Malinen was playing on the third defensive pairing in his U20 league debut against Ilves. He logged over 15 minutes of ice time despite not being used on either special team.

As the youngest player on JYP’s roster, Malinen showcased excellent skating ability. He was able to beat opposing forecheckers with speed multiple times and also keep up with Ilves’ best forwards skating-wise. Malinen was confident with the puck and didn’t hesitate to try to make plays on the breakout. He can sometimes keep the puck for too long when there is a good simple option available.

Malinen utilized his mobility and an active stick in defending effectively against the rush. In the defensive zone, I thought that he did alright considering his age and experience at this level, but he is clearly an offensively-minded player. He did go to change once at a very bad time with his defensive partner and it allowed Ilves to score their lone goal of the game from a breakaway.

After spending the regular season with the U18 team, Malinen was back playing with the U16 squad for JYP’s first playoff game. Playing on the top defensive pairing and power play unit, he scored a highlight reel coast-to-coast power play goal in the second period and added a pair of primary assists in the third.

Malinen is a very good skater for his age. His acceleration, agility, and speed get all very good grades. He also has excellent puck skills for a defenceman and he did not hesitate to use them in this game. Combining his skating and hands, Malinen can beat the opposing forecheckers in multiple ways. He also made a couple of excellent outlet passes and was overall very good at opening the play from his own zone. Malinen has good gap control and he is hard to beat in 1 on 1 situations. At the U18 level, he has looked defensively a bit shaky at times but in this game, he was very dominant all-around. Malinen is certainly one of the better defencemen in his age group.

Malinen played in JYP’s third defensive pairing and received a lot of ice time on the power play. Malinen is clearly an offensive-minded defenceman, who likes to join the rush and play like a fourth forward. In this game, he was able to create a couple of nice scoring chances by leading the attack, but his offensive playstyle also backfired in a few occasions. Malinen has good hands and he did quarterback the power play pretty effectively.

Malinen played with a lot of confidence. He made a couple of nice zone exits with passes, but also by carrying the puck himself. Despite him being the youngest defenceman on the ice, he looked pretty decent defensively by controlling the gap effectively with his stick. He even made a couple of really nice hits and looked physically ready to play at the U18 level.

He needs to tone down his eagerness with the puck a bit and improve at deciding when to jump on the attack, but overall I came away from the game impressed with his offensive capabilities.