Before an announcement on Aug. 9, the London Knights already had a deep roster heading into the 2023-24 Ontario Hockey League season.
Adding San Jose Sharks prospect Kasper Halttunen has made it even better.
London’s first pick in the 2022 CHL Import Draft is set to wear green and gold for the upcoming season.
Halttunen is from Helsinki, Finland and owns a big shot that could create some serious concerns for OHL goaltenders.
The Sharks selected Halttunen with the fourth pick of the second round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft and after getting a look at the six-foot-three-inch forward at a development camp in July, San Jose signed him to a three-year, entry-level contract.
“He’s a big power forward who has a big shot, a good wrist shot and who can make plays off the wall,” said Knights associate general manager Rob Simpson. “He has a good mix of size and skill to his game that is really going to help our lineup next year.”
Halttunen elected to play in Finland leading up to the NHL draft and had a very busy season. He played 27 games with HIFK in Finland’s top league in 2022-23 and also spent time in the second-highest pro league as well as with HIFK’s U20 team.
At the under-18 world hockey championship, Halttunen captained the Finnish side and nearly brought them all the way back in a quarter-final game against Slovakia that saw Finland fall behind 3-0 through two periods. Halttunen scored a goal in the third period and then set up another in an eventual 3-2 loss.
He helped Finland win bronze at the same event in 2022 and is already on the radar for the world junior hockey championship after being invited to this year’s Summer Showcase in Plymouth, Mich.
Halttunen would be one of two import selections on the Knights roster, with Ruslan Gazizov being the other.
London also selected Daniil Ustinkov in the 2023 CHL Import Draft. Ustinkov played for Switzerland in the 2023 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup and is signed to play in Switzerland in 2023-24. He would have the opportunity to come and play for the Knights in 2024-25 following a similar route to the one that Halttunen has taken to this point.
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