The NHL Prospect Games in Detroit will give Red Wings fans a fresh look at three Finnish names with very different timelines: Dallas defenseman Niilopekka Muhonen, Detroit winger Jesse Kiiskinen, and Red Wings pick Luka Arkko. The event runs Sept. 12 to 15 at the BELFOR Training Center, with Detroit hosting Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Columbus.
Muhonen is the biggest swing of the group, and maybe the most intriguing. Dallas grabbed him 158th overall in 2024, betting on a 6-foot-5 defenseman who had the raw tools but needed real polish.
He left KalPa for the Western Hockey League that fall, then made an immediate impact with Medicine Hat, helping the Tigers win the Ed Chynoweth Cup and reach the Memorial Cup final in his first North American season. Dallas rewarded that progress with a three-year entry-level deal in July 2025, and he’s set to begin this season with the AHL’s Texas Stars.
The offense is almost a non-factor right now, and that’s not the point. His stat line from last season reads like a shutdown defender’s: two hits per game, 58 percent of his puck battles won, penalty-kill duty, and 84 percent passing to get the puck out of danger.
He finished plus-27 in 39 games for a Medicine Hat team that went 50-10-5-3, though he also missed time on both sides of the new year with upper-body injuries. What Dallas is really buying is the skating for his size and the chance that it holds up against pro pace.
At development camp in July, he looked unusually agile for a player that tall, and his best moment came when he forced a turnover and fed Dylan Hryckowian for the first goal of the mini-game. The question is whether the same mobility can keep him from overcommitting and getting exposed on rushes.
Right now, the safest projection is a penalty-killing depth defenseman, but the skating gives him a real runway.
Kiiskinen arrives in a very different place. Nashville drafted him 68th overall in 2023, then Detroit acquired him in a trade that sent 2023 second-rounder Andrew Gibson to Nashville along with a 2024 second-round pick.
The Finnish winger made a loud statement at the 2025 World Juniors, wearing an “A” for Finland and scoring six goals over the final four games after a quiet start, helping the team to silver. He also put up 44 points in 46 Liiga games for HPK in 2024-25, leading all junior-aged scorers in the league.
His 2024-25 season in Liiga was a little different, with 28 points in 54 games, but the goals jumped to 17 while the assists dipped. That fits the player.
Kiiskinen shoots a ton - more than five attempts a game by the box-score count - but a lot of those looks come from the perimeter or the one-timer spots, not the dangerous areas in the middle. He doesn’t create a ton for teammates, either.
The tape points to a high-tempo winger with energy and bite, not a true driver, and the honest projection is a third-line, two-way role. Still, the shot is real.
It’s heavy, accurate, and dangerous on the one-timer, and he brings an agitator’s edge on the forecheck. The biggest concern is his skating, especially the long-term impact of his speed and stride.
He got a three-game look with Grand Rapids to close last season, picking up a goal and an assist, and now he’s in North America for good. On a younger Griffins group, he could get a top-six chance.
Arkko is the youngest and rawest of the trio. Detroit took the 18-year-old 175th overall in June, and the 6-foot-3, 212-pound forward is headed to North American junior after the Erie Otters selected him in the OHL import draft. Last season he split time between the Pelicans’ under-20 and under-18 teams in Finland and totaled 33 points.
He doesn’t fit neatly into the power-forward label. Yes, he works around the net, hunts rebounds, screens, and protects the puck well below the goal line.
But he doesn’t play like a heavy hitter. The more accurate description is a smart, connective winger with some size and touch.
The concerns are clear, though: his skating form is stiff and upright, and the separation between his upper and lower body isn’t where it needs to be. That keeps him from really leaning on his frame against better competition.
Even so, there is some pop in his game. In a preseason game last summer, he went coast to coast, split the defense, and scored through back pressure.
Detroit is going to get its first look at him in a Red Wings sweater against older, faster players, and the main question is whether the feet can keep pace with the hands.
Taken together, the three Finns offer three different kinds of value. Muhonen has the highest ceiling and the longest road.
Kiiskinen looks closest to NHL help if the shot continues to carry the day in the AHL. Arkko is the long-term project, a sixth-round swing who will need patience.
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