Juho Piiparinen is a sturdy, 6-foot-3 right-handed defenseman that has gained a reputation as one of the most defensively-sound blueliners in the class.
Playing in a league of men – Finland’s Liiga – Piiparinen held his own against much older competition. While the offensive production was not there for Piiparinen, there’s something to be said for the level of defending that Piiparinen achieved in Liiga. Consistently killing plays, executing clean breakouts, and being reliable in all three zones, Piiparinen is a solid bet to take on a bottom-pair level floor projection.
Pre-draft rankings
Ranked #40 by Elite Prospects
Ranked #25 by Sportsnet (Jason Bukala)
Ranked #39 by The Athletic (Scott Wheeler)
Ranked #19 by TSN (Craig Button)
Statistics
What’s there to like?
If there’s one word to describe Piiparinen, it’s reliability. There’s a level of safety, predictability, and overall trust that you have when Piiparinen is on the ice. Simply, you know what you are going to get out of Piiparinen, and for a player of his style, that’s an overwhelmingly positive thing.
Throughout his play in the Finnish junior leagues and Liiga, Piiparinen was a steadying force for whatever team he was on. While he scored 13 points in 15 games for Tappara’s U-20 team, his impact, especially for Tappara’s Liiga team, was felt solely on the defensive end. Piiparinen excels in maintaining solid gaps when defending the rush, knowing when to pick his spots to be aggressive, and knowing when to use his stick to disrupt the play in front of him. He’s pretty smart in the defensive end in terms of anticipating where the play is headed next, and is able to utilize his long reach to kill chances, even if the opposition might be slightly past him (like the play below).
While Piiparinen may not have any elite puck skills, what he does have is a very high functioning hockey brain. Beyond just gap control and knowing when to use his reach, he’s also super quick to make decisions with the puck. For a lot of developing defenseman, they are unable to handle pressure and process the game at high speeds. For Piiparinen, in a league against men, he excelled at making smart decisions with little time and space, even if he occasionally made a mistake. The next play demonstrates this quality, where Piiparinen (No. 57) kills a rush, handles incoming pressure from multiple players, and throws the puck to open-ice and his partner.
Piiparinen is never going to be a plus talent in the offensive zone, but that’s really never going to be the expectation for a player of his archetype. What he can be, similar to what he is in the defensive zone, is incredibly smart with the decisions he makes both with the puck and off-puck. The final play clipped below is an example of what Piiparinen’s offense might look like in the NHL – a smart pinch from the point, winning a battle on the boards, and a centering pass created all by Piiparinen’s timely decision(s). You will probably never get anything more than 20-30 points from Piiparinen during his best offensive years, but it’s not like Piiparinen is going to hurt you out there from an offensive standpoint. Truly, he feels like a defensive defenseman that is perfectly suited for the modern NHL.
What a way from Juho Piiparinen (#2026NHLDraft) to get his first career Liiga point, adding a primary helper on this goal.
— Lassi Alanen (@lassialanen) September 30, 2025
Since then, he’s added another assist, bringing him to two points for the game after 40 minutes. pic.twitter.com/micUVBT5AC
What’s not to like?
Well, depending on how you value defenseman, Piiparinen’s relative lack of offensive skill could be seen as a negative. Piiparinen just does not find himself in shooting positions in the offensive zone very often, and he’s very much a low-danger puck mover. That could certainly be seen as a positive, especially for a defensive defenseman. It just depends on what you value in a modern NHL defender, but there’s plenty of room for a defenseman like Piiparinen on any roster.
Another potential flaw in Piiparinen is how he currently shies away from defending with his body. He’s so reliant on his positioning (overall a great thing), but also avoids physical contact as much as he can. He’s going to need to improve upon that a little and show a willingness to throw the body around more than he does now. This is not a glaring red flag about how Piiparinen defends, but adding a more physical element is probably something that will be a focus for whatever NHL team drafts him next week.
How would he fit in the Flyers’ system?
Organizationally, we know the Flyers could use an infusion of high-end skill to the defense group. Piiparinen is certainly not that, but picking Piiparinen would restock a pipeline that really just needs more blueliners in general. After Oliver Bonk and David Jiricek, the Flyers best defensive prospect is probably Spencer Gill or Carter Amico, which is not a great state of affairs for the organization. In that regard, Piiparinen would immediately jump to the front of that list after Bonk.
In how the Flyers play, we really think that Piiparinen would fit well into almost any NHL system. Puck-moving and mobile defensive defenseman are always valued in the NHL, and we see no reason why Piiparinen’s game at its best would struggle to fit within a system. Piiparinen’s game is best when you don’t really notice him out there, making little mistakes and overall playing a clean puck-moving style.
Could the Flyers actually get him?
Yes. The Flyers should have an opportunity to grab him at No. 21, unless a team is very eager to take the “safe” defenseman before the Flyers. Considering the Flyers need for a dynamic defenseman, taking Piiparinen doesn’t really fit that mold though. While Piiparinen’s projection is simple and relatively safe, it feels like the Flyers are much more likely to take a swing on an offensively dynamic defenseman with the pick this year. Maybe we’ll be proven wrong on this one, but a Piiparinen pick feels somewhat unlikely at the moment.
What scouts are saying
“Another very straightforward and simple profile, but a good one at that, Juho Piiparinen comes in quite a bit lower than in December, but once again, it’s more that things have compressed around him moreso than him not being particularly good. Piiparinen is rarely out of position, rarely making mistakes, is fluid on his feet, and drives very efficient defensive zone results, with flashes of offense that come out in ways that, while I’m not sure he’s going to be a big time NHL scorer, are impressive nonetheless. As a depth defenseman with good range, a great mind, and a diverse array of areas where he’s comfortable, Piiparinen might be another one of those defensemen in this class who you don’t notice a ton, but next thing you know he’s played 700 games and is a millionaire. If the expectation is a minutes eater who could kill penalties, with the youth and frame that provides interesting development potential, Piiparinen could easily be a target higher than this. If you buy the potential that the offense he shows in the junior league is projectable to the NHL, then he absolutely could be a guy that flies off the board pretty quickly. I am a bit more conservative in my projection, but it’s hard to see him falling any lower than this slot for me.”
-Will Scouch,scouching.ca
“Piiparinen’s game doesn’t grab you with dynamic skill or elite skating, but he’s an August birthday who’s already very polished, is a superb athlete, and has shown more offense at Finland’s junior level; he has played a more reserved/vanilla style at the pro level and at times internationally. Effectiveness is the name of his game. He gaps and defends well. He moves and skates well. He has a pro frame and game. He defends well man-to-man. He will make the right play more often than not. His puck movement is clean and efficient (though there are times he needs to move it quicker). His reads are typically sound. He projects as a solid two-way D who should continue to develop and add some more dimension to the strong foundation he has already established, but he’s too vanilla to warrant a first-round selection for me at this point.”
-Scott Wheeler, The Athletic
Next into the poll is William Håkansson, a defenseman from Luleå HF in the Swedish Hockey League.
“Håkansson didn’t get a ton of ice time at the World Juniors, but we saw exactly what he’s capable of – raw defensive energy. There’s absolutely no flash to his game. Instead, he uses his big 6-foot-4, 207-pound frame to flatten opponents while being a pain in the rear end defensively. He’s quite mobile for his frame, too. Håkansson’s lack of offensive awareness won’t help his draft stock, but I absolutely could see him becoming a solid shutdown defender in the NHL. He’d go higher if he could shoot or pass like Alberts Šmits.”
-Steven Ellis, Daily Faceoff
