ESPOO, Finland — Konsta Helenius has just finished playing his first game against his peers in a year, and despite an assist and game-highs in shots (seven) and ice time (22:44), he’s disappointed that he didn’t score on one of the “maybe 12 scoring chances” his coach Marko Kauppinen estimates he had.
“I don’t know, I need to work (on) my goal scoring,” he says from inside Metro Areena postgame.
Moments after him, team captain Aron Kiviharju pushed back against that.
“Amazing hockey player. Great team player. He can carry this team,” Kiviharju says of Helenius. “He needs every one of us but as you probably saw today he’s able to make a lot of great things (happen) on the ice with and without the puck.”
Helenius, NHL Central Scouting’s No. 3-ranked international skater for the 2024 NHL Draft (he was No. 1 at midseason), is wrapping up a whirlwind month as Finland’s first-line center at U18 worlds. It follows a couple of weeks as the youngest player with the senior team in their selection camp for the men’s world championships. That followed a six-game first-round series as the youngest player with Jukurit in the Liiga playoffs.
It has been an “amazing month,” he says. But he’s not done yet. Between the U18 worlds in Espoo and Vantaa and then potentially the men’s worlds in Prague and Ostrava, he’s going to be one of the last players playing this spring. And he’s got two gold medals in his sights as a final impression for NHL scouts.
“Our goal is to win the tournament,” he adds plainly.
When Kauppinen is asked about what it means to get Helenius back for the tournament — and what he’s capable of being in it — he scoffs.
“Ah,” Kaupin says, shaking his head about Helenius, “he reads the game really well and his skating is really, really good at this level. You can see that he’s further along (than his peers). He was pretty sad he couldn’t score tonight … so hopefully he will get a couple next game.”
A day later, although Helenius was held goalless once more, he added another assist and five shots to his totals in a 7-0 win against Norway, bringing him to four points and 12 shots on goal through two games.
When his long draft season is finally over, the only question that will be left won’t be whether he’ll go high at the draft in Vegas, but just how high?
That’s the question NHL scouts in Finland for the tournament are asking themselves, too. He’s a high pick, they all agree. Is he a top-10…
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