TAMPA — Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Benjamin Rautiainen shattered a 30-year-old Finnish hockey record this season and now has his sights set on cracking the NHL roster when training camp opens this fall.
The 21-year-old forward scored 77 points in 2025-26 for Tappara Tampere in the Liiga, Finland’s top professional league, surpassing Saku Koivu’s mark of 74 points in 1994-95 for the most by a player before his 21st birthday in league history. His output ranked as the seventh-best season in Liiga history overall, and his 52 assists in 59 games were the sixth-most by any player all-time.
“I’m super excited to be part of this organization. I see this as the right step for me,” Rautiainen said. “My dream is to play in the NHL, and now I’m a step closer. Of course my work continues because I can always improve, and I know I can still do that. This is the right choice for me, and it’s a privilege to be part of this organization.”
Rautiainen, selected by Tampa Bay with the 108th overall pick at the 2025 NHL Draft after posting 10 goals and 33 points in 50 games as a 20-year-old, signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Lightning in May. He also broke Tappara’s single-season scoring record, wore the gold helmet as his team’s top scorer for much of the year and won the Lasse Oksanen Award as the league’s best player.
The 6-foot, 174-pound forward then helped Tappara win the Liiga championship, scoring seven points in 18 playoff games and assisting on the game-winning goal in Game 7 of the Final. “It was a really hard playoffs for us,” Rautiainen said. “In two series we were down 2-0 and needed pretty good comebacks on our part. It was hard from start to finish, and it was a crazy experience for me as a young player to feel those emotions and play in those series.”
Lightning General Manager and Vice President of Hockey Operations Julien BriseBois called the season historic. “Tremendous level of skill and playmaking ability. Still a young player, still in development, still physically in development, but very curious to see what comes next for him,” BriseBois said. “Really amazing what he’s done this year. It’s historical really. If you look at all the records he’s beaten, who he compares to in that league — all-time greats that end up being NHL players, Teemu Selanne’s name comes up a lot — we’re really excited about having him in our pipeline.”
Rautiainen said he models his game after two of hockey’s greatest players. “I’m a pretty offensive guy. I like to play with the puck, and I try to make smart decisions with the puck. I think my stickhandling is another strength,” he said. “Of course when Tampa drafted me I watched Nikita Kucherov a lot, and I’ve tried to learn some things from him. My idol was Sidney Crosby my whole childhood, so those two players are the ones I try to play like.”
The transition to North America’s smaller ice surface does not concern him. “It’s different. I think it’s a pretty good thing for me,” Rautiainen said. “A lot of things can happen on the smaller rink pretty fast. I like that, and I’m looking forward to playing there.”
If Rautiainen does not make Tampa Bay’s NHL roster in October, he will be reassigned to Tappara under the NHL’s international hockey agreement and could join the Lightning or their AHL affiliate in the spring after the Liiga season concludes. “You want to feel those moments again and again,” he said. “That’s why we play this sport is to win. I hate losing, and that’s something where you want to win again and keep winning.”