Liiga

Mm.

It's a real funny year in the, uh, Finnish Elite League this year in Liiga.

Um, they've, they're doing this massive relegation.

Mm.

Uh, he's played a lot there.

Had a real good run last year, especially in the second half.

But all these teams in Finland are just, they, there is a scramble to stay in Liiga.

So that's what we're excited about-

He's Finnish, played with Jokret last year.

Again, didn't put up amazing numbers, but has the size, has played in that Finnish Elite League for probably the biggest, most famous club there is.

and that comes with its own kind of pressure so i think the stage is not going to be too big for him.

I think he's a player who could make an impact on there.

One more forward I wanna ask you about.

Benjamin Routinen came off a monster season in Finland, leading the Liiga with 77 points in 59 games.

The first player to crack 70 points there since '07, '08.

Tampa clearly liked what they saw, signing the young man to, the 20 year, 1-year-old to a three-year entry level contract in May.

He is six foot, 168 pounds, Finnish.

He played the 2025-26 season there in Finland for Tappara, and he was amazing.

33 points in 50 Liiga games in his draft season.

That's what allowed him to get drafted.

There's no doubt in my mind that Montreal is going to win a Stanley Cup during this window.

It just makes sense for me, and I think a lot of fans around the league, even Leafs fans, I would say, would agree with that as well so it's a good time to be a Montreal Canadiens fan there's no doubt about it and we also have a familiar name in the franchise who just scored their first goal with the TPSU Turku which is Atos Koivu which is Zaku Koivu's son obviously he is a Montreal Canadiens legend so having him in our system is great I believe he was drafted 60th overall by the Montreal Canadiens and uh has had some good seasons uh with TPS Turku and just I just want to bring it up a little bit bigger for you guys like I said he has scored one goal in two games um you playing in uh the Swedish Playing in SM Liga, I mean, it's great to see him doing his thing.

He had 9 points in 47 games last year.

And I think this is a guy who is a great two-way center.

He's als- he was also a draft plus two when he was drafted.

Uh, so he was a 20-year-old when he had this big year in Liiga, which quality has kinda dwindled a little bit in, in recent times, but still had 77 points in 59 games in Liiga, leading that league in scoring.

Um, extremely impressive campaign.

High skill level, high hockey sense.