Aiden Fink \u2013 Forward \u2013 Nashville Predators<\/p>\n
A feel-good moment to close out the 2023 draft in Nashville has grown into something more with Aiden Fink<\/a>. Chosen 218th overall, retiring general manager David Poile<\/a> made an innocuous trade with then-Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald<\/a>, his own former player in Nashville, selecting Fink as his last of a 40+ year career, in front of applause from surrounding draft tables in his home barn.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m certainly going to be cheering for you\u201d Poile said<\/a> of the then-NHL longshot. Three years later, the former Brooks Bandit turned in a strong career at Penn State, 125 points in 104 games, not looking back after a team-leading freshman breakout. The 21-year-old passed the test in a short professional audition last spring too, notching 10 points in his first six AHL games with the Milwaukee Admirals. He was on track to make an NHL debut, until Visa issues got in the way.<\/p>\n At 5\u201910\u201d Fink must continue to overcome his smaller stature with high end puck skills and quickness on an unconventional stride. A key winger for the Admirals next season, the Predators hope Fink could realistically follow a Bobby Brink<\/a> type of path to a respectable middle-sixer with PP2 upside. Even if Fink maxes out as a tweener with elite AHL production, it\u2019s a great story, and a heck of a seventh round pick.<\/p>\n Nathan Behm \u2013 Forward \u2013 Chicago Blackhawks<\/p>\n A 19-year-old just now embarking on his college career at Arizona State, Nathan Behm<\/a> still has a long way to go before ever taking to the ice at the United Center. Still, he\u2019s done enough at the junior level for recognition.<\/p>\n Taken 66th overall in 2025 with a pick the Hawks got back from Carolina for Taylor Hall<\/a>, as part of the three-team Mikko Rantanen<\/a> trade<\/a>, Behm\u2019s torrid start with 29 points in his first 18 games in 2024-25 cooled off a bit, causing a slide to the Blackhawks in the third round. This past season, he lit it up for the Kamloops Blazers with 86 points in 67 games, good for the 10th highest WHL scorer, doing damage alongside Detroit first rounder J.P. Hurlbert<\/a>.<\/p>\n Behm is a lesser talked about name in a stacked Chicago farm system. At 6\u20192\u201d he posesses a lethal shot and enough of a physical edge to impact that area. A name to watch on how he\u2019ll handle higher competition in the NCAA, Behm is a safe bottom six bet with second line upside. He\u2019ll join a Sun Devils roster full of NHL-drafted talent, including Ottawa\u2019s Filip Nordberg<\/a>, a second-round selection, as they\u2019ll look to bounce back from a season below .500. Depending on how things go in his first year, Behm holds some parallels to a player like Philadelphia\u2019s Tyson Foerster<\/a>, and those are the exact types Chicago needs to hit on to polish up their rebuild.<\/p>\n Cameron Schmidt \u2013 Dallas Stars \u2013 Forward<\/p>\n While Behm did his thing in Kamloops, 10th best scorer in the league, another possible future Central foe made his mark as well. Cameron Schmidt<\/a>, drafted in 2025, 28 picks later, scored 51 goals as part of his 100 total points across 72 games for the Vancouver Giants and Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL. He finished third in league scoring, above the aforementioned Hurlbert, and just behind the Ruck twins, Markus<\/a> and Liam<\/a>.<\/p>\n Stars general manager Jim Nill<\/a>\u2018s track record finding talent is already tremendous, and it\u2019s looking like he may have done it again with Schmidt. Dallas has made just one first round pick in the past four drafts (Emil Hemming<\/a>) but that hasn\u2019t stopped Nill from supplementing his team as Jamie Benn<\/a> and Tyler Seguin<\/a> age. A classic case of falling in the draft due to his size (5\u20198\u2033), Schmidt already has four high scoring campaigns to his name with more to come. Set to join his third club this fall after a recent trade<\/a>, moving on to the Victoria Royals, Schmidt is in store for another potential triple-digit scoring pace in 2026-27 before moving to the pro rank. Still just 19, he will have a shot at a higher stage if he can crack Canada\u2019s World Juniors roster next winter. Boasting electric speed, there\u2019s absolutely top-six upside.<\/p>\n The winger naturally gets Cole Caufield<\/a>\/Alex DeBrincat<\/a> comparisons thrown out, but still with a long road to ever making that a possibility, it\u2019s hard to tell until he graduates from the WHL. He\u2019s not quite like former Star Logan Stankoven<\/a>, needing to iron out his two-way game, but even if never exploding into a 40-goal threat, the Stars have another exciting young forward on their hands. Unlike the names above, not so highly listed despite their skills, he\u2019s right at the top of the Dallas top prospects, #2 on The Daily Faceoff\u2019s Steven Ellis\u2019 ranking last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n Aron Kiviharju \u2013 Minnesota Wild \u2013 Defenseman<\/p>\n Capping off the group with a look on the back-end, many draft day-falling names eventually fade into obscurity, eventually proving any doubters right. Aron Kiviharju<\/a> will look to reverse that trend, and so far he\u2019s off to a nice start, growing into a nicely rounded player. A hyped up 2024 prospect who fell due to a major knee injury<\/a> and smaller size at 5\u201910\u201d, 180 lbs, the Wild were happy to take a shot on a once-top 10 ranged prospect in the fourth round at 122nd overall. As he works his way back from injury, in no way has Kiviharju exploded in the Finnish Liiga, but he\u2019s held his own on HIFK Helsinki and looks like a nice prospect.<\/p>\n This past season, the 20-year-old recorded 17 points in 48 games, second on the club among defensemen, skating alongside former NHLer Jori Lehtera<\/a>. When instead not playing with or against men practically twice his age, Kiviharju captained Finland at the World Junior Championships for the second straight year, eating major minutes and coming away with five helpers in six games. It was business as usual for the lefty, who the year prior had been referred to<\/a> as \u201clike one of the coaches\u201d for the Finns with his vocal and steady presence.<\/p>\n Set to return to HIFK for another year, it will prove to be a huge indicator as to his NHL outlook. As things are trending, a transition to North America with the Wild organization is on the horizon. Kiviharju\u2019s all-around game is more than that of typical skilled puck movers who are liabilities in other areas. Still unsigned by the Wild, he could benefit from bulking up some on the way to becoming, realistically, a skilled #4\/5 who can make an impact on the man-advantage. Once compared to Adam Fox<\/a> as a lottery-pick and future superstar, even assuming that won\u2019t be the case, there\u2019s no reason to forget Kiviharju\u2019s name just yet.<\/p>\n Image Credit: Nick Wosika-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect (Kiviharju)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the off-season continues to roll in August, gearing up for training camp and Opening Night, it\u2019s time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,11477,25176,85],"class_list":["post-853816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-pro-hockey-rumors-originals","tag-prospects","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026-01-06T012038Z_1121032803_MT1USATODAY27938515_RTRMADP_3_HOCKEY-2026-IIHF-WORLD-JUNIOR-CHAMPIONSH.jpeg\")
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