Aron Kiviharju
Aron Kiviharju is a Danish-born Finnish ice hockey defenceman for HIFK of the Liiga. Formerly considered one of the top prospects in his draft class, a major injury which caused him to miss most of his draft year season significantly dampened his scouting consensus.
Playing career
The Dubuque Fighting Saints drafted Kiviharju as the 147th pick in the 2022 United States Hockey League Futures Draft. Despite this, he continued to play with Finnish club HC TPS for the 2022–23 season. Kiviharju made his professional debut at only 16 years old in the second round of the Champions Hockey League on 4 September 2022 against EV Zug, lining up as TPS's seventh defender. Kiviharju had 13:47 minutes of ice time in the match, ending in a 4–0 loss. He made his SM-liiga debut in the opening round of the regular season on 13 September, an away game against Tappara. He finished the SM-liiga season with three points, all assists, in 21 games.For the 2023–24 season Kiviharju left TPS for HIFK. He would only appear in seven games in the season, due to a knee injury that required surgery. In his limited sample, he recorded a goal and an assist. Once perceived as a top prospect, the injury and concerns about his size saw his projection slide to the tail end of the first round or later. His final ranking from NHL Central Scouting was eighth among European skaters.
On 11 March 2025, Kiviharju signed a two-year contract extension with HIFK.