Petteri Rimpinen

April 2026 — Rimpinen’s post-draft year did not stay on a straight line, which is part of why the season was useful. Los Angeles took him 152nd overall on June 28, 2025, then Kiekko-Espoo kept him in a real workload and later extended him for 2026-27 on Nov. 22, 2025, a sign that his club still views him as a major piece rather than a short-term stopgap. He opened the year as Finland’s clear returning U20 starter after a 2025 World Juniors where he was named Best Goalie and an all-star, but the 2026 tournament was more uneven. He still posted a shutout against Latvia and played every game for Finland, yet IIHF’s post-event review pegged him at an 86.1 save percentage as Finland finished fourth. Back in Liiga, though, he answered the turbulence the right way. NHL.com noted he closed the regular season as Liiga’s hottest goalie, running a .943 save percentage over his final 12 appearances with four shutouts, and he finished 13-11-11 with a 2.29 GAA and .911 save percentage. Kiekko-Espoo’s official page lists five playoff games after that, so the workload kept growing. The tool kit still reads the same: aggressive, athletic, strong tracking habits, but his own July note about needing to calm his game in certain moments still fits. The stock held because he showed he can recover after wobble, not because the year was clean. Andrew Epps

July 2025 – The Kings chose Rimpinen with the 152nd pick in the 2025 draft, adding yet another impressive netminder to their prospect stable. The 2024-2025 season marked his rookie season in the Liiga, and he stood out among the league. He posted a line of 16-9-14 with two shutouts. His rate stats were impressive not only as a rookie but also in holding up across 40 games played, the fourth-most last season. His 2.35 GAA sat him seventh among goalies, and his .912 save percentage was second best. Zooming out beyond just the recent season, both those stats are in the top 30 by a U21 netminder in the Liiga since 2009.

Managers won’t be seeing Rimpinen putting up any stats for their fantasy squads within the next several years. Still, he certainly is as worthy of a draft and stash as any of the other netminders taken on draft day. Alex Wyatt