Benjamin Rautiainen leaves Tappara and heads to North America next Wednesday with the Tampa Bay Lightning, reports Urheilucast’s Esko Seppänen.

Rautiainen’s last game in a Tappara jersey will be the CHL match against Köln on Saturday.

The interest from the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Finnish forward has been strong. According to Seppänen, the team’s assistant GM traveled to Tampere personally to observe Rautiainen’s performance in the CHL.

Rautiainen gave a strong response to the visit. He recorded three assists in the game.

According to Seppänen, Rautiainen is taken seriously by the Lightning. The team wants to form as accurate an understanding as possible of what kind of player and person he is.

Based on this, Rautiainen’s return to Tappara’s lineup is no longer expected.

Tampa Bay selected Rautiainen in the fourth round of last summer’s NHL draft with the 108th pick.

Rautiainen rose to the ranks of the league’s star players last season. He collected 77 points with 25 goals and 52 assists in 59 regular season games with Tappara, winning the scoring title.

The season was crowned with the Finnish championship with Tappara.

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