The Preseason is the chance for prospects to show the team where they need to end up for the season for their best development. Vegas Golden Knights first-rounder, Juho Piiparinen, had just over 4 minutes of ice time in Liiga. That was his ice time in Tappara’s season opener. It was also his last Liiga game. Vegas player development head Wil Nichol said before the season that the London Knights would be waiting if the minutes in Tampere were not right. Vegas did not seem to be joking about that. Piiparinen went to Vegas camp on Sept. 14 and was assigned to London of the Ontario Hockey League 10 days later.
Minutes can often do more sorting than points in September. Eleven prospects have made the watchlist since July, and the first month of the 17-team Liiga superseason moved several of them up or down a depth chart, now that proper play has begun for most Liiga teams. As with the past months (and honestly year,) Tappara’s prospect pipeline is on full display with this list.
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Benjamin Rautiainen, LW, 6-0, Tampa Bay Lightning (108th overall in 2025)
Tappara: 1G, 0A, 1GP (2026-27)
Tampa Bay loaned Rautiainen back to Tappara on Sept. 28 when it set its opening roster. I would say he just missed the NHL team press box, but time on ice will be better than him just riding the NHL pine.
In the preseason finale in Sunrise on Sept. 26, he tied the game on the power play with about seven minutes left, finishing a cross-ice pass from Gage Goncalves in front of the net. He also scored the shootout winner after a camp-high 18 minutes of ice time. He spent most of Tampa Bay camp on a line with Conor Geekie and Sam O’Reilly. O’Reilly went to AHL, Syracuse Crunch on Sunday. Rautiainen lasted one day, giving Fantasy Managers hope he might stay as a NHL, before being sent back to Finland.
Honestly, Tappara needs him. The defending champion sits 12th out of 17, and its attack has run thin since loosing one of their leading goal scorers. In his only game before camp, he scored on the power play from the first line in a 4-2 loss at SaiPa.
In Tampa Bay, the top two lines are set around Nikita Kucherov. A depth job there would have spent his first NHL season retrieving pucks for other people. Back in Tampere, he get more of the creator’s role that produced 77 points last season (the most in the Liiga). That will be the better winter for him. For his style comp it is Teuvo Teräväinen.
Tampa Bay looks again next fall. A big Liiga season in the meantime only raises his stock. Buy him if other managers read this loan as bad news.
Oliver Suvanto, C, 6-3, Washington Capitals (18th overall in 2026)
Tappara: 1G, 3A, 7GP (2026-27)
Another prospect out of Tappara, at 18, Suvanto is already the most creative center on Tappara’s roster. He centers the team’s liveliest line with two small, skilled veterans on his wings (Henrik Haapala and Kasper Simontaival). He has earned the spot.
He tries high-risk passes and carries the puck with confidence. His frame really helps his game as well. At 6-3 he wins battles on the wall and goes to the front of the net without hesitating. He is reliable in his own end and competitive on faceoffs (Otto Rauhala and Aapeli Räsänen take more of them, but his percentages are competitive.)
A four-point start in seven games looks ordinary for his performance so far. But the ice time matters more. He spent two mid-month games on the fourth line and has been back up since Sept. 19. The development path resembles Anton Lundell’s at HIFK (with the disclaimer that Lundell went 12th overall and made Florida’s roster the season after his last Liiga year, a faster track than anyone should assume for other players.)
Roster him in every dynasty format. His totals will follow the role, and a bigger share of the power play is the next indicator for his growth.
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Petteri Rimpinen, G, 6-0, Los Angeles Kings (152nd overall in 2025)
Kiekko-Espoo: 4-0-1, .942 SV%, 1.19 GAA (2026-27)
Rimpinen has not lost in regulation. He has started five of Kiekko-Espoo’s eight games, and the best of them was a 1-0 overtime shutout against Sport on Sept. 23. He is doing it while completing his military service (required for Finnish men).
The team in front of him defends well and scores very little. Kiekko-Espoo has scored more than once in three of the teams eight games, and it lost all three games Rimpinen did not start, each by one goal. The club has 13 points. Twelve of them came in his starts. He is carrying Kiekko-Espoo, and in NHL terms he is the 1A in a tandem.
For deep dynasty leagues with goalie slots: hold him and move him up your goalie prospect rankings. The split workload keeps performing totals down.
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Aatos Koivu, C/RW, 6-1, Montreal Canadiens (70th overall in 2024)
TPS: 1G, 1A, 8GP (2026-27)
Koivu has played every TPS game on the third line, on the right wing, and I believe the peak of his season sits one line above him. TPS runs its offense through Lukas Haudum, Lukas Wernblom and Lars Bryggman, and the same three carry the power play. When Bryggman missed the Sept. 25 game, the top-line spot went to Sisu Yliniemi. Koivu stayed put in his place on the roster.
No forward on this watchlist shoots more. He has 18 shots on goal in eight games, and his goal came on the power play. The minutes are the limit, at about 12 a night.
His assist was the breakout pass to the wall that started linemate Jeremi Virtanen‘s first Liiga goal, against Tappara on Sept. 17. Virtanen then earned the promotion (a night on the second line and the second power play unit in the Sept. 25 win over Jokerit). Captain Niklas Friman is out for months. That should open middle-six minutes. For now, Koivu is a third-line shooter, and TPS gives its power play to one trio.
The only thing capping Koivu’s value is the TPS top line. Dynasty managers can afford patience here. The shots will make the case, for holding him.
