It’s a Remarkable, Finn-tastic Connection for a Few Avs

With the addition of Juuso Parssinen, there will be five Finnish players starting against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night. This makes Mikko Rantanen happy.

“It’s fun. First three years of my career with the Avs we never had one Finn. Never had one Finn in the organization. So now we have five guys, so it’s pretty remarkable,” Rantanen said. “It’s kind of funny. We had seven different Finns play this year on our team. So I guess our team likes the Finns, so that’s good, but yeah, it’s fun.”

Parssinen and a 2026 seventh-round draft pick were acquired in a trade with the Nashville Predators for forward Ondrej Pavel and a third-round pick in the 2027 Draft on Saturday. He was able to meet with the team on Sunday and get a practice in on Monday.

Rantanen, who was referred to as the “godfather” of the Finnish players, has been taking care of Parssinen and helping him get situated around his new city.

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“The Finnish guys — three of them live in the same town as I, and we practice together during the summer, so I know them really good …,” the 6-foot-3, 212-pound forward said. “It’s so much easier to come in the group where you know already, at least one but I’m in a good spot, I know four or five guys already, so, I mean, that helps, of course.”

The 23-year-old forward is set to start on the fourth line with fellow Finn Jere Innala and Minnesota native Casey Mittelstadt.

“I’ve known him (Innala) a long time. We played back home in Finnish leagues. I know exactly how good he is,” Parssinen said. “And, I mean, of course, it helps on the ice as well. You can talk a little bit Finnish here and there, but then we have some English guy also on our line, so we can’t just speak Finnish all the time.”

Rantanen, Innala and the other Finnish players (Joel Kiviranta and Artturi Lehkonen) are helping the coaching staff get the new guy acclimated to the team. Bednar said he is utilizing their connection to bring Parssinen up to speed on the team’s systems.

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“I met with Mikko, Kivi (Kiviranta), Jere (Innala) and Lehky (Lehkonen) yesterday about him and how they can possibly keep chipping in and help him. A new guy’s not going to want to run into the coach’s office all the time, ask questions this and that, even though we will encourage him to,” Bednar said. “But the bulk of those guys, especially, have been with me and us for a long time, and know how we like to operate. I told him you use them as a sounding board, you use them for information.”

Bednar and the organization are confident Parssinen has potential. While he’s had a challenging year and hasn’t performed well, he didn’t play much on a dismal Predators team. But when you look at his skill set — his size, versatility to play both center and wing, and his strong track record in the American Hockey League — it’s clear he’s a talented young player.

I’d say he’s a work in progress, which Bednar has said about other players he and his staff have rejuvenated after coming to the team. He has a lot of promise and that’s just what the organization wants to bring out of him.