2022 third-round pick spent past two seasons playing in Finland's top league, Liiga, for HIFK; had solid showing at 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship
The St. Louis Blues continue to round up the prospect pool, this time signing third-round pick Aleksanteri Kaskimaki to a three-year, two-way, entry-level contract.
The 20-year-old forward, who was the 73rd pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, spent the past two seasons with HIFK in Liiga, Finland’s top professional league and earned a bronze medal for Finland in last year's IIHF World Junior Championship.
The forward had 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in 48 games with HIFK last season and played in seven games with Finland at the world junior (four points; two goals, two assists) and impressed Blues general manager Doug Armstrong.
"[Otto] Stenberg and [Aleksanteri] Kaskimaki really impressed me with their 200-foot game," Armstrong said after the tournament. "I think they're really going to be good pro players. They've got those pro attributes, they go the front of the net, especially Kaskimaki.
"We talked when we went over there that those two in particular are playing in men's teams and getting offensive situations and we were hoping that they would be among their peer group and take advantage of that, and I thought they did. You feel like sort of a proud papa right now. But really happy for our amateur staff because they put a lot of work in. To come back with the goals and assists and total points that those guys got, plus not doing it and winning a lot of medals shows that they can be on good teams."
Overall, the Espoo, Finland, native has spent the past four seasons with the HIFK organization and had 26 points (14 goals, 12 assists) in 93 Liiga games. Kaskimaki also earned a bronze medal with Finland at the 2022 IIHF U-18 World Juniors and participated with the Blues last year in training camp.
"He's very noticeable now," Blues director of player personnel Tim Taylor said as camp was concluding last year. "He's a player that can skate and he dominates with a stride through the neutral zone. He gets by guys. We're looking forward to watching him play in the World Junior just because at that high level, because he didn't get much ice time, we want to see if he takes that next step. But he had a good ending to his year. He should have a good start and I know they're expecting him to play top minutes over there."
