Top prospect for 2024 NHL draft to miss significant time & World Juniors following surgery

Kiviharju has undergone surgery which will not only cause him to miss four months of game action in Liiga, but also robs him of the opportunity to play for Finland at the 2024 World Juniors in December.

The 17-year-old defenceman was once projected to be a top-three pick in 2024, but due to performance issues, not developing as many had expected at this point and the emergence of other top prospects such as Macklin Celebrini, Cole Eiserman and Ivan Demidov, Kiviharju will likely drop to the 6-10 range next June.

This past summer, Kiviharju decided to make a pretty significant change, leaving TPS Turku after reportedly not being happy with the team's management and signed with HIFK. So far this season, Kiviharju has appeared in seven games for HIFK, putting up two points (one goal, one assist), no penalty minutes and is a minus-two.

Missing four months could potentially hurt Kiviharju's draft stock significantly, but regardless of injury and subsequent surgery, he's still one of, if not the best defenceman available to be selected in 2024, and should be a top-ten pick.