Soo Import Draft defenceman Arttu Karki earns this week's player spotlight, after potting two goals to help lift the Greyhounds over the Firebirds by a score of 6-5. Karki has been scoring goals at a phenomenal rate from the back-end.
Arttu Karki is second overall in goals in the entire league, and he's a defenceman.
This isn't something that is said often for a blue-liner, especially for a player that is just getting his feet wet in the North-American style game. Karki has 12 goals through 14 games with the Soo, and has played a huge part in their early success offensively.
The 6-foot-2 defender is a 3rd round NHL Draft pick by the Vegas Golden Knights, and now North America is getting a taste of his game. Karki's offensive upside at the pro-level is incredibly high, especially with this hot start.
Last season, Karki played in the U20 SM-sarja league in Finland last season, where he put up 39 points in 36 games. Even then, he wasn't putting up the goal pace that he is in the OHL. Karki brings experience from playing with older players in Finland, and his dynamic offensive ability has clearly translated to the OHL thus far.
A lot of Karki's goals are coming from the same area; the right circle. He has a unique perception of the offensive zone, and he plays low in the zone for long periods of time. Karki will float around the circle until he is able to slide into open space and power home a one-timer. He has been repeating this strategy and has scored a lot of his goals this way.
Karki has been a huge asset on the Soo's power play along with other Import Draft defender, Kirill Kudryavtsev. They both play on the first unit, Karki plays the right circle, while Kudryavtsev plays quarterback from the point. The Soo have the third-best power play in the OHL, and it is largely due to Karki's production on the man-advantage. Eight of Karki's twelve goals have come on the power play, which leads all players in the league.
Karki has taken the OHL by storm with his ability to put the puck in the net. He has been scoring at a .85 goal per-game pace, which is extremely high for a defender. Last season, Logan Mailloux lead the OHL in goals by a defenceman with 25. Karki is currently on pace for 57, which doubles that total. The most by an OHL defender ever was 49 goals by John Johnson in 1991-1992.
Karki has the potential to have a historic season from the Greyhounds blue-line with his current goal-scoring pace. Only time will tell if he is able to keep this up, but nonetheless the Greyhounds are looking very dangerous on the back-end.