Leevi Aaltonen

June 2022 – Aaltonen, unsigned by the Rangers, played in 47 games for KooKoo in the Finnish League, registering six goals and four assists for 10 points. He is on KooKoo’s roster for the 2022-2023 season, as well. A project pick when he was drafted in the fifth round in 2019, the speedy forward will look to continue his development overseas, although it is difficult to imagine him being active on the Rangers’ legitimate radar prior to his NHL signing rights with New York expiring on June 1 st , 2023. He will need to impress this upcoming season in order to try to garner a contract with the organization. Brendan Ferry

December 2020 – While he continues to carve out a role with the KalPal Liiga squad, the Rangers’ 2020 fifth-round draft pick will have an opportunity to represent Finland at the u20 level as he’s been named to the countries preliminary roster for the 2021 tournament in Alberta.  Brayden Olafson

March 2020 – The undersized winger has been severely unproductive in his rookie Liiga campaign with KalPa. The skill that allowed him to be productive in the Finnish junior circuit has seemingly been stunted by his competition and his lack of opportunity in the elevated tier. With such disappointing results in his rookie campaign, it’s looking like his path to the North American pro circuit is going to be quite long. Brayden Olafson

June 2019 – Aaltonen has been drafted 130^th overall by the Rangers.  Jokke Nevalainen

March 2019 – Aaltonen’s season started at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup where he had two points in five games which was a bit disappointing considering he had five points the year before. Since that tournament, most of Aaltonen’s season has been spent at Jr. A SM-liiga which is the top junior league in Finland. There he has produced 12 goals and 36 points in 29 games which is very good production for someone his age. It’s also a very good improvement from the 21 points in 34 games he had there the year before. Aaltonen also played some pro games this season in Mestis and Liiga but didn’t get much of an opportunity there. Aaltonen has also been a regular for Finland’s U18 team where he’s carried an ‘A’ in every tournament so far. In total, he’s played 12 games there and produced 15 points during the season. Aaltonen is expected to play a major role for Finland at the U18 Worlds in April.

Aaltonen is an undersized (5-9, 154) winger who is most effective in an offensive role. He’s a dual threat because he can both make plays and finish them. He’s been leaning towards being a playmaker but he also has a very good wrist shot, and he’s very good at opening lanes for his shot. He’s also a reliable defensive player who can kill penalties as well. With his January birthday, Aaltonen is on the older side for his draft class, and he’s also very mature for someone his age. Expectations were very high for him based on his 16-year-old season, and even though he’s shown good progress since then, he hasn’t really dominated as a 17-year-old as was expected. Aaltonen is likely going to get drafted in the middle rounds of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.  Jokke Nevalainen