Top Draft Prospect Aron Kiviharju Out Long-Term After Surgery
Per EliteProspects’ Lassi Alanen, top prospect Aron Kiviharju suffered an injury at practice that will require surgery. The recovery will hold him out for roughly four months. This will likely keep him from participating in the end of the year’s World Juniors tournament, one of the top events for U20 players.
This is a serious blow to Kiviharju’s draft year. Once considered maybe the outright best player in this draft class, Kiviharju’s esteem has stumbled following a slow start to the season. He’s scored two points through HIFK’s first seven games this year, including his first Liiga goal, while averaging just under 13-and-a-half minutes per game. That’s a slight bump from the 12:56 average time on ice he experienced in 21 Liiga games last season, although he still isn’t coming close to a top-four role with his pro team.
Kiviharju has added another two points in six games with Finland’s U20 national team this season. Playing against his peers internationally was where Kiviharju performed best last year, recording seven points in five games at the World U18 Championship tournament and 19 points over a cumulative 17 games with the national U18 squad. Finland didn’t bring the talented defender to the World Juniors last season, meaning this upcoming year would have been his chance to debut on the biggest stage. Missing out on that opportunity is a big blow, as many NHL scouts rely on the World Juniors to show how prospects sit relative to the rest of their age group.
With no World Juniors in sight, fans looking to see Kiviharju play internationally will likely have to wait until April’s World U18 Championship tournament. Even then, questions about how he can rebound from a long-term injury will likely surround any future performances. Once a top prospect in the class, Kiviharju could be at risk of sliding down draft boards with news of this injury. With a four-month recovery window, the 17-year-old defenseman won’t be back until February. And he’ll be a player to watch as soon as he’s back on the ice.
Featured image: HIFK on Twitter
Finland Announces Roster For 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup
With just two days before the beginning of the tournament and exhibition games already underway, Finland has announced their roster for the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, as reported by Elite Prospects’ Lassi Alanen. The yearly summer tournament is the first major event on the calendar for draft-eligible prospects, and this year’s eight-team tourney will showcase some of the best players available in next summer’s 2024 NHL Draft.
Finland is always one of the favorites to make some noise in international events, but as Alanen notes, they’ll be without a few crucial pieces at this year’s event, which significantly handicaps their chances of medalling at the event. Defenseman Aron Kiviharju and center Konsta Helenius are both potential top-ten choices come next June, but they’re currently at another summer event for the higher-level U20 team at the World Junior Summer Showcase. They’ll also be missing 2006-born defenseman Veeti Väisänen, who participated with last year’s Hlinka Gretzky squad but dropped out of this year’s edition at the last minute, per Alanen.
That being said, there are some other names worth watching. Center Julius Miettinen is 2024-eligible and is the only member of Finland’s roster slated to play in North America next season. After the WHL’s Everett Silvertips selected him 30th overall in this year’s CHL Import Draft, he’s slated to head to the Washington-based team after recording 10 goals, 12 assists and 22 points in 38 games with HIFK Helsinki’s U20 squad last season in the U20 SM-sarja. 6-foot-2 forward Emil Hemming of Liiga club TPS is also regarded as a potential first-round talent next summer and currently stands as the country’s fourth-best offering among the 2024 class behind Kiviharju, Helenius, and Väisänen.
With that being said, here’s Finland’s full roster for the tournament, set to run from Monday, July 31, through Saturday, August 5:
G Petteri Rimpinen
G Kim Saarinen
D Onni Amhamdi
D Daniel Nieminen
D Mitja Jokinen
D Bruno Jalasti
D Niilopekka Muhonen
D Eelis Marila
D Atte Vikla
D Arttu Välilä *not NHL draft-eligible until 2025
F Emil Hemming
F Joonas Paqvalin
F Markus Loponen
F Akseli Pulkkanen
F Tuomas Suoniemi
F Julius Miettinen
F Heikki Ruohonen
F Juho Keinänen
F Natan Teshome
F Roope Vesterinen
F Ville Väärälä
F Joona Saarelainen
F Aatu Heinänen
F Lauri Sinivuori
Minor Transactions: 6/5/23
The 2022-23 NHL season is drawing ever closer to a dramatic close. The Vegas Golden Knights can move one step closer to hockey’s ultimate prize with a win tonight, avoiding a similar fate to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final when they were swept in Games 2 through 5 by the Washington Capitals. The Florida Panthers, meanwhile, will need to play a tighter and more disciplined road game to avoid falling into a 2-0 hole in the series.
On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, there still remains quite a lot of movement in the free agency and transfer markets. As always, we’ll list today’s notable moves right here.
- Liiga club HIFK made significant strides today to build a championship-caliber roster for 2023-24, inking six players to commitments between one and two seasons. The most notable among them is 17-year-old defender Aron Kiviharju, who’s expected to be among the first five names called in the 2024 NHL Draft. The left-shot, 5-foot-10 rearguard had spent his development up until this point with TPS, where he made his Liiga debut last season, recording three assists in 21 games. Kiviharju also recorded 20 points in 22 U20 league games and notched seven assists in five games at the 2023 U18 World Juniors. His contract was through the 2024-25 campaign, but he could potentially be in the NHL for the second season of that deal.
- HIFK’s big signing up front was former St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers center Jori Lehterä. Lehterä is still going strong overseas at age 35, finishing second in Liiga scoring last season with Tappara after posting 57 points in 57 games. He was instrumental in Tappara’s second straight championship, and he also helped guide the team to a Champions Hockey League title. Lehterä, who last played in the NHL with the Flyers in 2018-19, was sentenced to four months of probation in Finland in 2019 for obtaining and possessing cocaine.
- HIFK is also bringing former NHL defender Sami Lepistö into the fold at age 38. It will be quite the gap between appearances in Finland’s top league for Lepistö, who last suited up in the SM-liiga (as it was then called) for Helsinki club Jokerit in 2006-07. After a five-season NHL career between 2007 and 2012 which saw him play for Washington, Phoenix, Columbus, and Chicago, Lepistö did spend four seasons with Jokerit once again between 2017 and 2021, but the team was then playing in the KHL. The 2004 Capitals draft pick recorded five goals and 20 points in 52 games last season for the NL’s SCL Tigers.
- Boston-born forward Greg Mauldin is one of the last remaining active forwards from the 2002 NHL Draft despite not having played in the NHL since 2010-11 with the Colorado Avalanche. In recent years, the 40-year-old has found a home for himself in Norway’s top league, where he’ll extend his stay for another season with the Stavanger Oilers. In the past two seasons, Mauldin’s recorded 16 points in 30 combined playoff games to help Stavanger to back-to-back league championships. In 2021-22, Mauldin did briefly attempt a North American comeback with the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings, where he played just five games.
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