen and Vaakanainen before also acquiring Carson Soucy, who is signed (with trade protection) through next season. I find it quite difficult to get excited about a defense core that relies on all three of them as daily regulars, especially with all of the other question marks surrounding Miller and Schneider. 

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see what Urho Vaakanainen can do in a full 82-game season with the Rangers next season.