5 Underrated Finnish Prospects in the 2026 NHL Draft

Five Finnish prospects in the 2026 NHL Draft are getting first-round or early-second-round attention from English-language scouting outlets: Oliver Suvanto, Juho Piiparinen, Vilho Vanhatalo, Samu Alalauri, and Oscar Hemming. Five more have been talked about in Finnish-language coverage all season, but sit outside the top 100 on most public English boards. This piece is about the second group.

The U18 World Championships in Slovakia earlier this month did not move the consensus five. Suvanto, Piiparinen, and Vanhatalo entered and came out of the tournament with first-round rankings, and Finland’s seventh-place finish after a 2-1 quarterfinal loss to Czechia on April 29 did not change that. Liiga underrating their 17-year-olds is also not the issue. Tappara gave Suvanto 48 games this season and Piiparinen 29, and the public boards moved accordingly.

The five players below are different. They have all been ranked higher by Finnish-language outlets (Yle, Iltalehti, Jatkoaika, Leijonat.fi, Turun Sanomat, MTV Uutiset) and by Finnish club-level scouting than by NHL Central Scouting, McKeen’s Hockey, The Hockey News, Daily Faceoff, TSN’s Craig Button, or Draft Prospects Hockey. The case for them is being made in Finnish, and the public English boards have not picked it up.

Where These Five Players Sit on Public Boards

All five players listed below are 2008-born and first-time eligibles, and “underrated” refers to the gap between Finnish-language coverage and the public English consensus boards. Finnish-speaking scouting has each of them inside the top 10 to top 15 Finns in the class through the 2025-26 calendar.

Most of the public English boards have them outside the top 100 internationally. Here, we will look at why the public English boards have them so low, what the Finnish coverage shows, and the NHL fits that make sense.

Wilmer Kallio, W, TPS U18

Why the boards have him low: 98th on NHL Central Scouting’s final EU board. Public tape cites his 5-foot-11 frame and perimeter habits as his limiters.

What Finnish coverage shows: His father, Tomi Kallio, played 81 NHL games for the Atlanta Thrashers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Florida Panthers between 2000 and 2003. Wilmer’s older brother, Valtter, is in the TPS organization.

Wilmer played top-six minutes at the U18 World Championships, slotting into the second line with Viljo Kähkönen and Luka Arkko in the round-robin and onto the first line for the elimination round against Czechia. Finland’s coaching staff promoted him based on his play, not his name. TPS highlights weak-side scans before the puck arrives, passing patience under forecheck pressure, and timing into the slot that wins possession on retrievals.

Anttoni Uronen, C, HIFK (Liiga)

Why the boards have him low: Outside the top 50 on most public English boards. His frame, offensive ceiling, and late-round projection are the standard public reads.

What Finnish coverage shows: Uronen played 27 Liiga games for HIFK as a 17-year-old this season, posting 10 points, and got first-line center looks in stretches before injuries cut his campaign short. He signed an HIFK extension on March 11 and was Finland’s alternate captain at the U18 Worlds, scoring Finland’s second goal from a setup by his twin brother Eelis in the 6-1 opener against Norway. Smaht Scouting’s pre-tournament profile noted his game is framed around physicality and intensity in the dirty areas. His older brother Tuomas is a Vegas Golden Knights prospect.

Olli Wahlroos, F, TPS (U20 SM-sarja)

Why the boards have him low: 88th on NHL Central Scouting’s final EU board. His defensive details and the pro pace are the question marks, according to public coverage.

What Finnish coverage shows: Per Turun Sanomat, Wahlroos started the year among the most promising forwards in Finland’s class:

“TPS’s forward talent started his season among the most promising in the world.” — (From ‘TPS’s forward talent started his season among the most promising in the world’ – Turun Sanomat, 9/15/2025)

He was a foundational piece of Finland’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup roster that won the silver medal in August 2025. He played top-six minutes at the U18 Worlds and finished his tournament on Finland’s first line in the quarterfinal against Czechia. Off-puck timing into the slot and a catch-and-release shot from the inside hashmarks are his high-end skills.

Viljo Kähkönen, C/RW, Free Agent (Departed HIFK on May 4, 2026)

Why the boards have him low: A 5-foot-10 playmaking center who peaked early. Two years ago, Kähkönen was on a development curve at age 14 that drew internal comparisons to Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujärvi at the same stage. His production has not kept pace over the two seasons since.

What Finnish coverage shows: Six goals and 13 assists in 24 U20 SM-sarja games for HIFK this season, a Liiga debut on Nov. 21, against HPK, and three Liiga games with one assist. On May 4, Elite Prospects posted his transfer out of HIFK. His 42-game international resume includes a 2024 Youth Olympic Games bronze medal in Gangwon, where he served as Finland’s alternate captain and led the team in scoring.

Janne Karassaari, W, Kärpät U20 (U20 SM-sarja)

Why the boards have him low: Outside the top 100 on NHL Central Scouting’s final EU board. Limited English-language tape and no Liiga sample have kept him under the radar.

What Finnish coverage shows: Per Yle, Karassaari is one of the Kärpät junior players worth tracking. The Kemi-born winger, born Feb. 10, 2008, came up through Kärpät’s Oulun Energia Areena pipeline, the same program that helped Konsta Helenius be selected by the Buffalo Sabres 14th overall in 2024. He finished his year on Finland’s fourth line at the U18 Worlds with Noel Pakarinen and Miko Vatjus, and has been a repeat call-up across Finland’s U17 and U18 international squads throughout the season.

The Translation Gap

Finnish is not an easy language to pick up, which is where I hope to fill the gap. Finnish-language coverage and club-level usage in Liiga and the U20 SM-sarja have rated these players higher than the public English boards have through the entire 2025-26 season.

NHL Director of European Scouting Jukka-Pekka Vuorinen is running point on the international list, which means these names will be vetted against Finnish-language information by the time the 2026 NHL Draft opens on June 26 in Buffalo. The selections an organization makes in rounds three through seven are where the difference between Finnish-language scouting and English-language scouting will show up most clearly. These five are the test.