National champion steadily progressing up the ranks
The 2025 version of our Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25 countdown list rolls on with a look at the newest national champion in the Penguins’ organization, defenseman Joona Vaisanen.
Catch up on the previous entries for this year:
Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: Graduates and Departed players in 2025
Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest
No. 25: Quinn Beauchense
No. 24: Cruz Lucius
No. 23: Travis Hayes
No. 22: Brady Peddle
No. 21: Finn Harding
No. 20: Sam Poulin
#19: Joona Vaisanen, RHD
2024 Ranking: 18th
Age: 21 (July 29, 2004)
Acquired Via: 2024 NHL Draft (Round 6, Pick 175)
Height/Weight: 6-foot-0, 176 pounds
Vaisanen is another of the Penguins’ recent overage drafted players who got skipped over once in a draft but are blooming late. Pittsburgh saw enough to invest in Vaisanen after his 2023-24 season in the USHL and have to be thrilled how he followed that up in 2024-25 moving up the ranks to the NCAA and playing a big role while winning the national championship at Western Michigan. In this player profile, Jason Spezza talked about just what the Pens saw in Vaisanen:
For the Pens, it was all about his hockey IQ.
“It’s something that I value and we value as an organization at a very high level,” assistant general manager Jason Spezza said ahead of the Frozen Four. “(With Vaisanen), it was having lots of volume and trusting that over time we’ve watched him enough that we’re confident in our evaluation of him and that we feel he’s going to get better as he continues to climb. And he’s showing that this year just because of the intelligence of his game. He looks to the middle of the ice. He seems to know when to cut his losses and make a safe play and when he has to try to create. I think he had a lot of signal towards him in terms of hockey sense … and that’s why we picked him.”
But there were other, quieter draws too.
Spezza calls him a “sneaky-competitive player.”
“It’s probably not a word you’d use by just watching him but it was one of the big draws to us as a prospect is just how competitive he is, and he pays attention to the details and I think that’s why he has done well in both (Dubuque and Kalamazoo),” Spezza said.
Vaisanen competed his way to a top-pair role playing 20 minutes per game with WMU, and scored a huge OT goal.
As a result of that experience (and at almost 21 during prospect camp having been one of the older players around), Vaisanen was named a team captain of one of the three camp teams.
Pittsburgh’s director of player development Tom Kostopoulos gave some nice praise after Vaisanen came through again with the championship, albeit on a small stage of a summer development camp.
“I think we all know and expected a lot, and he didn’t disappoint. I thought he looked really good out there and captained his team to the win, so it was good.”
Next up for Vaisanen in 2025-26 is another year of college. It will be difficult to top the team success found last year, but Vaisanen should be able individually to keep growing and adding on more experience as he continues his journey in college.
As he told the Trib:
“I’m just trying to get stronger and add some weight,” Vaisanen said. “I think it’s going to be a big part of my game, getting out of those corners and winning more puck battles.”
Vaisanen could use the strength, he’s going to have to be solid defensively to make waves as he continues to climb the ranks. He’s not big or overly physical, he doesn’t have the best hands or puck skills but he’s no slouch in any of those departments either. Just a dependable, all-around solid player that has a knack for being a piece of helping teams get better.
“Every year I feel like I take a step forward,” Vaisanen said. “Right now I’m just trying to take one year at a time and see where that takes me.”
So far that’s been from undrafted at 18 years old, to hearing his name at 19 and becoming a key member of a national champion at 20. The Pens and WMU will be excited to see what comes next at 21 in the upcoming year.