Finland U18 News & Stories

The Hlinka Gretzky Cup marks the start of the scouting season. These are the players you need to keep an eye on at this year's tournament in Edmonton, Alberta.

Lassi Alanen and David St-Louis debate Konsta Helenius' potential at the NHL level.

It seems like Finland has one borderline elite sniper in each draft, and Emil Hemming is that player for the 2024 NHL Draft.

Finland has produced a lot of smart, diligent, hard-working players in recent years, and Konsta Helenius is that player in the 2024 NHL Draft.

Cam Robinson and Lassi Alanen team up to bring you the 3 Stars from the final day of round-robin action at the 2024 U18 World Hockey Championships.

Lassi Alanen and Cam Robinson combine to bring you the 3 stars from Day 4 at the U18 World Hockey Championships

J.D. Burke and Lassi Alanen team up to bring you the three stars from Day 2 of the 2024 U18 World Hockey Championship in Espoo and Vantaa, Finland.

J.D. Burke and Lassi Alanen team up to bring you the three stars from the first day of action at the 2024 U18 World Hockey Championship in Espoo and Vantaa, Finland.

The 2024 U18 World Hockey Championships in Espoo and Vantaa, Finland start on Thursday, and these are the skaters with the most on the line at the tournament.

A player-by-player preview of Finland's roster at the U18 World Hockey Championships in Espoo and Vantaa.

Lassi Alanen has reviewed the tape and breaks down the standout performances from the U18 5 Nations tournament in Plymouth, Michigan.

Elite Prospects Dir. of European scouting Lassi Alanen looks at the top performers from the recent U18 5 Nations tournament in Hämeenlinna, Finland.

Lassi Alanen looks at the film on the centre who has turned heads in Liiga as a teenager.

David St-Louis and Lassi Alanen break down the top performances from the kick-off of the 2024 NHL Draft scouting season.

Mitch Brown and Lassi Alanen preview the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.

Cam Robinson looks at who rose and who fell when it came to draft status based off the tournament in Switzerland.

J.D. Burke reflects on the 2023 U18 World Hockey Championships in Basel and Porrentruy, Switzerland, sharing his thoughts on what we learned at this tournament.

J.D. Burke and Martin Jansson team up to bring you the 3 Stars from the final day of round-robin action at the men's 2023 U18 World Hockey Championship.

J.D. Burke and Martin Jansson team up to bring you the 3 Stars from the final day of round-robin action at the men's 2023 U18 World Hockey Championship.

J.D. Burke and Martin Jansson team up to bring you the 3 Stars from Day 4 of the men's 2023 U18 World Hockey Championship in Basel and Porrentruy, Switzerland.

J.D. Burke and Martin Jansson team up to bring you the 3 Stars from Day 2 of the men's 2023 U18 World Hockey Championship in Basel and Porrentruy, Switzerland.

J.D. Burke and Martin Jansson team up to bring you the 3 Stars from Day 1 of the men's 2023 U18 World Hockey Championship in Basel and Porrentruy, Switzerland.

Elite Prospects Dir. of European Scouting Lassi Alanen previews Finland's roster for the U18 men's World Hockey Championship in Basel and Porrentruy, Switzerland.

Russ Cohen shares an exclusive interview with 2023 NHL Draft prospect and Finnish winger Emil Järventie.

This week's Scout's notebook highlights how three top draft-eligible forwards have started their seasons in Europe.

Mitch Brown looks at the three stars from the second day of action at the 2022 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup in Red Deer, Alberta, highlighting one player's contributions in each of the day's three games.

The Hlinka-Gretzky Cup annually marks the start of the scouting season, and it takes place from July 31st to August 7th in Red Deer, Alberta. Mitch Brown sets the stage in this preview article.

Elite Prospects Dir. of European Scouting Lassi Alanen takes you into the Film Room ™️ to look at one of the 2022 NHL Draft's most controversial prospects, Brad Lambert.

Elite Prospects Dir. of European Scouting Lassi Alanen dives into Joakim Kemell's game tape to look at one of the draft's best finishers, examining how he could be so much more at the NHL level with a few tweaks.

Aron Kiviharju, a 16-year-old defenceman, was just named to Finland's U18 World Juniors squad, the youngest player to do so. And that's only the beginning of his historic season.

EP Rinkside Dir. of Film Scouting Cam Robinson serves up 5 bold predictions for the men's 2022 U18 World Hockey Championship, set to take place in Landshut and Kaufbeuren, Germany.

J.D. Burke profiles each team's X-Factor player at the 2022 U18 World Hockey Champions, set to start in Landshut and Kaufbeuren, Germany.

EP Rinkside Dir. of European Scouting Lassi Alanen breaks down the Finnish roster for the 2022 U18 World Hockey Championships.

The Philadelphia Flyers made Samu Tuomaala their first pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, 46th overall in the second round. Russ Cohen spoke to Tuomaala at Flyers Dev. Camp.

J.D. Burke and his team of scouts have convened to put together their latest draft ranking for the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, a list that's 64 players long, crafted after the U18 in Frisco and Plano, Texas.

Mitch Brown and Lassi Alanen manually tracked data from every game of the U18 World Hockey Championships. In this article, Mitch shares some of their findings.

The IIHF U18 World Championship was sorely missed a year ago, but it is back and it has been one heck of a week of hockey in Texas. Cam Robinson takes a look at some of the event's big headlines.

The World Junior Under-18 tournament has disproportionate importance this year. It will be the first look we get this season at a few prospects against their own age group and...

The Under-18 World Hockey Championships are set to kick off on April 26th in Frisco and Plano, Texas. The Finns are looking to take a step up from their seventh-place finish in 2019, and our Dir. of European Scouting, Lassi Alanen, sets the stage for this landmark tournament.

