{"id":400685,"date":"2026-01-11T02:04:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T02:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/400685\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T02:04:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T02:04:27","slug":"aron-kiviharjus-outlook-becoming-clearer-after-strong-world-juniors-minnesota-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/400685\/","title":{"rendered":"Aron Kiviharju\u2019s Outlook Becoming Clearer After Strong World Juniors – Minnesota Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAron Kiviharju, a 2024 fourth-round draft pick<\/a> of the Minnesota Wild, was in the Twin Cities for the past few weeks as he captained Team Finland to a third consecutive appearance in the medal round.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was Kiviharju\u2019s second year as captain of the Finnish squad. While they were disappointed with their fourth-place finish after falling to Canada in the bronze medal game, it was another excellent performance by the 5-foot-10 defenseman. He was once again voted<\/a> as one of Finland\u2019s three best players after also receiving that honor in last year\u2019s tournament.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tKiviharju, who famously told Bill Guerin<\/a> that the Wild \u201cgot the steal of the draft<\/a>\u201d after a serious knee injury in his draft year caused him to slide down draft boards, led Finland in ice time with 23:03 per game, which was also the fifth most by any player in the tournament.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe was the most important player on a team lacking star power, which became crystal clear when he missed Finland\u2019s preliminary round matchup against Canada. In the six games that Kiviharju played, Finland allowed an average of 2.83 goals against. In that New Year\u2019s Eve tilt versus Canada, they allowed seven.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIt wasn\u2019t just that the usually stout Finns got lit up; it was how it happened that was the most striking. All night, they looked disorganized<\/a> on the back end, mixing up coverages, missing switches, and botching sort-outs when defending in transition. They were pushed around in front of the net, and several of Canada\u2019s goals came on defensive breakdowns. Zone clears under pressure were an issue. There was even a five- or ten-second window at the tail end of a power play when they played with only four skaters after a mix-up that left them one defenseman short.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was clear from the get-go that they dearly missed their captain. Watching Kiviharju defend is like watching a good floor general in basketball. He directs traffic, calls out switches, supports teammates, and takes away options.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tKiviharju is versatile. He can play both sides and often does, meaning the lefty can be mixed and matched with partners based on game situations and matchup preferences. And when he gets the puck on his stick, the game calms down, and he handles it with poise. Kiviharju rarely makes a bad decision, and he\u2019s excellent at relieving pressure with deft maneuvers into space or short passes against the grain that evade forechecks.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tPerhaps most importantly, he plays big minutes. In Finland\u2019s epic<\/a> semi-final game against eventual gold-medalist Sweden, a thriller that ended in a 4-3 shootout decision for the Swedes, Kiviharju played a whopping 27:28, including 5:08 of the 10-minute three-on-three overtime. His ice time was nearly seven minutes more than the next highest total for a Finnish defenseman.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tKiviharju was on the ice for all three of Finland\u2019s goals and only one goal against. He assisted on Finland\u2019s first goal and nearly ended the game in overtime, ringing the crossbar from the high slot. It was a phenomenal performance in the biggest of moments. It came two days after overcoming illness and playing a stellar game in a quarterfinal victory<\/a> over the United States, in which he made a beautiful back-door pass to set up Finland\u2019s second goal.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s starting to become clear that Kiviharju will have the chops to succeed in North America once he makes the jump. He\u2019s signed with HIFK in Liiga (Finland\u2019s top league) through the 2026-27 season, so it\u2019s likely that the earliest the Wild could sign him would be for the 2027-28 season.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe question is, what is his ceiling? And does that ceiling include the NHL?\n<\/p>\n

\n\tOffensively, he should be suitably effective at any level. He is an excellent puck handler, and while he\u2019s not flashy, he has subtle skill, making many good, efficient, and quick puck handles that he combines with excellent footwork. That allows him to stay square to the play to survey for options and find lanes, makes it difficult for defenders to anticipate his movements and buys him a little extra time and space.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a puck mover, he makes good reads and understands motion and play development in terms of when and where to find or create options in all three zones. I\u2019ve noticed an improvement in his shot over the last year. He doesn\u2019t have a powerful shot or the quickest release, but he\u2019s improved in both areas, and he\u2019s always been good at getting pucks through and shooting for tips or rebounds.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe\u2019ll never be a big point producer, but he can be an asset for an offensive unit. He runs a good power play at the junior level, but I don\u2019t know if he projects to do that at the NHL level, because most teams will have better options. I could see him running an AHL power play unit. He currently looks to be getting power play time<\/a> on HIFK\u2019s second unit, but that power play has only produced at 17.14% success rate, though four of Kiviharju\u2019s seven points on the season have come with the man advantage.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tDefensively, from a foundational standpoint, he has a lot of the tools that could help him succeed long-term. He overcomes his smaller stature in many situations with footwork and a solid base. He\u2019ll get in on an opponent\u2019s hands to take away their stick in front of the net, but he doesn\u2019t lock up too early and get outmuscled by bigger players; he tries to time it so that he has the advantage when his man becomes an option, or when the puck arrives.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tKiviharju uses a similar tactic in wall battles. If he gets there first, he\u2019ll win nearly every time because of his footwork and leverage. However, if he doesn\u2019t, he tries to stay in tight and disrupt an opponent\u2019s ability to use his stick to make a play. Then, he\u2019ll look for opportunities to poke the puck loose or lock his man up until he gets support.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Kiviharju, the question will always come down to his skating and whether he can continue to adapt as he moves up the levels. He\u2019s not a fast skater and cannot generate quick bursts. That occasionally causes him issues, especially when he has to track speedy opponents around the offensive zone and win races to spots. In these instances, he tries to use his intelligence, reading, and footwork to anticipate and disrupt movements, get into passing lanes, and thwart plays that way. But if he gets caught on a guy\u2019s hip or is at a positional disadvantage, opponents can occasionally exploit that.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Kiviharju is defending the rush, if he gets caught flat-footed or with bad gaps, he has a hard time recovering because he\u2019s not the swiftest backward skater and doesn\u2019t make powerful turns from backward to forward. Kiviharju has largely eliminated the risky poke checks and reaches he was making last year<\/a> at this time. He also moves well laterally with strong pushes and pull-unders, so if he can keep position, he can defend against faster players.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIf I had to bet right now, I\u2019d guess that Kiviharju eventually becomes an NHL defenseman, but probably a bottom-of-the-lineup one that can play steady but unspectacular minutes. First, he\u2019ll need to prove he can handle the heaviness and physical rigors of North American hockey on a daily basis, and the AHL will allow him to do so. If he succeeds there, I think he\u2019ll transition to the NHL rather easily once he makes the jump.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWith players like Kiviharju, who are well-rounded and have some tools but look like fringe players on the surface, I look at intelligence, competitiveness, and the ability to stay composed. Those tend to be the separators among prospects who profile similarly, and Kiviharju has each in abundance. He\u2019s a mature player and a leader, and he\u2019s played on some of the biggest hockey stages in the world and thrived.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhether Kiviharju becomes the steal of the 2024 draft remains to be seen, but he looks more and more like a valuable future piece of the Wild organization.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aron Kiviharju, a 2024 fourth-round draft pick of the Minnesota Wild, was in the Twin Cities for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[1209,5,161,38,5280,4,162],"class_list":{"0":"post-400685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-wild","8":"tag-aron-kiviharju","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-minnesota","11":"tag-minnesota-wild","12":"tag-minnesotawild","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-wild"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115874015847018384","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}