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Stock Watch Finland: Petteri Rimpinen isn't going to be passed over again

NHL Prospect Report

The final stretch of the regular season is nearing in almost every level of Finnish hockey. All Liiga teams have fewer than 15 games left before the start of the playoffs, with the race for the regular-season champion going strong between Lukko, Ilves, and SaiPa. Meanwhile, powerhouses like Tappara and Kärpät are both currently comfortably outside the top four.

The overall tone of this edition of the Finnish Stock Watch is a sombre one. It’s affected by the lack of exciting draft-eligible talent, with many of the top names having trended down over the past few months. The same couple of drafted prospects continue to do well in Liiga, but they aren’t being challenged by new competitors.

Let’s start with a player who has raised their stock the most over the past month and a half.

Stock Rising 📈

Petteri Rimpinen, G, Kiekko-Espoo (2025 NHL Draft, re-entry)

The past month and a half has made sure that Petteri Rimpinen isn't going to go undrafted twice. He had already put his name on the radar through his Liiga play, but a fantastic effort at the World Juniors sealed the deal.

Rimpinen was named the top netminder of the tournament and—in my mind—was also the most valuable player to their team in the entire event. He played all seven games, maintaining a .933 save percentage while playing behind a team that struggled defensively, even against weaker opponents.

Since returning from the World Juniors, Rimpinen hasn't quite been on top of his game, posting a .893 save percentage over five games, four of which have ended in Kiekko-Espoo's defeat. When looking at the entire Liiga season, though, Rimpinen still has the best save percentage among all goalies with at least 20 games played. His six-foot frame might still be a major issue for some NHL teams, but his performance track record is now so strong that he might end up going relatively early. As we know, in the draft, it only takes one team to truly fall in love with a player.

Jesse Kiiskinen, RW, HPK (Detroit Red Wings)

Jesse Kiiskinen's first few games at the World Juniors were disappointing, but he turned things around in a significant way midway through the tournament. He ended up being Finland's top scorer at the event, recording six goals and seven points in seven games. Based on my tracking data, he was also among Finland's top overall performers in the last four games of the tournament.

The momentum he gained has carried into Kiiskinen's Liiga play as well. In January’s eight games with HPK, the 6-foot-1 winger was held pointless just once, tallying 12 points in total and recording two or more points in half of his appearances. He’s now up to 34 points in 34 games, leading his team by a six-point margin.

Scoring at a point-per-game pace is a very impressive for a U20 skater in Liiga. Actually, over the past ten years, only Sebastian Aho has managed to maintain such a pace over the course of an entire season. Drop the bar to 0.9 points-per-game, and there are still only four names with Kiiskinen excluded. At this point, AHL seems like his most likely destination for next season.

Atro Leppänen, D, Sport (Free agent)

Atro Leppänen is putting together a campaign for the ages, currently on pace to record the most points in a regular season by a defenceman in Liiga’s history. January was another stellar month for the 26-year-old Leppänen, who added five goals and 16 points in 10 games, leading the entire league among blueliners. The highlight of the month was his six-point effort against KooKoo on the 18th, breaking the single-game point record by a defenceman in the process.

Leppänen’s story is incredibly unique. At 20, he was still playing with a small club at the fourth-highest level of men’s hockey, then spending four seasons slowly improving in Mestis before having a big breakout season with Sport last year, making his national team debut in the process. Now, he’s taken another big step to become the best player in Liiga. It begs the question: how much more does he have in the tank?

This kind of profile will undoubtedly create NHL interest, but there are some caveats. With Sport, Leppänen has the freedom to play his brand of hyperactive, offensive hockey. Putting him into a third-pairing role in the NHL wouldn’t work and would simply be a waste of his talents. To succeed, he’d need to be placed in an offensive top-four role and given a lot of rope by the coaching staff, which might not be in the cards for a 26-year-old free agent from Europe. Even if he doesn’t end up signing an NHL deal in the summer, his special season still deserves a shoutout here. At this pace, he just might end up being Liiga’s leading scorer among defencemen.

Honourable mentions: Santeri Huovila (2025 NHL Draft, re-entry), Samu Alalauri (2026 NHL Draft)

Stock Steady ↔️

Lenni Hämeenaho, RW, Ässät (New Jersey Devils)

Death, taxes, and Lenni Hämeenaho having another productive month of Liiga play. 

In January, the Ässät star added three goals and nine points in 10 games, bringing him to a total of 37 points in 44 games. That 0.84 points-per-game average would put him in the top 10 when looking at the most productive seasons by a U21 skater over the past five years.

In addition to maintaining his production, Hämeenaho has shown slight improvement in terms of his all-around game compared to the first months of the season. That being said, questions about his skating and overall mechanical proficiency will remain until he can prove that he can work around them on North American ice. Expect him to sign his ELC after the season is finished.

Stock Falling 📉

Lasse Boelius, D, Ässät U20 (2025 NHL Draft)

Lasse Boelius has been the top Finnish prospect in the 2025 class since the start of the year, and he still might be. That has more to do with how weak the rest of the class looks than with Boelius' own play, however. While he's gotten some minutes in Liiga across the season, his play at the U20 level has left to be desired. Having 12 points in 27 games is a woefully low total at that level for a player with his level of physical tools.

From my game report on his performance with the U20 team on January 11th:

For a game where Boelius played top-pairing minutes, he didn't accomplish all too much. He still utilized his skating to circle around the perimeter in the offensive end, working hand-offs along the wall but never attempting to push to the inside, even when he had clear opportunities to do so. He's leaving a ton of value on the table, given how clear the skating advantage is at this level. While allowing a bit too much space off the rush, he's centered and got his stick in the way of shots multiple times. 

The sense issues are reflected in his defensive and transition play, too, however. He passes to crowded teammates, turns the puck over in unfortunate positions (one bad pass resulted in a high-danger chance against), misses passing windows. He occasionally wows you with a firm tape-to-tape stretch pass, but his all-around 5v5 transition success rate was comfortably below 50-percent in this one. 

Jan Chovan, C/W, Tappara U20 (2025 NHL Draft)

Alongside Boelius, Jan Chovan has been one of the few Finland-based draft-eligible getting legitimate NHL interest this season. He is NHL Central Scouting's 12th-ranked European skater and was ranked 75th on Bob McKenzie's recent mid-season board. Chovan also made Slovakia's World Juniors team and didn't look out of place there, either.

In league play, though, Chovan hasn't impressed me at any point this season. He flashes the ability to get open in the slot at the right time and occasionally throws a clever setup feed, but he's not been a play-driver for Tappara's U20 team. The skating projection also remains as a below-average on NHL standards. Chovan's production hasn't taken much of a jump from last season, either, with his points-per-game average having moved from 0.43 to 0.55. 

There's still the possibility of a big breakout later on in the season, but players with his levels of output at the U20 level aren't usually considered legitimate prospects.

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