Matias Mantykivi. Try pronouncing that one, Boston Bruins fans. The Finnish-born center went 185th overall, in the sixth round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft to the Boston Bruins, addressing the need for further center depth.
Now, whilst a sixth round pick is generally a throw of the dice, there have been plenty of talented players that did make it to the NHL, despite being sixth round picks. Matias Mantykivi was a good pick-up, being from the hockey hotbed that is Finland these days, and not only that, the Boston Bruins have to use the NHL Entry Draft to address organisational needs, the current one being a lack of decent depth down the middle.
Whether Matias Mantykivi ends up panning out for them is a big question. Chances are even if he does, he’s going to be your atypical bottom-six kind of guy.
The sixth round of the NHL Entry Draft in recent years has seen Matt Benning (drafted by Boston no less), Paul Byron, Cam Atkinson, Anders Lee, Carl Hagelin, Mark Stone and Patrick Maroon among others all crack NHL rosters and fit in just fine. Ondrej Palat, Frederik Andersen and Patric Hornqvist have all done so as seventh round picks.
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Obviously, the proof will be in his play once he eventually makes his way over to North America as to whether the name Matias Mantykivi eventually deserves mentioning in the same breath as those listed above. If he indeed does, the Boston Bruins have outdone themselves, especially as he a center, a notoriously challenging position to find true late-round talent in.
Per the official Boston Bruins website, Matias Matykivi got a taste of professional ice this past season, as well as showing enough leadership nous to be named as one of the assistant captains on his junior side:
"Mantykivi has played with SaiPa teams for the past three seasons. In 2018-19, the 18-year-old assistant captained SaiPa U20 (jr. A SM-liiga), tallying 12 goals and 24 assists for 36 points in 34 games. He skated in nine games for SaiPa U18 (Jr. B SM-sarja), producing 13 points (seven goals, six assists). He scored one goal in six games with SaiPa (Liiga) and was loaned to Kettera where he tallied four assists in 11 games in the regular season and six points (goal, five assists) in 13 playoff games."
Kettera play in the second-tier of Finnish professional hockey; averaging a point every second game at that level as an eighteen year-old, as well as a point in his six games in the first-tier suggests that he may well be able to step up to a higher level.
Whether Matias Mantykivi eventually makes it to the Boston Bruins is still very much up in the air of course; we’ve been burned recently with Scandinavian players opting to return home and other teams have seen it occur too. It’s not an unheard of scenario.
As with all of these picks this year, it’s going to be a waiting game to see whether they evolve into anything or not.