Position: D, Shoots: R
H/W: 6-foot-2, 220 Pounds
Date of Birth: 2008-05-31
Samu Alalauri has enjoyed a breakout season where his offensive production truly reached another level. Establishing himself as arguably the most steady and constant defenseman for Finland internationally—notably showcasing his talents at the Hlinka Gretzky Tournament and the U18 World Championships—Alalauri has carried that momentum directly into a dominant U20 regular-season campaign. Routinely eclipsing the 23-minute mark per night, he has anchored his team’s blue line in every critical game situation. His ability to absorb immense minutes while driving his team's transition game highlights his projection as a high-workload modern defenseman. Alalauri is committed to go to the University of Massachusetts in the NCAA next season. It will be interesting to see how he transitions to North American style of hockey and smaller rinks.
Alalauri possesses a rare combination of size, poise, and high-end puck-moving efficiency. His transition game is strong. He uses his smooth mobility and edge work to absorb forechecking pressure, drawing in opponents before slipping precise first passes to his forwards. He plays with an innate desire to heavily influence the game, actively seeking out space and utilizing constant deception to keep opposing defensive structures off-balance. While his aggressiveness and creative risk-taking can lead to occasional turnovers or defensive recovery scenarios against elite competition, his proactive approach forms a highly coveted baseline for NHL organizations.
Alalauri projects cleanly as a reliable, modern, top-four NHL defenseman who can operate as a steady complementary piece. While he may lack the elite, dynamic skating gear required to single-handedly quarterback a top-pair unit, his foundational toolkit of size, high hockey sense, high compete level, and fearless offensive involvement gives him a safe floor. He handles weaker junior competition with absolute authority, using his physical and technical tools to dictate the pace of play. As his lower-body strength matures and his defensive reads become more consistent, Alalauri has all the necessary markings of a versatile, minutes-eating two-way anchor.
Characteristics
Skating
Alalauri’s skating profile is built on a foundation of smooth mobility, excellent edge work, and fluid pivots. He excels at using his lateral agility to walk the blue line, shake off initial forechecking pressure, and skate his way out of trouble along the wall. However, he is not a dynamic, explosive straight-line skater, which can noticeably limit his recovery speed when turning to chase down counter-attacks. While his spatial awareness and long reach allow him to defend the neutral zone effectively, high-end professional attackers can occasionally exploit his lack of top-end linear gear if he overcommits. Continued development of his lower-body strength will be key to unlocking better explosiveness and sharpening his overall edge work through contact.
(#8 Blue)
When he gets his feet going, Alalauri with his big frame and confident puck control can be hard to stop. In this clip, he retrieves the loose puck in his zone and builds his speed by going around his net. He then carries the puck quite easily through the neutral zone and makes a smart trailer pass while creating space for his teammate to take a shot.
(#3 Blue)
His mobility makes him good at following players to keep them on the outside. This play is a good example of that where he controls his gap well defending the rush and pushes the puck carrier toward the wall also using his good stick.
(#56 Black)
Another example of how Alalauri likes to build his speed and beat the forechecking pressure by going around his net and then carries the puck to the offensive zone.
(#8 Blue)
His good mobility allows him to walk the blue line in the offensive zone to open shooting lanes. Here he does that and beats the first pressure but mishandles the puck and it goes the other way. His backward skating allows him to come back and defend the rush.
(#8 Blue)
Here again, Alalauri uses his mobility to carry the puck from end to end and gets an assist at the end of the play. Once he makes the pass, he continues to go toward the net to confuse the defense.
Grade: 52.5
Shot
Alalauri is highly effective at directing pucks toward the net from the point, focusing on generating low, intelligent shots designed for deflections and rebounds. He routinely looks for open lanes and activates down the wall or into the high slot to fire shots in stride. While he doesn't possess a naturally devastating, heavy slap shot from the blue line, his release is functional and accurate. A fascinating and unique aspect of his game is his complete fearlessness in the offensive zone. It is common to see him completely abandon the point to establish a net-front presence or attack the low crease to capitalize on dirty goals.
(#3 Finland)
Here, Alalauri activates from the blue line, receives the puck in movement and attacks the slot to take a great top corner shot.
(#56 Black)
A quick low shot release from the blue that ends up in the back of the net.
(#8 Blue)
In this clip, he receives the puck at the point, walks the blue line under pressure and waits to get a clear open shooting lane. This shot is not the hardest but he just makes sure that it hits the net.
(#8 Black)
He played a lot on the power play this season and he was mainly used on the half wall on his one-timer side.
(#3 Finland)
A great sequence here where he activates from the blue to pinch and extend offensive zone play, and later he receives the puck, walks the blue line and again finds the open lanes to take a shot toward the net that ends up a goal.
