Noel Pakarinen

June 2026 — Pakarinen is the steadiest mid-round profile in a deep Finnish class, and the appeal is a forechecking game that already produces. He posted 30 points in 31 U20 SM-sarja games for Kiekko-Espoo, near a point per game, and earned a Liiga debut in December at 17, rare exposure for a draft-eligible Finn. The tools are the kind that travel. He uses his 6-2 frame and strong lateral mobility to stay square to puck carriers and force turnovers, then reads the play quickly after retrievals and turns takeaways into chances in the slot rather than cycling for its own sake. His 30 penalty minutes next to those 30 points tell the story of a player who grinds the boards and absorbs contact without crossing the line. There’s a real finishing touch underneath the work, which is why Finnish coverage and club usage rated him above the late-round slot English boards gave him. For fantasy, that points to a complementary middle-six scorer who chips in peripherals, the kind of winger whose value depends on landing in a top-nine role rather than carrying a line. He’s leaving the Finnish system for Michigan Tech, a multi-year college runway that will test the offense against older competition. If the scoring touch holds and he settles into a top-nine job, a middle-six winger near 45 points is the ceiling, which is where the upside lands. Andrew Epps