League season preview – positions 9-12: Will Raimo Helmisen's winning streak come to an end?

The much-anticipated super season of the league 2026-27 is just around the corner. An exceptional season awaits as Jokerit returns to the top league and the three weakest teams will drop to the league’s B-series at the end of the regular season.

SuomiKiekko anticipates the upcoming season by assessing the teams’ strengths. In this preview, we will go through our views on the teams that will finish in places 9-12.

READ ALSO: League season preview – places 13-17: these teams will drop to the B-series

12. SaiPa

The SaiPa team has significantly weakened since last season. Over the summer, Henri Nikkanen, Antti Kalapudas, Otto Kivenmäki, Maxime Fortier, Emil Kuusla, and Teemu Kivihalme moved to new surroundings. Four of the top scorers disappeared from the Lappeenranta team’s offense at once.

Joining SaiPa’s offense are new players Aarne Intonen, Petrus Palmu, and Mikko Perttu. All three have strong scoring potential, and Raimo Helmisen’s coaching will surely help this forward trio take the next steps in their careers.

From abroad, Nicholas Zabaneh, Einar Emanuelsson, and Petr Fridrich have been acquired for the offense. Canadian Zabaneh had a strong season in the ECHL last year, scoring 27 goals and 24 assists in 69 games. Emanuelsson has had a long career in the SHL but has not been a scoring threat in years. Fridrich, on the other hand, scored 21 goals and 11 assists in 52 games in the Czech top league last season. To succeed, SaiPa needs big performances from these foreign acquisitions.

The turnover in defense is not as significant. Brian Kramer, Ondrej Trejbal, and Samuli Niinisaari continue in their fundamental roles. Santeri Airola, meanwhile, is the puck-moving leader of SaiPa’s defense. Last season, he scored 11 goals and 34 points in the regular season. In the playoffs, Airola continued to develop.

Santeri Airola is one of the biggest stars of the SaiPa team. Photo: All Over Press

Joining SaiPa’s defense is 29-year-old Andrew Peski. The Canadian defenseman has played the last two seasons in the Danish top league. Last season, he scored 3 goals and 9 assists in 45 games.

There have been no changes in the goaltending department. Kari Piiroinen and Gustavs Grigals will guard the Lappeenranta goal next season. The duo is part of the lower middle class of the league. Piiroinen can be an excellent goaltender at his best, but his level fluctuates significantly. Grigals, on the other hand, is a decent backup but cannot carry SaiPa if Piiroinen gets injured.

Helmisen’s coaching abilities are well-known. He extracts the best from his teams, but this season he has the weakest SaiPa roster on paper so far. A longer regular season could also be particularly taxing for SaiPa, whose game relies on speed and skating.

11. Ässät

Ässät has assembled an excellent team for the league’s super season. The drop of the Porilaisten in the season preview indicates a lot about the league’s competitiveness in the upcoming season.

The goaltending department of Ässät is in good shape. Jan Bednar was at times absolutely magical last season. However, the young goaltender’s level fluctuated throughout the season. How will he handle a longer regular season now? Backup Roope Taponen is a wildcard. He has not been in winning form over the last three seasons. Considering he is only 25 years old, the big question is whether this is Taponen’s true level?

Ässät’s defense is very interesting. There is plenty of size and physicality, but not much puck skill. Rami Määttä, Miro Karjalainen, Aleksi Anttalainen, Casimir Jürgens, and Petteri Riihinen make it very challenging to break into the Ässät goal. Scoring will be the responsibility of Petteri Nurmi, Lassi Boelius, and Petteri Nikkilä. When considering the top power play’s point man, Ässät falls behind many league teams, even though the defense is otherwise in good shape.

Rami Määttä’s development as a player has been one of the finest stories in the league in recent years. Photo: All Over Press

In offense, the Porilaisten situation is also strong. From last season, the forwards who broke the 30-point barrier include Nestor Noiva, Patrik Juhola, and Peter Tiivola. The best players from the playoffs, Feetu Knihti and Sakari Kostilainen, also continue with Ässät.

Ässät will have very strong second and third lines with familiar players. Key roles have been sought from outside the club. Cameron Hillis played a total of 120 games with Kiekko-Espoo over the last two seasons, scoring 71 points. The 25-year-old Simon Pinard could also be a strong scorer. He has several excellent ECHL seasons behind him, with the latest being his best, scoring 30 goals and 43 assists in 70 games. Alexandre Doucet, on the other hand, has put up good numbers in the AHL, from where reinforcements are rarely obtained for the league nowadays.

Ässät’s team has plenty of potential. If Boelius, Nurmi, or Nikkilä can emerge as effective top defensemen and the foreign acquisitions in offense hit the mark, Ässät could significantly outperform in the regular season. If neither happens, the Porilaisten still have a balanced team that is hard to see dropping below 11th place.

10. Pelicans

Last season, Pelicans reached the quarter-finals of the league with a weak roster. The Lahti team relied on strong team defense and goaltending, which was enough to defeat JYP, but against KooKoo, the Pelicans had no chance. For the upcoming season, Pelicans have maintained their strengths and strengthened their weaker areas.

