Golden Knights select Juho Piiparinen No. 29 overall at the 2026 NHL Draft
The Vegas Golden Knights have selected defenseman Juho Piiparinen with the No. 29 overall selection of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.
The 29th selection has been passed around quite a bit. It originally belonged to the Colorado Avalanche, but it was moved to both the New York Islanders and St. Louis Blues before going to the Anaheim Ducks in the Mason McTavish trade earlier in the night. The Ducks traded the spot, along with the No. 117 pick, to the Golden Knights in exchange for the 28th selection.
Piiparinen was projected to be selected around 28th overall on average across all of the main draft rankings, going as high as 19th and as low as 42nd. He was also ranked 6th among European skaters by NHL Central Scouting. Daily Faceoff prospect analyst Steven Ellis projected him to go slightly below consensus at 33rd overall.
Ellis had this to say about Piiparinen in his most recent draft rankings:
“Piiparinen is a smart defender who doesn’t make many puck-handling mistakes. He’s good when he keeps things simple, but he can also rush the puck up the ice and lower the boom when needed. Piiparinen has played decent hockey against men, and his international action has been solid, too. Piiparinen isn’t flashy, but he’s calm and collected in his own zone and is generally reliable defensively. I was hoping to see him put up more offense this season, but his game is more about shutting opponents down with his mobility. He’ll make a good fit alongside someone more offensively minded, and I feel very confident he’ll at least challenge for a bottom-pairing role in the NHL one day.”
Piiparinen spent the entirety of his season in Finland, with most of it spent with Tappara in Liiga. In 29 games with the team, he had three assists. The Lahti, Finland product also spent some time with Tappara’s U20 team, where he had one goal and 12 assists for 13 points in 15 games.
Piiparinen has also represented Finland on the international stage. In the winter, he was on the team for the World Junior Championship, where he had one assist in four games as Finland lost to Canada in the bronze medal game. Then in the spring, he participated in the U-18 World Championship, where he went pointless in five games as the captain, with Finland losing to Czechia in the quarterfinals.