Vesalainen made his NHL debut in the Jets season opener on Oct. 4 at St. Louis and recorded his first NHL point (an assist). The 19-year-old native of Helsinki, Finland won a Finnish Liiga championship with Karpat last season after recording eight points (4G, 4A) in 18 playoff games. Vesalainen played 49 regular season games between Karpat and HPK and finished sixth in the league with 22 goals, adding 21 assists for 43 points. He also competed in his second straight World Juniors and had six points (2G, 4A) in five games for the sixth-place Finland squad.
Vesalainen was drafted by the Jets in the first round (24th overall) in the 2017 NHL Draft.
Kristian Vesalainen
Wing
Born Jun 1 1999 -- Helsinki, Finland
Height 6.03 -- Weight 207 -- Shoots L
