Top 5 Finnish Prospects From the 2026 Hlinka Gretzky Cup

Finland finished up this year’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup with a bronze, its first medal since 2022. The Finns trailed Slovakia 2-0 in the third-place game on Aug. 8, then took the game over, outshooting Slovakia 28-10 across the final two periods and winning 3-2.

The run also handed the 2027 draft class a first real look at this group, with one 2028-eligible name forcing his way into the conversation a year early. Here are the five I think stood out the most for Team Finland and one honorable mention I feel is worth a mention.

Honorable Mention: Niklas Borgström

The federation put Niklas Borgström on the cover of its tournament coverage, and the Jokerit winger put on quite the show, especially when Finland most needed a spark. He scored Finland’s only goal in a 4-1 loss to the United States, striking on the power play at 13:56 of the second. He finished with three points in five games and moved the puck cleanly, completing about 90% of his passes across the three games. His tools read a bit higher than his tournament stats alone. At 5-foot-9, though, his role thinned as the team moved into the finals, down to just over 10 minutes in the bronze medal game, and he will need to hold a larger job to climb 2027 boards.

No. 5: Roni Kuukasjärvi

No other player had more ice time than the Ilves defenseman, Roni Kuukasjärvi. Already a Liiga player who logged north of 23 minutes a night and touched 24 in the semifinal loss to Canada. He is a right-shot, two-way defender who reads the game a step ahead, the profile McKeen’s flagged as the rock of the Finnish blue line before the event. The underlying work backs the eye test: per InStat, Kuukasjärvi completed 88% of his 119 passes over the tracked games and closed the bronze game with nine puck recoveries against a single giveaway.

He is not a rush threat, with just three zone entries across those games, and he will not fill a scoresheet. What he did instead was end the tournament with the biggest goal Finland scored, burying the bronze-medal winner on the power play. A defender logging this kind of workload at 17 will draw long looks through the 2026-27 season.

No. 4: Olli Kylmälä

Few 2027 lists had Olli Kylmälä near the top before Edmonton. Six points and a two-goal semifinal later, he was one of Finland’s most productive forwards. The Kärpät center matched the team scoring lead with three goals and three assists, and he saved his best for the knockout round, scoring twice in the semifinal against Canada, including the opener 5:46 in on the power play. His signature moment came earlier, a Germany-game solo goal Finnish outlets singled out: Kylmälä carried the puck the length of the ice, beat two defenders, and roofed it.

Kylmälä completed 92% of his passes and led the tracked group with seven passes into the slot. He still has gaps, as Daily Faceoff noted his coverage on Canada’s fourth goal, and he took only 42% of his faceoffs. A center creating this much off the rush and the cycle, though, played his way into the 2027 discussion inside a week.

No. 3: Lenni Kokkonen

If one Finn helped himself most, it was Lenni Kokkonen. The Kärpät defenseman put up one goal and five assists in four games, sitting out the loss to the United States, and still led all Finnish defensemen in scoring while tying for the team lead in points on one fewer game than the forwards ahead of him. He quarterbacks this group’s power play, and he assisted on each of Finland’s first two goals in the semifinal.

Daily Faceoff called Lenni Kokkonen Finland’s best player at the event, crediting his poise and his willingness to do whatever it took to get pucks to the net. He is a 6-foot-2, right-shot defender who defends hard and creates from the line, the same two-way package that made him a standout at the 2025 U17 World Challenge. A first-round conversation has already opened for the 2027 class, and his week in Edmonton is the reason.

No. 2: Paavo Fugleberg

Paavo Fugleberg was the youngest star on the team and one of its best. A late-2009 birthday makes the TPS product a 2028 prospect rather than a 2027 one, so he was playing up, and he still tied for the team lead with six points and shared the goal lead with three. He scored the empty-netter that closed out Germany, with Luca Santala assisting, added another against Czechia, and started the bronze comeback with Finland’s first goal.

Now bound for the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) Moncton Wildcats, Fugleberg projects as an attacking winger with high-end offensive upside, and McKeen’s tabbed him as a candidate to go high in 2028. The one caveat is physical: he won just 38% of his puck battles and lost 23 pucks across the tracked games, the strength curve you expect from a player this young. I would still add him to your players to watch this season, because the offensive tools sit a year ahead of his draft class.

No. 1: Luca Santala

Luca Santala came in as Finland’s headliner and left as its most complete player. The Kiekko-Espoo center, widely regarded as the top 2027-eligible Finn, tied for the team lead with six points (two goals, four assists) and did damage in every phase. Per InStat, he won 58% of his faceoffs, led the tracked group in shot attempts and controlled zone entries, and killed penalties, the full two-way center’s shift.

Santala delivered when the bronze was on the line, too, tying the game 34 seconds into the third period before Roni Kuukasjärvi won it. At 6-foot-2 with a right shot and hockey bloodlines, he has the size and the projection scouts want up the middle, and he is taking the next step in North America, with Elite Prospects now listing him on the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) London Knights. His freshman season in London will test a top-of-the-first profile against stronger competition, and it is the Finnish storyline to follow through the 2027 cycle.

Bronze in August is a small sample, and no Finn cracked the tournament’s top 10 in scoring. But five games do not decide a draft class. They do give us a clearer look at Finland’s group, though: Santala and Kylmälä look like the forwards to start marking on your players to watch, Kuukasjärvi already plays pro minutes, and Kokkonen helped his stock the most. Their Liiga, OHL, and QMJHL seasons will give us even more clues, but at least you will have players to watch this upcoming season.