Grade: 55
Skills
Alalauri is a slightly above average skilled puck-mover who relies on high-level deception, soft hands, and a massive wingspan to drive possession. He challenges defenders directly before passing, sending precise stretch passes up the ice or executing quick, one-touch give-and-go plays out of pressure. He is comfortable carrying the puck, evading the forecheck, and making tough passes directly off the wall. At times, he can fall into the habit of holding onto the puck a fraction of a second too long as he attempts complex middle plays, leading to occasional execution errors. However, his ability to feather saucer passes or thread cross-ice pucks through heavy traffic gives him tangible offensive upside.
(#3 Finland)
This clip is a good example of how Alalauri can make nice deceptive passes in the offensive zone. He attacks the defender and fakes a shot before making a no look pass for the primary assist.
(#3 Finland)
He can also do great long stretch passes like this one here.
(#3 Finland)
On the defensive side, he uses his body effectively to win positioning or to protect the puck. That is what he does here. He wins the puck battle in the corner with his body and protects the puck along the board before making a play.
(#3 Finland)
Another example of his good playmaking ability as well in the offensive zone and it also shows his good awareness on the ice. He walks the line, looks for a shot but instead of taking a shot that would have been blocked, he makes a nice pass for a one-timer for another assist.
(#8 Blue)
His defensive play is also very mature. He uses his long reach well to remove space and disrupt plays and he is good at killing the cycling by pinning players on the board. That is exactly what is shown in this sequence.
Grade: 52.5
Smarts
Hockey IQ is a major driver of Alalauri’s overall effectiveness, though it remains a bit of a double-edged sword against top-tier competition. Offensively, his vision and spatial awareness are above average. He knows his next play before getting the puck, consistently finding open space and reading backdoor options perfectly. Defensively, he communicates exceptionally well, cuts passing lanes, and uses his massive range to defend odd-man rushes. However, against top-flight international formations, he can occasionally find himself a step behind the play, suffering from late reads or overcommitting on closeouts. His aggressive instinct to pinch and influence every facet of the game is projectable, but he will need to continue tightening his defensive habits.
(#3 Finland)
Here he smartly uses the net to evade the pressure which opens him space and allows him to make a good breakout.
(#8 Blue)
This is an example of him knowing what to do before receiving the puck. Here we see him taking his information before going behind the net and when he receives the puck under pressure, without looking he knows that a teammate is an option on his right side for the breakout. With poise, he makes the pass and takes the hit.
(#8 Black)
It is rare that Alalauri will precipitate a play. He will prefer to protect the puck and take an extra second to make the best play possible. Either it is to take a shot or make a cross-crease pass like this one.
(#3 Finland)
A good read here from Alalauri where he anticipates the pass in the neutral zone and jumps to finish his check. He kills the rush right there with his hit.
(#8 Blue)
Another example of smart patience from Alalauri. He carries the puck into the zone and instead of taking a low danger shot, he does a delay to allow his teammates to enter the zone and makes a nice one-timer pass for a primary assist.
Grade: 55
Physicality/Compete
Alalauri plays a sturdy, competitive game that relies heavily on his impressive 6’3” frame and long wingspan to terminate plays. He is tough in one-on-one battles, consistently using his stick-on-puck positioning to shadow his man and intercept passes in the defensive zone. He fights hard on the backwall and is entirely willing to land big hits along the boards to separate opponents from the puck or catch rimmed passes. While he occasionally suffers from a lack of raw, lower-body mass—sometimes bouncing off opponents when attempting heavy hits—his overall competitive motor and physical willingness provide a very solid, robust foundation for an NHL projection.
(#56 Blue)
This is an example of how hard he plays along the boards and it makes it hard to win the middle of the ice against him.
(#3 Finland)
A great timed open ice hit from Alalauri here.
(#8 Black)
Here he makes a well timed pinch to give no chance of a clean breakout.
(#56 Blue)
In this sequence, Alalauri closes the space nicely with his stick, his body positioning and he finishes his check at the end of the play.
(#3 Finland)
Alalauri is good at closing the blue either with his stick or his body like we see here with a good check.
Grade: 57.5
OFP: 54.375
A note on the 20-80 scale used above. We look at five attributes (skating, shooting, puck skills, hockey IQ and physicality) for skaters and six for goalies (athleticism/quickness, compete/temperament, vision/play reading, technique/style, rebound control and puck handling). Each individual attribute is graded along the 20-80 scales, which includes half-grades. The idea is that a projection of 50 in a given attribute meant that our observer believed that the player could get to roughly NHL average at that attribute at maturity.