Red Wings prospect Jesse Kiiskinen spoke with the media after Day 1 of the team’s Summer Development Camp at Little Caesars Arena, and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan reports that Kiiskinen didn’t find out that he was a Red Wing until he was completing mandatory military service back home in Finland, a summer ago:
“It was a big surprise,” said Kiiskinen, who was a 2023 third-round pick by Nashville. “I was there and almost leaving for the forest, about 10 minutes before we are going to the forest and living in a tent for a few days. I got the call and yeah, ‘You’ve been traded.’ I was like, OK, great.”
Kiiskinen took everything in stride and took a few more calls from the Wings.
“I got a few calls from here and I was just a little bit like, ‘What happened?'” he said. “They didn’t realize that I started to see messages from my friends. It was fun. I finished (the required Finnish military training) like the end of last summer. I don’t have to go back anymore, and just able to focus on hockey.”
Kiiskinen believes he can bring to hockey something he learned from the military, mainly patience.
“Be confident if everything doesn’t go like you want,” Kiiskinen said.
Kiiskinen had 14 goals and 30 assists in 46 games with HPK Hameenlinna in Finland this past season.