Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Benjamin Rautiainen had a season to remember in the Finnish Liiga. During the regular season, he became the first player to surpass 70 points in season since Janne Pesonen and Ville Leino both did so during the 2007-08 campaign. Now, his season is capped off with a championship.
This season, Rautiainen led Liiga in points and was one of two players to surpass the 70-point threshold, as his teammate and former NHLer Joachim Blichfeld finished second with 71 points. On Wednesday, the duo helped Tappara clinch their fourth title in the last five seasons as they defeated KooKoo by a single goal in Game 7. Rautiainen recorded an assist on Blichfeld's game-winning goal.
It was far from an easy path to victory for Tappara, as they opened the final series with two straight losses to KooKoo. From there, Tappara won four of their last five games to close out the series in tense fashion.
Despite his strong regular season, Rautiainen's relative inexperience showed in his postseason production. In 18 playoff games, he scored just a single goal and added six assists.
As Victor Nuno of Dobber Prospects put it, "What once looked like a longer-term depth bet now looks much more like a player with real top-six potential and the upside to become an assist-heavy scorer."
Considering Rautiainen went undrafted twice before the Lightning selected him in the fourth round of the 2025 NHL Draft, it seems that Julien BriseBois may have struck gold once again. It remains to be seen how well the 20 year old's game will translate to North America, but it seems he's accomplished all he can in Finland at this point.