Over the past two seasons, Antti Suomela has finished among the top seven in scoring in the Finnish Liiga, the top professional league in Finland. That includes last season, where the 24-year-old led the league with 60 points in 59 games, resulting in Suomela being sought out by as many as 12 teams, but it was the Sharks who were able to sign the highly touted forward.
The road to the National Hockey League for an undrafted player isn’t an easy one, as they are constantly fighting against their age to prove themselves worthy.
It was a path that Suomela followed when he began his professional career with the Espoo Blues where he appeared in 52 games and scored 13 goals with 26 points — decent numbers for a rookie getting his feet wet, but his numbers would soon take off.