The Blue Jackets locked up one of their depth prospects on Friday, signing Finnish center Oiva Keskinen to a three-year entry-level contract that begins in the 2025-26 season.
Over the summer, we ranked Keskinen as the 19th best prospect in the system. This came after a rookie season in Finland's top league (Liiga), where he scored 7 goals and 27 points in 54 games) for the eventual league champion Tampere Tappara. He also skated for the Finnish team at the World Junior Championships, where he scored 2 goals and 5 points in 7 games en route to a 4th place finish.
This season, he upped his production to 15 goals and 35 points in 59 games, finishing 5th on the team in scoring. Taken by the Blue Jackets as a 7th round pick (#194 overall) at the 2023 NHL Draft, he's been a quiet riser in the system.
What does he bring?
Keskinen is a heady two-way center who has some underrated skill to his game. We saw him on the Finnish power-play at the World Juniors, where he played on the half wall and was the setup man for a lot of their scheme. In a lot of ways, his pass-first game reminds me of Alex Wennberg at the same age; though I'm not sure we'll ever see 50+ points of production here.
While he does have some offensive upside, I think his overall game makes him a more obvious fit for a future bottom-six. He's an intelligent player who does a lot of the little things well, but he doesn't have one translatable asset that makes him an obvious fit in the team's future top-two lines. Especially not if Adam Fantilli and Cayden Lindstrom are locking down jobs.
What will the development plan be?
This contract ensures that Oiva Keskinen will make the jump to North America this summer, which is good news because we can better gauge his potential. He will probably spend next season with the Cleveland Monsters, where he'll get the chance to adjust to the smaller North American rinks and play the more physical games.
He will also have the benefit of learning under Trent Vogelhuber, who has put a plan in place with every young player sent to him by the organization. Developing with a plan while jumping in with a young core that is slowly starting to come together in the AHL, will be a great way to help Keskinen make the adjustment.
I'm interested to see how his game translates, because I think he'll be an effective player with the smaller ice. It might be a few years before he's ready to compete full-time in the NHL, but I do think there's a spot for him in the CBJ lineup at some point down the road. He will just have to carve it out.