Oiva Keskinen

March 2026 – Keskinen’s first post-draft-contract season has been a useful translation year. He went to Columbus for the September Prospects Challenge, put up four points in three games, and showed enough pace and touch through the middle to stay on the radar before the Blue Jackets sent him back to Tappara for the full Liiga season on Sept. 28. Back in Finland, he has answered with more finish than he showed a year ago. Through 49 games, Tappara lists him at 20 goals, 17 assists, 37 points, and plus-25, already pushing past last season’s 15-goal mark. The recent stretch is the part that matters most for fantasy readers: he had a three-point night against Lukko on March 13 and followed it with another two-point game against KalPa on March 7, a sign that the offense is coming with more confidence and not just through secondary touches. He still looks more like a longer-range NHL piece than an immediate fantasy stash, but this season has moved him from late-round curiosity toward a legitimate middle-six monitor if the scoring touch and cleaner North American reads hold once he comes over. Andrew Epps

June 2025 – Keskinen to a three-year, entry-level contract beginning with the 2025-26 season on May 16, 2025. Keskinen was drafted in the seventh round (194th overall) in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. He has spent the last two seasons playing for Tappara in the SM-Liiga in Finland, where the 21-year-old produced 62 points (22 goals and 40 assists) with 32 penalty minutes and five power-play goals in 113 games played in those two seasons. In 2024-25, Keskinen set a career-high in goals with 15; he added 20 assists for 35 points in 59 games. A late-round pick, he has seen his overall game improve; he is off the fantasy radar until he shows what he can do in North America. Mark Henry