The Detroit Red Wings traded 6’4,” 209-pound defenseman Andrew Gibson to the Nashville Predators for Finnish right winger Jesse Kiiskinen and a 2nd round pick that was flipped to San Jose in the Jake Walman trade last summer.
A year ago at this time, some hockey types were scratching their heads, wondering why the Wings moved a bruising, downright mean Soo Greyhounds defenseman in Gibson in exchange for a skinny Finnish forward who had an OK season for the Lahti Pelicans of the Finnish Liiga in 2023-2024.
Thankfully for Detroit, Kiiskinen had a tremendous season for a very mediocre HPK Hameenlinna team last season, posting 14 goals and 30 assists for 44 points in 46 games played in the Finnish men’s league. Internationally, Kiiskinen not only wore an alternate captain’s “A” for the FInnish World Junior team, but he also posted 6 goals and an assist over the course of 7 WJC games.
While posting those numbers, Kiiskinen displayed a nasty edge to his game, a nose for the net, and a whole bunch of resilience as HPK struggled. As such, the Red Wings signed Kiiskinen to a 3-year, entry-level contract on June 3rd, and the plucky 6’1,” 190-pound forward attended the Wings’ Summer Development Camp in early July.
MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with Kiiskinen at the Summer Development Camp, noting that the young forward led the Under-20 scoring ranks in the Liiga in 2024-2025:
“I think my play was way better after the tough start,” he said. “We started to play together better with my line and then my own game just got better.”
Kiiskinen did more facilitating than finishing (14 goals, 30 assists) but expects that to change with experience.
“Maybe the stats don’t see that because I had a lot of assists, more than goals, but I like to still make plays and (score),” Kiiskinen said. “I still love scoring and have loved that all my life. I think I have to improve my skating still. I’m not maybe the fastest skater, so have to get that better.”
Dan Cleary gave Kiiskinen a thumbs-up before the almost-20-year-old returned to Finland for one more season with HPK:
“He came over about 10 days prior (to development camp), hung out with a couple of the other prospects, got to become friends, got a little more familiar,” Dan Cleary, Red Wings assistant director of player development, said. “He had a good season in (Finland) and expect him to have another strong season. Then we’ll see him in North America next year.”
Continued (paywall); it’s far too early to suggest who “won the trade” in terms of Andrew Gibson’s development as opposed to that of Kiiskinen, but the Red Wings perhaps unwittingly filled a need for a scoring forward with a plucky edge and net-front instincts.
Given the Wings’ surplus of right-shooting defensemen, sometimes you make a deal to fill a need (whatever the hell getting rid of Walman involved) and you get more than what you were hoping for in return.
