Oliwer Kaski

Oliwer Kaski (born on September 4, 1995 in Pori) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently playing with the Avangard Omsk of the KHL.

His father Olli was also a professional ice hockey player for fifteen years, eleven of them with the Liiga's Ässät.

Club career
Kaski began playing junior hockey with the Ässät organisation. In the 2011-12 season, he played 4 games of junior hockey with the KJK organisation, 13 games with the Ässät organisation and 1 game with the Dallas Penguins 18U AA. In 2012 - 2015, he played junior hockey with the Ässät organisation again.

Kaski played with the Western Michigan Univ. in the 2015-16 season and one game at the beginning of the 2016-17 season, becoming the first player born in Finland to play for Western Michigan Univ.. In November 2016, his sophomore year at Western Michigan, Kaski signed with the HIFK of the Liiga. He played there 36 regular season games plus 12 play-off games in this season. He also played 3 games with the HIFK junior team and 3 games on loan with the Kiekko-Vantaa of the Mestis.

Kaski spent the whole 2017-18 season with the HIFK of the Liiga, then he signed with the Pelicans in April 2018. During the 2018-19 season, Kaski had a breakout year. He won the Pekka Rautakallio Award for the Liiga's best defenceman, the Lasse Oksanen Award for the Liiga's best player of the regular season and the Juha Rantasila Trophy for the Liiga's defenceman with most goals scored as Kaski scored 18 goals. He was also the defenceman with most points (50) recorded in this season of the Liiga, was named the Liiga Player of the Month in January, 2019 and was selected into the Liiga All-Star Team.

On May 28, 2019, Kaski signed as a free agent to an one-year, entry-level contract with the Detroit Red Wings organisation. After attending the Detroit Red Wings' of the NHL training camp, Kaski was assigned to begin the 2019-20 season with their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. Kaski contributed with 2 goals and 5 points through 19 games before on December 12, 2019, Kaski was traded by the Red Wings to the Carolina Hurricanes organisation in exchange for Kyle Wood. Kaski found his scoring touch with AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, registering 11 goals in just 35 games from the blueline.

As an impending restricted free agent with the Hurricanes, Kaski opted to leave North America in agreeing to a one-year contract with Russian club, Avangard Omsk of the KHL on June 18, 2020. In the 2020-21 season, he became the KHL Gagarin Cup champion.

International career
Kaski played with the Finnish National Team at the 2019 World Championship winning there the gold medal.