2018 NHL Draft Profile: Jesperi Kotkaniemi

Jesperi Kotkaniemi Liiga scoringJesperi Kotkaniemi is the ranked ninth among European league skaters by NHL’s Central Scouting. He’s ranked anywhere from 14th to 25th by other prominent scouting services. An industry consensus from Jeremy Davis of Canucks Army includes those scouting services, as well as a number of draft “experts.” That consensus ranking offers Kotkaniemi as the #21-ranked skater overall.

This season, Kotkaniemi is scoring .46 points per game in the Finnish Liiga, as a 17-year-old playing against men. That number makes him the 16th-highest U18 scorer in the Liiga, all time. If you remove the four players who only played in a handful of games, he moves up to 12th place in…