The Blue Jackets announced today they’ve signed center prospect Oiva Keskinen to his entry-level contract. While financial terms weren’t disclosed, the deal begins next season and will make him a restricted free agent in the 2028 offseason.
Columbus selected Keskinen in the seventh round in 2023, one year after he was initially eligible for selection. The 6’0″ pivot didn’t get many cracks at Finland’s top junior league in his draft year but did in the 2022-23 campaign, posting a 20-21–41 scoring line in 38 top-flight junior games with Tappara en route to his selection.
Keskinen has spent the two seasons since in full-time professional roles with Tappara, doing well against older competition in one of Europe’s upper-tier leagues in Liiga. He’s coming off a strong 2024-25 campaign in which he finished fifth on the team in scoring with 17 goals and 35 points in 59 games. He won a Liiga title with Tappara the year prior and recorded nine points in 16 postseason games in their run to the championship. He also had five points in seven games for the Finns back at the 2024 World Juniors.
Needless to say, he’s impressed considering his draft slot and gets rewarded as such. He’ll get a long look in camp before presumably being assigned to AHL Cleveland or being loaned back to Tappara for further development in 2025-26. Keskinen’s deal with the Finnish club runs through next season, so that’s the likeliest possibility.