We look at another young player who could be playing in the world's top league before long!

Our final look at some of this year’s prospects in the CHL takes who could feature early in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft takes us to Sweden, where young Finnish forward Kristian Vesalainen has already played in a European semi-final!

Hailing from Helsinki, 17-year-old Kristian Vesalainen played his junior hockey in the IFK Helsinki system until the summer of 2015, where he moved over the border to Sweden to join Frolunda Gothenburg. The move came after a season in which Vesalainen scored 15 points in 18 U18 Junior-B SM-Sarja games, and put up 13 points in all competitions over 24 games for Finland’s U17 team.

On moving to Gothenburg, Vesalainen then went on to post 34 points (15+19) for Frolunda’s U20 SuperElit team in 37 games, and played three games for the Indians in the CHL, including in the Semi-Finals as they eliminated Davos 6-1 on aggregate – but missing the Final as he took up national team duties with Finland’s U18 team as a warm-up to the World Championships. He went on to dress in 16 matches for Frolunda in the SHL last season, scoring 1+5. Like many young Finns tipped for future success, Vesalainen was part of the U18 team that took gold in last year’s World U18 Junior Championships, helping his team with two goals and four assists in seven tournament games.

In this summer’s off-season Vesalainen was rewarded with a contract extension with Frolunda, and as the season began played in six games for the Indians in the Champions league, scoring two goals – one an empty netter at home to Pardubice, and the other a key goal away to Mink in the Round of 32. Scoring five points in 16 SHL games, Vesalainen has now been loaned to Finnish side HPK in Hameenlinna, dressing seven times already for the Liiga outfit.

Picked out by The Hockey News as ‘Finland’s power forward threat for the 2017 draft’, Vesalainen has not escaped the attention of scouts so far this season. "He's a big, physical power forward who likes to go straight for the net," NHL Director of European Scouting Goran Stubb said.

On their November list, The International Scouring Service ranked Vesalainen #6 overall, the highest Finn on their prediction. McKeen’s Hockey also have Vesalainen inside the Top 10, while Future Considerations and HockeyProsect.com have the young forward #11 and #16 respectively.