Benjamin Rautiainen Tampa Bay Lightning future looks bright after he just turned in one of the finest seasons Finnish professional hockey has ever seen. Now the Lightning forward prospect is gearing up for the next step in his career. Tampa Bay’s fourth-round pick at the 2025 NHL Entry Draft signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Lightning in May, putting him on track to potentially debut in the NHL as early as this fall. The 21-year-old says the move feels like the right fit. He’s described playing in the NHL as a long-held dream and pointed to the contract as a meaningful step toward it, while stressing he still has room to keep improving as a player.
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Rautiainen Contract with Lightning has Potential
The Tampa Bay Lightning drafted Rautiainen 108th overall last June after he posted 10 goals and 33 points in 50 games as a 20-year-old with Tappara Tampere in the Liiga, Finland’s top league. He took an enormous leap forward in 2025-26, finishing with 77 points to surpass Saku Koivu‘s previous record of 74 points before a player’s 21st birthday, a mark that had stood since the 1994-95 season. His output ranked as the seventh-best individual season in Liiga history, and his 52 assists in 59 games were the sixth-most by any player in league history.
Liiga’s best player
He also set Tappara’s single-season scoring record, spent much of the year wearing the team’s gold helmet awarded to its leading scorer, and won the Lasse Oksanen Award as the Liiga’s best player. The 6’0″, 174-pound forward capped the season by helping Tappara capture the league championship, tallying seven points across 18 playoff games and assisting on the series-clinching goal in Game 7 of the Final. Rautiainen called the playoff run a grueling test, noting Tappara twice had to claw back from 2-0 series deficits, and described it as an intense, formative experience.
Rautiainen describes himself as an offence-minded player who likes controlling the puck and making smart decisions with it, citing his stickhandling as a particular strength. He’s modelled aspects of his game after Nikita Kucherov since being drafted by Tampa Bay, breaking down clips of the Lightning star’s edgework and puck protection, while naming Sidney Crosby as his childhood idol whose two-way game he tried to emulate growing up in Finland. That’s two legends who every hockey player should strive to be mentioned alongside when their career comes to an end.
Rautiainen could crack the NHL roster this October or get reassigned to Tappara under NHL international agreements, with a path to North America opening up next spring. Either way, he’s already bracing for the adjustment to the smaller ice surface. He pointed to his experience at the World Junior Championships on a similarly tight rink as good preparation, saying he enjoys how quickly plays develop in tighter spaces and is looking forward to the change.
Tampa GM excited
Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois thinks Rautiainen’s future is bright. He praised Rautiainen’s skill and playmaking, calling his season historic given the company he now keeps in Liiga record books. Teemu Selänne‘s name is frequently invoked as a point of comparison among Liiga standouts who went on to NHL stardom. BriseBois added that the organization is excited about his place in Tampa Bay’s prospect pipeline. With the Tampa Bay roster’s increasing age becoming a focus, youth will be a hot topic of conversation throughout a gruelling regular season. One that continues to see some of Tampa’s star veterans sidelined for extended periods.
With a Liiga championship already in hand, Rautiainen has turned his attention to off-season training as he looks ahead to 2026-27, and possibly a trip to the NHL. An eye on a much bigger prize down the road. The appeal of winning is exactly why he plays the game. Hating to lose is what drives him to keep chasing that feeling again and again. Rautiainen’s future is one to watch, and Tampa’s fans wouldn’t have it any other way.
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