The Buffalo Sabres made the bold call during last year’s playoffs to give Konsta Helenius time in the postseason after his strong season with the AHL’s Rochester Americans.
Helenius rewarded Buffalo’s trust with a major impact on the ice.
That set up excitement for this season. It would be Helenius’ first full campaign at the NHL level. There was hope that he could grow quickly into a star.
Instead, the first 10 games of the season haven’t been what Helenius has wanted. The Sabres have mostly continued to trust him, but it’s been bumpy.
Buffalo has a lot of young forward talent, and even if the development of Helenius doesn’t go in a straight line, the Sabres can still believe in him over the long haul.
It’s just in trying to figure out his short-term role that things could get difficult. Helenius has not had the best start to the year, and the Sabres are waiting to see whether he can turn it around.
Slow Start for Konsta Helenius
The Sabres have been trying different things to spark Helenius. They even scratched him for a game just to get him to straighten things up a little bit.
Still, he’s just 20, and maybe growing pains are to be expected.
“Last spring, Helenius jumped into the playoffs and had two goals in four games,” The Athletic’s Matthew Fairburn writes. “He went to play at the IIHF World Championship and scored the game-winning goal in the gold medal game for Team Finland, but that breakout hasn’t continued in the first few weeks of the regular season. He has one goal and one assist in 10 games and was a healthy scratch for one game because Ruff wanted to see more shift-to-shift competitiveness from him in puck battles. Helenius is worst among Sabres forwards with 5.37 giveaways per 60 minutes at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.”
A stat like giveaways can suggest a player who is trying to do too much, or a player who isn’t putting themselves in the most efficient spots on the ice. Both wouldn’t be surprising for a 20-year-old forward, especially after his strong playoff impact.
There’s plenty of time for Helenius to improve, of course. It just might not be as simple as Buffalo fans might’ve hoped.
Signs of Improvement
In that article in The Athletic, Fairburn does note that Helenius is moving in the right direction.
“During Buffalo’s loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday night, Helenius had a few encouraging moments,” Fairburn writes. “On Josh Doan’s first-period goal, Helenius took a direct route to the puck that helped make it a tougher play for the defensemen. Ryan McLeod was there to grab the loose puck and set up Doan for the goal. Later in the game, Helenius made a patient play while carrying the puck into the offensive zone and set up Mattias Samuelsson for a great chance in the slot. Maybe those were some signs Helenius can start to put it all together and add an offensive threat to Buffalo’s lineup.”
This is not to compare Helenius to Josh Allen, but even the Buffalo Bills‘ QB took time to find his own at the highest level despite impressive traits.
A 10-game sample to start the season still leaves plenty of time for Helenius to find his footing. He’s got a long career ahead.
Sabres Waiting for Konsta Helenius