The Hockey season is in full swing in the month of October, we are starting to get our first decent amount of sample data from the Liiga season and also preliminary 2027 draft lists start popping up from scouting groups. I think fantasy GMs can start to get a clear picture of the players coming out of the Finnish league so let’s take a look at this past October.

The Leijonat (Finland’s men’s national team) named two goalies from my monthly watch list to its roster for the Euro Hockey Tour event in Helsinki from Nov. 5 to 8. Both have been league-average goalies this season.

Petteri Rimpinen (Los Angeles Kings) has a .899 save percentage, and Kim Saarinen (Seattle Kraken) has a .901. The Liiga as a whole sits at .900. The third spot went to SaiPa’s Kari Piiroinen. He is 25 and has a .922. The 20-year-old with the third-best save percentage in the Liiga (among goalies with 10 or more games) was left off. He leads this month’s entries.

Every club has now played at least 16 of its 64 games, which is enough of a sample to re-sort the watch list below. Thirteen prospects have made it since July. Two are new this month, and four others moved three spots or more.

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Daniel Salonen, G, 6-3, Edmonton Oilers (191st overall in 2025)

Lukko: 10-3-1, .928 SV%, 1.64 GAA (2026-27)

Salonen has started 14 of Lukko’s 19 games, and Lukko leads the Liiga with 40 points. His .928 save percentage ranks third among the 16 goalies with at least 10 games. Those are a starter’s numbers.

He took the job from Antti Raanta, and Raanta doubles as the comparison. Raanta also came through Lukko’s junior program. He went undrafted and still played 277 NHL games. Salonen already has the draft slot Raanta never got.

Last season, his save percentage was .887 in 30 games, and 14 starts make a short sample. Of the three goalies on this list, he is the only one whose number went up.

In 16-team dynasty leagues and deeper, add him now. That .887 has kept his price low, and a sixth-round goalie starting for the first-place team will not stay cheap for long.

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Benjamin Rautiainen, LW, 6-0, Tampa Bay Lightning (108th overall in 2025)

Tappara: 2G, 3A, 10GP (2026-27)

Rautiainen has 50 shots on goal in 10 games, and only five Liiga forwards with a 10-game sample shoot more often. Two of his shots have gone in.

Last season he scored on 11 percent of his shots. His 25 goals and 77 points in 59 games won the scoring title and the league’s most valuable player award. The Liiga’s expected-goals model gives him about three and a half goals this time around, so most of the gap is luck.

Every game he has played has come on Tappara’s first line, at 20 minutes a night, and Finland picked him for its national team for the first time. Then he missed Tappara’s games on Oct. 28 and Oct. 30, and no reason has been made public.

If he plays after the national team break, trade for him while his goal total still looks ordinary. If Tappara attaches a timeline to the absence, wait for his return before paying anything.

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Oliver Suvanto, C, 6-3, Washington Capitals (18th overall in 2026)

Tappara: 3G, 10A, 18GP (2026-27)

Suvanto leads the Liiga at plus-13, and no player under 20 has more than his 13 points. He is 18. Both numbers would look good on a veteran.

Injuries moved him up. With Rautiainen, Aapeli Räsänen and Joachim Blichfeld out, Tappara put him between Henrik Haapala and Kasper Simontaival on its top line on Oct. 28 and again on Oct. 30. Four of his 10 assists have set up Simontaival, two of them on the power play.

He shoots less than the typical Liiga forward, so his production runs through his passing. In leagues that count shots, that is the soft spot.

Hold him. The top-line role is borrowed until Tappara gets healthy, and a second-line center with this start still tops this list.

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Aron Kiviharju, D, 5-10, Minnesota Wild (122nd overall in 2024)

HIFK: 0G, 8A, 12GP (2026-27)

Kiviharju returned on Oct. 3 after missing six games and set up two goals in a 3-2 overtime win at Vaasan Sport. In the 10 games since he came back, he has seven assists, including two more in a 3-0 win at Kiekko-Espoo on Oct. 23.

