2024 Draft Profile:
C Konsta Helenius, Jukurit LIIGA
The danger of not factoring in intangibles while rating a draft-eligible hockey player cannot be stated better than with the example of the top Finnish player for the 2024 draft, Konsta Helenius. A high hockey IQ and compete level, after all, will play up every single skill on a player's scouting card.
Konsta Helenius' physical skills are good to very good across the board, but there's also nothing standout or elite. He's 5'11-175, which is not small but a bit undersized for the position of center, which he's playing as a teenager in the top Finland men's league. He's a good skater, in terms of fundamentals, efficiency and speed, but he's not going to wow you with this ability. He's a very good passer and shooter and stickhandler but, again, none of them are elite tools.
So, we have to ask ourselves how a player so seemingly unremarkable has put together one of the better seasons we've ever seen from a draft-eligible center in the Finnish Liiga?
It's really simple, actually. Because Konsta Helenius' rare combination of elite IQ and elite compete level are, indeed, remarkable. This is a kid who at 17/18 years old would regularly outthink and outwork 10-year veterans of the Finnish elite league.
"Hockey IQ" scares a lot of people as a term, because in an age of analytic analysis, it's impossible to precisely quantify. But it's an ability with several applications. For example, Helenius' high hockey IQ is deployed far differently in game scenarios than, say, Ivan Demidov's. Where Demidov can accurately be called an offensive genius, most of his incredible brain is focused on getting pucks into high-danger scoring areas, whether on his own stick or a teammate's. Demidov is quite simply a creative genius, able to see ridiculously unconventional paths to scoring opportunities much like Monet would see a painting before he made it or Mozart would hear a symphony before he wrote it.
With Helenius, it's different. While Helenius is certainly creative enough to produce offense in seemingly adverse conditions, his general hockey IQ is less "artistic" -- it's almost like the highest form of practicality. It's like his brain is more purely mathematical, able to process the game situation, the location of his teammates and opposition, and what he needs to do and where to be -- all at unbelievably high speeds.
I wish I had the time to watch every one of this kid's games, because in the 8 or so games I've watched Helenius in I don't think I've seen him make a single poor decision with or without the puck, I don't think I've ever seen him make a half-assed or lazy play, I don't think I've ever seen him make a glaring mental mistake. Also, we need to factor this in with the fact that he's the youngest center in a professional men's league -- and unlike players of this description coming before him (Lundell, Barkov, Kotkaniemi etc), he's also a bit undersized.
We need to stress again that Helenius is not *unskilled*, as some would have you believe. Again, he's very good across the board -- skating, shooting, puck handling, passing, you name it. But he lacks the elite skills of a player who would normally be considered a top 10 pick. However, I'm going to state strongly that Helenius deserves this designation -- he's just too good at hockey and too high-character a kid to fail at any level.
Do I think Konsta Helenius will ever be a 100+ point player? No, I do not. But I do think you cannot go wrong drafting a high-floor kid who is a virtual lock to be one of the better 2/3 centers in the NHL one day. Maybe he'll top out around 70 points, but Helenius will also give whatever team drafts him a constant litany of high-effort and high-intelligence two-way hockey for many, many years to come.
