Joel Kiviranta might be the best person to answer what is admittedly a tough question, but it stumped him as well.
Who is the best Finnish player in the NHL right now? Finland is a proud hockey nation, with a rich tradition of punching far above its weight class when considering barometers like population and country size.
Even for Suomi, the current crop of Finnish stars in the NHL is an incredible group. Kiviranta has played with a few of the best Finns during his NHL stops with the Dallas Stars and now the Colorado Avalanche.
There are others in the conversation, but let’s start with Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen and Avs forward Mikko Rantanen.
“Playing with (Heiskanen), I was pretty sure that he’s the best Finnish player in the league,” Kiviranta said. “With the puck and without the puck, and how he’s moving and how he sees the game. But, now I have played with Mikko too … and I’m not sure about that. It’s a hard to just pick one.”
Rantanen stated his case loudly last season. He finished with career highs in goals (55) and points (105). He is the only Finnish player to reach either of those marks that isn’t named Teemu Selanne or Jari Kurri, almost without question the two best players in Suomi history.
Even with a recent nine-game goalless streak, Rantanen leads all Finns this season in goals and points. He’s the perfect model of a modern-day power forward. He’s huge, but also swift on his skates and among the most skilled players in the world.
“I remember the junior national teams, and we all knew Mikko had excellent hockey IQ, but now when you see him even closer it’s little things he’s doing. It’s hard to explain,” Kiviranta said. “It’s not a coincidence that he gets assists in almost every game and scored 50-plus goals. I don’t know how, but he sees the game a little different.”
Need a goal? Rantanen can add to a highlight-reel or outmuscle defenders in front for a dirty one. Need a great pass to create a goal? No problem.
Rantanen isn’t going to beat teams with his fists like power forwards of old would, but ask the Kings’ Anze Kopitar about trying to cut into the middle of the offensive zone on opening night with Rantanen lurking. The nickname “Moose” fits, when he needs it to.
“That’s a tough question,” Nashville goalie Juuse Saros said. “Tough to pick one obviously. You can obviously start with Mikko. He’s up there. If I had to start with one, it might be him.
“It’s just overall … he’s a big guy, moves well, can score, can pass. He pretty much can do everything. I think that’s a pretty good mix of all those things. I don’t see any weaknesses in his play.”
Rantanen has been the most productive Finnish forward since he entered the NHL. Whether or not he is the best, particularly overall, is not as cut-and-dry.
Florida’s Aleksander Barkov has not quite reached the same offensive heights, but he has had 35-plus goals twice and hit 96 points one year. More importantly, he’s considered one of the best defensive forwards in the sport. He won the Selke Trophy in 2021, and has finished in the top six of the voting five times.
Barkov is the best Finn this season, if we use overall-value advanced metrics like Evolving Hockey’s Goals Above Replacement or Dom Luszczyszyn’s Net Rating at The Athletic.
It’s not just those two. Carolina’s Sebastien Aho has five fewer goals than Rantanen. Roope Hintz is a bit of a late bloomer, at least in comparison to his world-class compatriots, but he has scored 37 goals in each of the past two seasons for the Stars.
Then there’s Heiskanen. The smooth-skating defenseman who went one spot in front of Cale Makar in the 2018 draft finished seventh in the Norris Trophy voting last year. He’s likely to be one of Makar’s top challengers for the award over the next several seasons.
“I think it’s the way he plays, the way he thinks the game,” Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson said. “Miro’s skating ability obviously is top notch, and his puck-handling skills. He also takes a lot of pride in defending, which you don’t see a lot of guys who also want to put up big numbers do. It’s a true luxury to have him on our team.”
While there are multiple forwards in this discussion, Heiskanen is the clear-cut best defenseman. He has a chance to be the best Finnish player at the position of all time. Don’t discount the chances of Rantanen and Barkov getting into group at the top of the forwards with Selanne and Kurri, either.
Finland has been a world-class goaltending factory for years, and Saros has been the best of the bunch in recent years. Beyond just trying to choose who is the best Finn among Rantanen, Barkov, Heiskanen, Saros and others, just imagine them all on the same team.
The Finns are often seen as an underdog in best-on-best on tournaments, but they also medal consistently. There hasn’t been a best-on-best event at the senior level while this golden generation of Finns has made its mark on the NHL, but we have seen them on the international stage.
Saros, with help from future good NHL players like Teuvo Teravainen, Artturi Lehkonen and Esa Lindell, led the Finns to gold at the 2014 world junior championship. Rantanen, Aho and Hintz were part of a stacked group that won the tournament two years later.
Even with a few Finnish phenoms who haven’t quite lived up to their draft status like Patrik Laine, Jesse Puljujarvi and Kaapo Kakko, the current group of Suomi players in the NHL could form a formidable squad at the 2026 Winter Olympics, if the NHL goes to Italy.
“It would be really cool,” Saros said. “We all pretty much know each other from playing with the junior national teams or the men’s national team. It would be cool to get the chance to play together with this generation of players.”
As for a definitive take on who is the best Finn in December 2023, good luck getting one. Robertson sided with “his boys” Heiskanen and Hintz. Kiviranta couldn’t decide between Heiskanen and Rantanen.
It might be Rantanen. It might be Barkov. It might be Heiskanen.
What it definitely can be is a fun, complex debate for years to come.
“Well, that’s tough,” Rantanen said. “Barkov is one of them. Hintz and Miro too. Miro is for sure the best defenseman, I think. Overall, it’s hard to say. Aho is really good too.
“I’ll say Aho, Hintz and Barkov are tied. They are all my friends.”
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