San Jose Sharks prospect Kasper Halttunen is rewriting the Ontario Hockey League’s playoff record book for import players. Now he and the London Knights are heading to the Memorial Cup.
After recording hat tricks in two consecutive games, Halttunen scored twice more Wednesday as the Knights beat the Oshawa Generals 7-1 to complete a four-game sweep in the best-of-seven OHL final.
Halttunen now has 26 points and a league-best 17 goals in 18 playoff games, as he continues to obliterate the previous OHL record for postseason goals scored by players born outside of Canada or the United States.
The old record was 13, shared by five players, including St. Louis Blues forward Alexei Toropchenko. In 2019, the Russian had 13 goals and six assists in 24 playoff games for the Guelph Storm.
The Helsinki-born Halttunen, a 6-foot-3 and 215-pound winger with an NHL-ready shot, was drafted in the second round, 36th overall, by the Sharks last year.
Wednesday, Halttunen scored a power-play goal at the 12:31 mark of the first period, and his even-strength goal at the 12:13 mark of the second period gave London a 5-1 lead. Halttunen later assisted on a power play goal by Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan, who was named MVP of the OHL playoffs.
Monday, in his best postseason game, Halttunen had three goals and an assist in London’s 7-6 double-overtime comeback win over Oshawa in Game 3 of the series.
The Knights trailed Oshawa 6-2 after 40 minutes but scored four goals in the third period before defenseman Henry Brzustewicz scored two minutes into the second overtime. Halttunen picked up the secondary assist on the winner and also scored goals 1:51 apart during the third-period comeback.
INSTANT CLASSIC pic.twitter.com/aWrqFhYkRd
— London Knights (@LondonKnights) May 14, 2024
Halttunen also had a hat trick in London’s 9-1 win over Oshawa in Game 2 of the league championship series.
London will compete in the Memorial Cup, the championship of major junior hockey, alongside QMJHL champion Drummondville, the Saginaw Spirit, the host team, and Western Hockey League champion Moose Jaw.
Rather than return to Finland for his first post-draft year, Halttunen, who signed an entry-level contract with the Sharks last July, decided to join London, which selected him 41st overall in the 2022 CHL Import Draft.
In his first full year on a smaller ice surface in North America, Halttunen had 61 points in 57 regular-season games for the Knights.
“He’s got a skill set. The hands are big time and his shot, it’s scary how easy he makes some of those goals look,” Chris Morehouse, the Sharks’ director of amateur scouting, said just before Christmas. “His shot is very, very dangerous.”
Halttunen’s lethal shot was obvious during his short stint during the Sharks’ training camp last fall. But it was clear that he needed to work on his skating and become more familiar with the quicker pace of the North American game.
While Halttunen is hardly a finished product, moving overseas appears to have been the right move for him, especially considering his and London’s postseason success.
“This was an 18-year-old kid that’s lived at home, playing men’s league, and all of a sudden decided, ‘I’m going to move across the world to go to London and play in Major Junior,’ because he wants to be a hockey player and he thinks it’s the best thing for his development,” Morehouse said.
“There’s obviously tons of things that still, at 18 years old, he’ll get as he matures and grows. But he’s taken all the right steps to get to this point, and we’re really excited about him.”
ELSEWHERE: Defenseman Luca Cagnoni, the only other Sharks draft pick competing in the CHL playoffs this week, had his remarkable season end.
Cagnoni, 19, and his Portland Winterhawks were swept 4-0 in their best-of-seven series with the Moose Jaw Warriors in the WHL championship. Moose Jaw won the first two games of the series in Portland, won Game 3 in overtime at home on Tuesday, and captured Game 4 on Wednesday.
Cagnoni, who the Sharks took in the fourth round of last year’s draft, scored 13 points in 13 playoff games for Portland.
The 5-foot-9, 180-pound Cagnoni finished the regular season with 90 points in 65 games, becoming the first WHL defenseman in over 30 years to record 90 points in a season. Shane Peacock had 102 points in 65 games with the Lethbridge Hurricanes in 1992-93.
“Yes, he’s small. He’ll have his challenges,” Morehouse said of Cagnoni. “But in terms of hockey IQ and being able to think the game in at a really high level offensively, there’s lots to like there.”
