Samu Salminen (★★★★¼), who was supposed to play at Denver this upcoming season, was released from his NLI and has committed to UConn. Salminen had issues gaining admission to Denver.
This isn’t the first time an international student has had problems with the admissions process at a U.S. university. In fact, it’s not even the first time UConn has been able to swoop in and pick up a player who had an admissions problem elsewhere.
Back in 2015, Russian forward Max Letunov had problems with admissions at Boston University and UConn was able to come in and commit the second-round pick.
While we’re not sure of the specifics of Salminen’s case, oftentimes these issues for international students do not have to do with grades but have to do with high school transcripts and what classes the university will accept for admission.
That was the issue with Letunov back in 2015.
Salminen was drafted in the third round of the 2021 NHL Draft by New Jersey. He played 44 games for Jokerit U20 last season and finished with 26 points (10g, 16a). In 2020-21 he suited up for Finland’s U18 team and had nine points (7g, 2a) in seven games.
“Salminen is the captain of this Finnish team and is a hard-working, skilled offensive player,” NZ scouts said at the 2021 U18 Worlds. “He registered a goal and an assist in this game for his team, with the goal coming at a crucial moment to tie the game late in the third period. His goal came on the powerplay where Salminen did good work for his team throughout the night. On the play, he carried the puck into the zone, set up the offence and planted himself in front. Seeing an opportunity, Salminen moved to the top of the circle and made himself an option for a seam pass, before firing a hard one-timer past the goalie. He did some of his best work in front of the net, fighting for rebounds and making life difficult for the Czech netminder. In the offensive zone, he forechecked hard and consistently won battles for his team. He is a detailed, hard-working player that led his team by example.”