Tuukka Tieksola's development has been a nice boon to the Carolina Hurricanes system. EP Rinkside's Dir. of European Scouting Lassi Alanen spoke to Darren Yorke about Tieksola's progress in an article for Rinkside.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. More than a year spent tracking the progress of hundreds of players, consulting with industry insiders, running the numbers, and it all...

We’re less than a week away from the draft, so what better time than now to take stock of the best prospects already tied down with an NHL franchise? This...

We’re exactly two weeks away from the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, so what better time for another draft ranking than now? While we position ourselves as a united front in...

The title just about says it all, right? Wrong. Desperately wrong. The EliteProspects 2020 NHL Draft Guide is available, but we haven’t had a chance to let you know what...

There’s a long list of accolades to Anton Lundell’s credit in spite of the fact that he just finished his first year of draft-eligibility. He helped Finland take home gold...

One might think that two new rankings among a group of five public outlets might not result in a tectonic shift in the landscape of the NHL Draft, but that...

The appetite for NHL Draft coverage expands with every year. Where the main course centred on the first round alone once sufficed, our audience now demands a seven-plate meal with...

When the hockey world paused in March because of COVID-19, many of its players and prospects went into disarray. All of a sudden, instead of finishing seasons, finishing playoffs, flying...

After months of careful deliberation, the NHL is ready to let the lottery balls spin and forever change the complexion of two or three lucky teams at the annual spectacle...

We’re little over a week away from the NHL Draft Lottery, scheduled for Friday, June 26th, at 8 PM Eastern. So what better time to update our ranking of the...

HIFK centre and top 2020 NHL Draft prospect Anton Lundell is a complete two-way player. It’s plain for all to see. He should be a top 10 pick in the...

Kasper Simontaival was a household name in scouting circles long before his draft year. With a track record like his, it’s easy to understand why. He annihilated the Finnish U16...

Finland’s free agent offerings this year don’t inspire a great deal of enthusiasm. There might not be a single NHL regular next season among them beyond the group’s best member....

It was no surprise when the New Jersey Devils announced that they’d dealt pending unrestricted free agent defenceman Sami Vatanen. The only questions were ‘where’ and ‘at what cost?’ Soon...

Size is becoming a less important factor for NHL decision-makers with each passing draft. This most recent draft is a good example of how the consensus is shifting. Smaller, quicker,...

What was once a heated debate is now a coronation; Alexis Lafrenière has separated himself from Quinton Byfield, and by a not-insignificant margin at that. The decision at No. 1...

When I introduced our readers to Finland’s roster ahead of the World Junior Hockey Championship, I declared the team slightly weaker than those of years’ past. With the benefit of...

Defending champions from last year, Finland comes to the tournament with a slightly weaker roster compared to previous years. Particularly the forward group doesn’t include as many high-end players as...

When you get selected second overall in an NHL Draft, fans will put a value on a player and create expectations in their minds as to how good they should...

I’m so proud to finally share the hard work of our scouts in the form of this year’s first NHL Entry Draft ranking for the EliteProspects Rinkside audience. So much...

SUNDSVALL, Sweden — In the second part of my review of the Under-18 5 Nations tournament, we’re going to look to the performance of Sweden and their neighbours to the...

It feels as if decades have passed since the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Such is the state of the contemporary NHL, a constantly shifting landscape that is getting populated by...

There is no shortage of promising Finnish skaters from the most recent draft playing in my locale this season. This is especially true on defence, where the likes of Lassi...

This week we wrap up the Western Hockey League team-by-team previews with the help of four more WHL General Managers plus there is a makeshift preview for the one team...

Now that NHL rookie camps and their outsized import are firmly in the rearview mirror, our focus shifts to training camp. That’s when it all gets real. Well, at least...

The Vancouver Canucks selected Toni Utunen 130th overall, in the fifth round of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. Fans, reporters, and casual observers alike scrambled for information on the 5-foot-11...

I’m sure the excitement of most New York Rangers fans at seeing their team’s top spot in the EP Rinkside Prospect Pool Rankings is met with equal parts bewilderment. We’re...

Season 15 of The Pipeline Show is now officially underway and by tradition, that means the in-depth season previews for all 22 Western Hockey League franchises are also beginning. But...

The Carolina Hurricanes seem to get almost everything right these days. From a miraculous second-half of the NHL season that vaulted them to the Playoffs, and the Conference Finals run...

Our seventh and final Canadian club lands at No. 4 league-wide. The Vancouver Canucks have been one of the very worst teams in hockey the last four seasons, so you...

BRECLAV, Czech Republic — The dust has settled on the Ivan Hlinka, and perhaps even the small Czech town it called home for one week in August — not a...

The Ottawa Senators gutted their team this season, trading away Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone, Matt Duchene, and Ryan Dzingel. While the returns are underwhelming overall, there’s no doubt that the...

BRECLAV, Czech Republic – As a testament to the commitment EliteProspects and EP Rinkside are making to taking the NHL Draft and prospect coverage by storm, I’m on the scene...

There’s a different mandate in Detroit than in year’s past. The playoff streak is gone. So is the legendary Ken Holland. Even the rink is relatively new. Everything but the...

BRECLAV, Czech Republic – As a testament to the commitment EliteProspects and EP Rinkside are making to taking the NHL Draft and prospect coverage by storm, I’m on the scene...

As a testament to the commitment EliteProspects and EP Rinkside are making to taking the NHL Draft and prospect coverage by storm, I’m on the scene in Břeclav scouting the...

This week marks the Season 14 finale of The Pipeline Show as we continue our month of “Ask the Commish” segments learning all about three more leagues plus there is...

Checking in at number 15 on our countdown of the league’s prospect pools are the Florida Panthers. There was a stretch where Florida boasted one of the premier pools in...