No HIFK defenseman plays more. His 20:46 a night ranks 14th among the Liiga’s 121 regular defensemen, and he has played on the second pair since Oct. 20. At 20, he is carrying a top-pair workload.

HIFK fired head coach Olli Jokinen on Oct. 21 and gave the job to Tommi Miettinen through the end of the season. Kiviharju’s role has not changed under Miettinen.

Two of his eight assists came with the man advantage (the latest on Oct. 30), and he is shooting about twice a game. His price stays low until the power-play points become a habit. Stash him in deep leagues, and do not sell where he is already rostered.

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Jeremi Virtanen, LW, 5-11, 2027 draft eligible

TPS: 5G, 2A, 19GP (2026-27)

Virtanen went undrafted in June (his first year of eligibility), and five goals in 19 games are making that call look rushed. He scored in three straight games from Oct. 16 to Oct. 20, and TPS won all three.

Among the Liiga’s teenagers, nobody has more shots on goal, and he averages about three a game, well above the median Liiga forward (about two). By expected goals, he should have close to four, so the chances back up the scoring.

TPS has moved him up twice. He started October on the third line and has held a second-line spot since Oct. 14, playing nearly 13 minutes a night.

Nothing changes for most leagues until the 2027 NHL Draft next June. Where undrafted players can be rostered, claim him now.

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Svensk Climbed and Koivu Slipped

Vertti Svensk (Los Angeles Kings) went from SaiPa’s seventh defenseman on Oct. 20 to its top pair on Oct. 30. He has two assists in 17 games. Stash him wherever leagues carry teenage defensemen.

Aatos Koivu (Montreal Canadiens) went without a point in October, and he dressed as TPS’s extra forward on Oct. 30 while Virtanen held the second line. He has one goal and two points in 17 games, playing about 11 minutes per game. If the extra-forward role sticks, he slides again. Deep leagues only.

Rimpinen started eight of Kiekko-Espoo’s 10 games between Sept. 30 and Oct. 28. His .899 sits at the league average, down from .942 through his first five starts. Leave him alone until the tournament ends on Nov. 8.

Saarinen has a .901 after posting .916 last season, and HPK has allowed 55 goals, among the most in the league. In leagues with goalie slots, sit tight.

Lasse Boelius (Anaheim Ducks) has not played this season. The Liiga still lists him as injured, and no return date has been announced. Roster him? Only with an open injured-reserve slot.

Emil Kuusla (undrafted) has 10 points in 12 games, nine of them assists. He has also missed five of Jokerit’s games, and he returned to the third line on Oct. 30. Drop him to monitor for now.

Anttoni Uronen (Columbus Blue Jackets) has no points in 18 games and has centered HIFK’s fourth line since Oct. 14. Outside the deepest leagues, he does not need a roster spot.

Veeti Väisänen (Utah Mammoth) has played 10 games as JYP’s seventh defenseman, getting about six minutes each time, without a point. He stays on the waiver wire until JYP gives him a regular spot.

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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.

1. Suvanto
2. Rautiainen
3. Kiviharju
4. Salonen
5. Rimpinen
6. Saarinen
7. Svensk
8. Koivu
9. Boelius
10. Kuusla
11. Virtanen
12. Uronen
13. Väisänen

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Final Thoughts

Joona Saarelainen (Tampa Bay Lightning) came closest to an entry this month. The 149th overall pick in 2024 has seven goals and one assist in 17 games for KalPa, and he played on the top line in three mid-October games. Seven goals on fewer than four expected is finishing that usually cools, so the playmaking has to grow before he joins the watchlist.

Lenni Kokkonen (2027 draft eligible) has dressed for 10 Liiga games with Kärpät at 17, mostly on the third pair. He has no points yet while averaging about 10 minutes. Kärpät has him signed through 2028-29.

The Liiga pauses after Nov. 1 and returns on Nov. 9. So stay tuned and be safe this Halloween.

Andrew Epps

Follow me on X at @epps_andrew for Liiga news between reports.