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Emil Kuusla, LW, 5-9, undrafted, 21
Jokerit: 1G, 5A, 6GP (2026-27)
Kuusla leads Jokerit in scoring on a team that has won once in eight games. He is one prospect I am very excited for as a Jokerit fan. He moved onto the first line on Sept. 9 alongside Henri Nikkanen and Antti Kalapudas (both SaiPa teammates last season), and five of his six points are assists. Passing is the calling card.
He logged more than 20 minutes on that line against Pelicans on Sept. 22 and has been listed injured for both games since. No timeline has been announced. The production has a track record: 27 points in 48 games as a Liiga rookie at SaiPa last season.
The bench changed on Sept. 27. Jokerit fired Tomek Valtonen, and Juuso Hahl takes over on a one-year deal with an option (he joined the staff this summer after coaching Vaasan Sport). For an undrafted Finn, the North American route runs the way Joel Kiviranta’s did: an NHL contract earned in the Liiga. Kiviranta signed with Dallas out of Vaasan Sport as a physical depth winger. Kuusla would have to get there as a passer.
Add him now? Only in leagues deep enough to roster undrafted Liiga forwards, and only once he is back in the lineup. If his performance keeps up he tracks to be a sleeper like Arttu Hyry.
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The Rest Of The Players Are Waiting on Minutes
Aron Kiviharju (Minnesota Wild) opened the season on HIFK’s top pair and averaged a little over 20 minutes in two games. An injury took him out before the Sept. 9 game at Jukurit. HIFK has not disclosed the injury and expects him back in October. Hold him.
Lasse Boelius (Anaheim Ducks) has not played a Liiga game this season. He has been on Ässät’s injured list since before the opener, listed as out indefinitely. Nothing to do until he skates. Drop him if you need to clear a minor spot.
Kim Saarinen (Seattle Kraken) has a .902 save percentage over six appearances, and the number is harsher than his play. HPK spends long stretches pinned in its own end and loses the shot battle even with its top line on the ice. He stole a 3-1 win over TPS on Sept. 19 on a night HPK was outplayed. Last season he posted a .916 in the regular season and a .944 in nine playoff games. Seattle has held his rights since 2024, and a move to North America next summer is the logical step. Keep him rostered.
Veeti Väisänen (Utah Mammoth) has two games as JYP’s seventh defenseman, at about nine minutes a night. JYP is 6-0. Its blue line has thinned. Roni Jokinen left the Sept. 25 game at HIFK injured, and Sami Vatanen has already missed a game this month. JYP visits HPK on Oct. 2, and that lineup is his next checkpoint.
Anttoni Uronen (Columbus Blue Jackets) has centered HIFK’s fourth line in seven of eight games at about 11 minutes a night and is still looking for his first point. HIFK is shopping for two centers after Jori Lehterä’s retirement, and each signing pushes him further down the lineup. Playing every night at 18 is the development win. Monitor him.
Vertti Svensk (Los Angeles Kings) is SaiPa’s seventh or eighth defenseman at a little over seven minutes a night. SaiPa has allowed eight goals in seven games. No Liiga club has started that stingily in more than 20 years. That explains the short leash. His skating moves the puck up ice, and his shot needs to come out more often. Stash him only where prospect benches run deep.
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Liiga 2026 Season Watchlist
This list maintains the prospects covered in the Dobber Prospects monthly Liiga updates. Player ranks are based on fantasy upside and updated with every new article. Contract status and NHL team situation are considered.
- Suvanto
- Rautiainen
- Rimpinen
- Kiviharju
- Koivu
- Saarinen
- Boelius
- Uronen
- Kuusla
- Väisänen
- Svensk
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The 2027 Pool Is Already in Liiga Lineups
Virtanen is the best re-entry case in the league (a passed-over player who can be drafted again). He went undrafted in June in his first year of eligibility (he was born in September 2007). Since then he has scored in the Liiga and taken TPS’s breakthrough helmet (it goes to the club’s top scorer under 20). He calls himself a mobile, physical forward, and his target this winter is Finland’s World Junior team. Put him on your 2027 list now.
Three 2027-eligible teenagers have also dressed. Samuel Heikkinen (KooKoo, born January 2009) is a second-generation goalie who made his debut at Kiekko-Espoo on Sept. 9 and stopped 24 of 30 shots. He has not started since, for a KooKoo team with one point from eight games. Lenni Kokkonen (Kärpät, born March 2009) played eight minutes on the third defense pair on Sept. 26. Rasmus Miilunpohja (KalPa, born December 2008) has dressed twice as the extra forward without taking a shift. He is the most complete of the three: a center who has grown stronger on the walls and smarter away from the puck. Stick defending is the piece still missing.
HIFK even found ice for a 2028 name. Frans Karjalahti played under four minutes as the 13th forward on Sept. 9. He is 16. None of these teenagers belongs on a fantasy roster yet.
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Final Thoughts
Piiparinen will not be the only Finn in the OHL London Knights Roster. Luca Santala (a big forward eligible for the 2027 draft) plays there too. His game has grown around his reach and his net-front work, and skating power is still the gap. Piiparinen’s pre-draft development list included winning battles on a smaller rink. London will test exactly that.
One name sits just outside this month’s entries. Jakub Floris (Nashville Predators) is a Slovakian defenseman the Predators took 106th overall in June, and he has yet to play for Lukko. He is an active two-way defenseman who wins zones with the puck and plays tight gaps, and speed and physical edge are his work areas. Lukko is winning without him. Leave him on the wire for now.
If you need a player to watch in October I can recommend Kiviharju. In the super season I think a HIFK team sitting at 15th in a season where the bottom three are relegated will hand him the power play the night he is healthy and ready to play.
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I am on X at @epps_andrew all season. The longer Finnish reads are on my Substack, Lone Star to Leijonat.
Andrew Epps