There were six Finland-born players chosen in the second round Saturday: centers Alekski Heponiemi (No. 40, Florida Panthers), Eetu Luostarinen (No. 42, Carolina Hurricanes) and Joni Ikonen (Montreal Canadiens, No. 58), defensemen Eemeli Rasanen (Toronto Maple Leafs, No. 59) and Robin Salo (New York Islanders, No. 46), and goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (Buffalo Sabres, No. 54).
Heponiemi (5-10, 149), who scored 86 points (28 goals, 58 assists) for Swift Current and was named the WHL rookie of the year, was glad to see Finnish hockey getting so much recognition at the draft.
"It's really good for Finnish hockey and I think there are a lot of good Finnish guys coming up next year too," Heponiemi said. "It's a good thing to see."
The previous record of five Finland-born players selected in the first round was set in 2002, when forwards Jesse Niinimaki (No. 15, Edmonton Oilers) and Sean Bergenheim (New York Islanders, No. 22), defenseman Joni Pitkanen (No. 4, Philadelphia Flyers), and goaltenders Kari Lehtonen (Atlanta Thrashers, No. 2) and Hannu Toivonen (Boston Bruins, No. 29) were chosen.