Rangers prospects update: Russia and Finland

Prospects in Finland

The Rangers have two prospects in Finland. One is still a couple years away from coming to North American, but there is one, Lauri Pajuniemi, who is showing a lot offensively and he could be a late season addition.  Liiga has been able to play most of their games, though the entire league was shut down at one point.  Like the NHL, there have been very limited instances of fans allowed into arenas.

Lauri Pajuniemi (RW) – 2018 5th round – # 132

The Finnish Liiga shut down for a few weeks in December due to COVID-19 concerns.  Play resumed for TPS on January 8 and that meant forward prospect Lauri Pajuniemi could resume his torrid scoring. Pajuniemi picked up where he left off, notching an assist in TPS’s shootout loss to Sport and adding an assist in their 5-1 win over Jukurit.

After missing seven game with a leg injury, Pajuneimi has been one of the top scorers for TPS with six goals and 10 points in 15 games including five goals in his last eight games.

TPS is having a mediocre season with a 11-5-6 record good for eighth place in Liiga. Due to the pandemic, they have played the fewest games of any team in the league (22) so they will have a heavy schedule the remainder of the season.

In Liiga, the top six teams make the playoffs with a wild card play-in series for teams ranked 7-10.

The Rangers are in no rush to get the 21 year old Pajuniemi to North America. The right winger is getting valuable ice time in Finland and with the Liiga season ending on March 30 and TPS likely playoff bound, he wouldn’t be able to come over until the NHL season is almost over.

The Blueshirts need to get Pajuniemi under contract by June 2022 so it looks like they could sign him after this season and he could make his North American debut in the fall.  If he continues his scoring or gets really hot, he could be an x-factor for the Rangers as early as this season.

Leevi Aaltonen (LW)  – 2019 5th round – # 130

Aaltonen started the season with Kalpa of the Liiga, but when he wasn’t playing much he was sent to IPK in the second tier Mestis league.  He got off to a good start there with three goals and six points in six games, but Mestis shut down because of the pandemic and he is back with Kalpa.

In 18 games with the Sword, he has three assists and is averaging 9:20 minutes of icetime per game.  The big disappointment this year was that Aaltonen didn’t make Finland’s WJC team, though he was a longshot.

Kalpa is in sixth place in Liiga with a 11-9-4 record.   The question for Aaltonen is whether he will be sent back to IPK when Mestis resumes play or if he will stay with Kalpa.  He has seen a lot more ice time since he returned.

Aaltonen turns 20 later this month and  should be remaining in Finland for at least another year.  It’s worth noting that many thought he was a fifth round steal in that draft, citing his speed.  Steve Kournianos of The Draft Analyst likened him to Tony Amonte.