Oilers new goalie Eemil Vinni underwent surgery before 2024 draft

When the Edmonton Oilers held their annual development camp earlier this month, all of their 2024 draft picks were in attendance with the exception of second round selection Eemil Vinni. This was noticeable given his standing as the top eligible European goalie for this year's draft, while also having arguably the highest ceiling among all drafted goaltenders.

However, the reason for Vinni's absence was due to him undergoing back surgery ahead of the draft in Las Vegas. This was announced by Kevin Woodley of In Goal Magazine, during an appearance on The Jason Gregor Show on Sports 1440 Edmonton.

Apart from advising of the surgery, Woodley also noted how this impacted opinion of Vinni, albeit ultimately not too much. He said: "My understanding is he had back surgery right before the draft. Some teams were concerned about it and had questions, but they still said they would have taken the risk and drafted him."

Certainly you can appreciate why teams would have been conflicted about whether or not to draft the 18-year-old. Effectively it was about finding the balance between intriguing potential and the possible impact of such crucial surgery for a goaltender.

This confliction was evident also more general speaking, given Vinni's various pre-draft rankings on a whole plethora of scouting reports. As per Oilers Nation, this included being ranked 56th by Elite Prospects, 74th and 93rd by TSN's Bob McKenzie and Craig Button respectively, as well as 111th by Draft Prospects Hockey.

Vinni undoubtedly has a lot of attributes you look for in a goalie, with the combination of his size, fearlessness, proactive mindset, and excellent puck-handling. And yet there is a very real sense that he's a rough diamond who -- at least statistically speaking -- has struggled to put it all together on a consistent enough basis.

In fairness though, in the overall picture the pros do outweigh the cons when it comes to the Vantaa, Finland native. There will understandably be some who consider him too much of a risk to take with a second round pick, but from our perspective he is well worth the gamble, especially as any development should in part occur naturally just through maturity.

That Vinni already has so much experience at various levels internationally, is also telling in how he's perceived among those who matter. Overall, pending his full recovery from the back surgery, there's a lot for Oilers fans to be excited about when it comes to the organisation's new goalie prospect.

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