Being the only Japanese player in the 53rd SMJHL Draft, Ryosuke Sato wasn’t certain if he could make it in the big leagues. The 5 foot 7, 150 pound defenseman from Saitama, Japan played a prominent role on his triple-A junior hockey team, the Saitama Warriors. On the team, Sato was able to put up solid numbers as a defenseman with 5 goals, 14 assists, totaling for 19 points in 25 games played. The coach often trusted him playing shutdown minutes and saw his offensive potential, putting him on the team’s second power play unit. His strong play even found him a spot on the Japanese U18 national hockey team where in 5 games he notched 1 goal and 4 assists. Most notably, scouts were quick to notice his strong work ethic during their short stints in Japan while scouting.


Just days before the draft, GMs began calling in and asking about Sato’s thoughts on coming over to the SHL and playing for their respective teams. From an interview with Ryosuke Sato after the draft, 

“It was a really big shock to me to hear that teams from the SHL were interested in drafting me. Of course it has always been my dream since I was a kid to play in the SHL, and to see actual GMs reaching out to contact me, I was in disbelief.”

The young defenseman piqued the interest of big teams such as the Season 52 Four Star Cup Champions, the Anaheim Outlaws, and the Season 51 Four Star Cup Champions, the Anchorage Armada. However, Ryosuke Sato’s draft value remained low as shown in most mock drafts where Sato couldn’t even crack the top 20. It seemed like most teams were looking at Sato as a later round draft pick. Heading into the draft, his size and his strength may have been a factor into this and his below average offensive abilities weren’t helping either. More from the interview with Sato after the draft,

“Coming into the draft I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be drafted too high. I put in the hard work into training and becoming better, but so were the other players as well. The guys I have around me are definitely strong competitors and I don’t expect any less from them. That’s why it surprised me when I heard my name called up so early. I truly didn’t expect it but I am grateful for the Vancouver Whalers for taking a chance on me.”

After the draft, while some analysts commended the Vancouver Whalers for picking up Ryosuke Sato to help in the backend, others described the pick as a risk since he was expected to fall out of the second round. Analysts were quick to point out the other options they believed were better and questioned if this was the best use of the Whaler’s second round pick. When asking Sato about what he thought of the comments,

“To be honest, I was just shocked as they were. I know I was supposed to fall beyond the second round; however I want to let them know that they shouldn’t doubt me. I believe I have the intensity and the drive to make it big in this league and hopefully I’d be able to show that in these coming seasons playing for the Vancouver Whalers.”

Ryosuke Sato can definitely be a serviceable player but is he good enough to justify being drafted 16th overall in the 2nd round? The Vancouver Whalers expect Sato to be playing big minutes for them and really hope he turns out to be a steal at 16th. We will certainly have to wait and see how everything pans out for Ryosuke Sato and the Vancouver Whalers in this coming season.