The Pelicans’ goal will be guarded by Patrik Bartosak and Jussi Olkinuora. Bartosak is among the top goaltenders in the league. Olkinuora’s level is a bigger mystery. In the last two seasons, he played in the German top league with a poor record. Over two seasons, he played 50 games and lost 38 of them.

READ ALSO: Sami Kapanen: this is the situation of injured Patrik Bartosak

The defensive lineup of Pelicans has not changed much. Casimir Jürgens, who underperformed in the regular season but impressed in the playoffs, moved to Ässät, and Daniel Nieminen went to North America. Remaining are Michal Jordan, Hampus Falk, Johannes Johannesen, and Mikko Kousa, whose playing condition before the season starts is a big question mark. New additions include Markus Nutivaara and Carl-Johan Lerby.

In the 2023-24 season, Carl Johan Lerby was seen in the league with Vaasan Sport. In 20 games, he scored modestly with 1+3. Photo: All Over Press

The Pelicans’ defense has plenty of defensive skills, but they lack a power play specialist. Nutivaara and Lerby are expected to contribute significantly in terms of scoring.

Offense was Pelicans’ biggest weakness last season. Aidan Dudas had a strong season, and Oskars Batna and Brett Stapley were good acquisitions mid-season. Now, more firepower has been added to support the trio. Liam Hawel had good stats in HockeyAllsvenskan, Oleksii Myklukha dominated in the Slovak top league, and Gabriel Fortier is considered the more talented of the Fortier brothers (Maxime Fortier had 29+37=66 last season with SaiPa). If Joona Kumpula and Roni Karvinen also improve from last season, Pelicans’ offense will have an incredible amount of firepower.

From Pelicans’ youth department, Anton Kettunen and Eelis Teutari deserve special mention. Kettunen played strong defense last season, but in the offensive zone, the young forward left much to be desired. Teutari, on the other hand, is a tireless workhorse and irritant, but he also has the potential to grow into a scorer at the league level.

Last season, Pelicans’ head coach Sami Kapanen did a great job creating a turtle-style game for the team and achieving decent success with it. Now, Kapanen needs to find new pages in his playbook, as such a high-quality Pelicans team must play a more puck-oriented game. It will be interesting to see how Kapanen succeeds in this.

9. HPK

HPK has assembled the best team seen in Hämeenlinna in years. I am very optimistic about HPK’s upcoming season, and in my own ranking, the team is significantly higher, but since the season preview ranking is based on a vote from the editorial team, more conservative and wiser opinions placed HPK in 9th place.

READ ALSO: Perspective: This league team is the giant surprise of the super season

In recent years, Mikko Manner has already shown what he can extract from even modest rosters. As a head coach, he is definitely at the top level of the league. The playing style does not need to change drastically from last season, as the new team is built on a stable foundation and the new player acquisitions are precise reinforcements of the right player profiles.

HPK’s goaltending department is also among the best in the league. Although Kim Saarinen was excellent last season, he did not receive the same hype as, for example, Patrik Bartosak and Jan Bednar. This happened despite Saarinen managing to maintain a good level throughout the season while many other big names struggled at some point.

HPK does not have to rely solely on Saarinen in goal, as the club acquired 27-year-old Jacob Crespin. The Swedish goaltender had an impressive last season in HockeyAllsvenskan, and in the preseason games, he has also performed well. Over the summer, many Swedish goaltenders were acquired for the league, and Crespin is among the most convincing.

In the last two seasons, Jacob Crespin guarded the goal for Kalmar HC in HockeyAllsvenskan. Photo: All Over Press

In terms of offense, HPK also has a lot going for them. Sami Päivärinta is an EHT-level player and a top-class center. Alongside him are the skillful Anrei Hakulinen and the new acquisition, the hard-working Brendan Ranford, who has played at a point-per-game level in the Slovak top league.

Last season, HPK was entirely dependent on its first line. Now, they have added Ethan De Jong, Joonas Oden, and Connor MacEachern to the lower lines. Oden had a strong season with KooKoo, while De Jong and MacEachern put up decent point totals in HockeyAllsvenskan.

Interesting younger names in HPK’s offense include Oliver Kopiloff and Roope Vesterinen. Kopiloff has put up impressive stats in the A-juniors. Last season, he got to adjust to the pace of the league. Will we see his breakthrough this season? Vesterinen’s last season was modest, as he scored 5 goals and 3 assists in 48 games. In his rookie season, he managed to score 24 points, so expectations were much higher. Was it just the infamous sophomore slump?

On paper, HPK’s weakness is the defense. Miska Kukkonen is an EHT-level defender who was close to making the Lions’ World Championship team last spring. However, Kukkonen is not a wizard with the puck. For a more puck-oriented role, new reinforcements Chad Nychuk and Hugo Gabrielsson have been acquired. It remains to be seen how the young defensemen adapt to the league.

Overall, HPK is more likely to surprise positively than negatively. The same can be said for SaiPa, Pelicans, and Ässät, which are also on this list.