Konsta Helenius Center Jukurit

Konsta Helenius seems like a strange player to highlight, given where the Hawks are picking in the upcoming draft. There are a few reasons why I wanted to take a look at him. First,  I like doing more research on the guys playing over seas. We get a lot of information on the guys playing in North America, so why not go beyond that? Second, going into the midterm rankings, NHLDotCom had him as the number one international skater; since then, he has dropped to the third, so that got me curious about what changed. Finally, who knows the direction this draft goes and if this is a player worth keeping an eye on when the Hawks get ready to make their second selection in the first round (assuming they keep that pick)

Highlights


Background
Helenius is a 5'11, 180-pound center playing for Jukurit out of the Liiga in Finland. This past season, he played in 51 games, putting up 36 points (14-22), and he also appeared in six playoff games, recording 6 points (2-4). He represented Team Finland at the World Junior Championship, and in 7 games, he only managed to put up 2 points (1-1).

Positive Scouting Report
When taking a look at the scouting reports on Helenius, there is one part of his game that each scout agrees on and that is offensive. He has proven year after year that he is a player who can see the game at a different level than most, and it has been proven at each level he has played at. In 2020/21, he put up 57 points (20-37) in just 22 games with the U16 Tappara program; the next closest player was 26 points behind him. After that, he has been moved up each season and even played for the U20 team despite not being 17 and was able to put up 28 points in 19 games. He made his Liiga debut in the 2022–23 season and continued to show his strong hockey IQ. You take his high hockey knowledge and mold it with his quick feet and high-end speed to create space and set himself and his teammates up for great scoring opportunities. He isn’t just a one-way player either and has shown good defensive awareness as well, and despite his size, he isn’t afraid to get physical and muck it up out there. Take all that into account, and to put the icing on the cake, he has already been showing all this skill against players up to ten years older. It might not be against NHL talent, but showing he can play against older players is a huge plus.

Negative scouting reports
Trying to see what faults he has in his game was harder than I was expecting after his drop in the prospect ranking. A few of the scouts talk about how, despite being good on both sides of the puck, he doesn’t really show any dominant skill in one area of his game. When you are looking for a game-changing player in the top 5 to 10 picks, they tend to blow the others out of the water in one area of the game. Helenius is more of a Swiss army knife-type player who is going to be good enough to get the job done but might not be the guy you lean on in the big moments. The other downside to him is his size; coming in at 5’11 and under 200 pounds, he is a bit small compared to what the average center is in the NHL. However, the game is changing, and with the physicality, if the game is not seen as important as it once was, all he really needs to do is get the weight up, which will come in time.

Final Thoughts
Konsta Helenius has all the potential to be a great player in the NHL. I could see him being on the high end, a great 2C, but he will no doubt boost a team's center depth on the second or third line. He probably still has a few years before he makes the jump to the NHL, but when the time comes, he will for sure make an impact. Trying to really see why his ranking dropped despite all the positive remarks, it seems that he just feels victimized by the amazing play of Demidov and Silayev, and whoever ends up selecting him could be getting the steal of the draft.

Prospect Spotlight Series
Cayden Lindstorm
Anton Silayev
Zeev Buium
June 3rd Konsta Helenius
June 10th Ivan Demidov
June 17th Artyom Levshunov
June 24 Final Draft Thoughts

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