The London Knights add Finnish blueliner and first round pick Juho Piiparinen
The London Knights have signed defenseman Juho Piiparinen to an OHL Standard Player Agreement.
Piiparinen, 18, was selected by the London Knights in the second round of the 2026 CHL Import Draft, 101st overall. Piiparinen was widely expected to come over to the CHL for this season.
Piiparinen was drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, 29th overall. Piiparinen was ranked 32nd in The Hockey News' final 2026 draft ranking. Piiparinen was ranked sixth by NHL Central Scouting for International skaters.
The Finn had three points in 29 games for Tappara in Finland's top men's league, Liiga, but had a more respectable tally of 13 points in 15 games in the U20. Piiparinen has played a game for Tappara this season.
Internationally, Piiparinen had three points in five games for the Finns at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, along with a point in four games at the World Juniors, and captioned the under-18 team at the IIHF U18 World Juniors.
The signing adds an additional import for London, leaving them with over the maximum of three players, having signed fellow Finn Luca Santala and fellow first rounder Marcus Nordmark, while having another first rounder in Maksim Sokolovskii.
London dealt import defenseman to Linus Funck to Oshawa in the offseason, but still need to move another player. Nordmark is certain to remain in London, with it unclear if one of Santala or Sokolovskii will be either dealt or move on from London, but one will have to be let go of to fulfill the required three import maximum.
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