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Prospect Info: Lenni Hämeenaho (#58 Pick - 2nd Round - 2023 Draft)

Had the lone Ässät goal on his 14 shot attempts today with 19:37 TOI, but quite sure he would've liked to have more results especially with the 2min of 5on3. Frustrating game considering how well most things went.



KalPa ties it 1-1 with a 3-1 win, while losing the xG only the 3rd time in their last 30 games (2,33-4,67).
 
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only could catch p1+p2 (blame silayev)
  • very disjointed start for his line. instantly got scored on, players kept crossing up, and puck carriers werent always getting support (resulting in dumps/turnovers). i wouldnt really pin it on lenni specifically but the unit as a whole was not good to open up
  • flashed some solid passing on the man advantage. most of it was pretty standard cycle play but passes were crisp/accurate. got to loose pucks pretty quickly, sent them to the front to generate scrambles
  • two of the best looks (both on the pp) were: selling one timer and instead one touching the puck cross zone. fooled everyone but linemate fanned on the shot. other one was committing to a cross crease one timer where he just got stoned on
  • wasnt spotting linemates as easily in transition/5v5. not to say the looks were bad, but noted a number of passes not getting through traffic. KAL did a good job of quickly getting numbers around puck carriers, which contributed
  • off puck play was just ok. good physicality on the forecheck, played heavy. had a couple step ups in the off/neutral zone that i thought were timed well enough but he just missed on (which, unfortunately, caught him flat footed trying to get back). def zone positioning was fine but he just wasnt making many plays outside of maybe one intercept in high ice
wouldnt say hes been bad, but i expected more from my playoff lenni viewings thus far. too much of the good is only coming on the man advantage. otherwise, hes largely been ineffective. if he has a good 3rd you can blame me for being bad luck lol
 
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felt i should squeeze in another lenni viewing with him leaving me wanting more (started ~10min into the 1st)
  • off puck play was a step up in this one. better def zone pressure, felt he challenged the point more/got more touches/was moving more in general. off zone same deal, thought he got to puck carriers a little faster and forced more strips, particularly on exit attempts
  • good compete on the backcheck. assat gave up a SH breakaway early 2nd and while he didnt catch up in time to stop it, i liked his pursuit into the corner to pressure the attacker, swipe the puck back, and lead the counter rush. couple other times he specifically dropped down below the goal line to pressure a forechecker going for a follow up attempt
  • puck management, especially in transition, still a big issue. doesnt know how to combat KAL D swarming him. every is a strong word but many entries/entry attempts resulted in turnovers
  • kinda reverted to his bread and butter on a mid 3rd pp (constantly firing chances, slipping behind defenses around the net) and while i did miss the playmaking intent i saw more of last game, this particular pp yielded more chances for him
  • he fell over for no reason about 3 times, so we know hes a devil
with a couple postseason viewings in now, im inclined to say hes playing it safe, which is in turn dialing his game back. nowhere near the same assertiveness on the puck or extended possessions or one on one play or anything, and i dont know why because the best 5v5 look ive seen from him this series came off a toe drag rotating off the wall and taking the puck down low around the net. the pp, specifically having the extra space to work with, is when he seems most comfortable using his vision/flashing his creativity right now
 
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- Some good chances in the first, but a tad too much passing instead of shooting on them.
- Speaking of that oh my did they pass it on the pp... unfortunately while being slow and uncreative.
- Some solid defensive plays in the third, but overall kept looking quite tough for the guy.

And then speaking of that… since Lenni continued play after a review (that resulted in a minor) and an ice pack I didn’t mention it, but he did get a crosscheck to the ribs on his left side during the 2nd quarterfinal game on the 28th, and went down for a bit.

While at the very least a chunk of the coaching staff have been also out due to illness during the playoffs.

So not sure if/how these things could be impacting him negatively, but yeah a 2-0 away win regardless of everything for one of the 5 teams still playing.
 
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back again for more lenni action
  • little more energy today. quicker in transition, quicker in puck pursuits, better with challenging the net directly. saw a couple entry->line up->rip it type plays which, while ive liked the growth in his playmaking looks this season, with how this particular series has gone, i cant fault him for simplifying things
  • now, thats not to say he didnt still have trouble with KAL defenders closing in on him. the difference today was that he wasnt constantly slowing up/backing off in response to it. i saw attempts at one on one plays, i saw him trying to thread passes through traffic, i saw him trying to lead passes more to compensate, etc. the execution had issues, there were certainly some turnovers involved, but he was trying to problem solve
  • playmaking game more on display on the pp like last time, had some nice one touches. very smooth/composed passer even under pressure. easy to trust in that left point/high ice role when hes so in control of his puck movement
  • little extra disruptive on the defensive end, mainly in high ice but even dropping down low at times. last viewing showed improvement with pressuring the point, and i thought he was even quicker to defenders/better with getting touches/blocks today. deeper zone play was a bit more aggressive/physically involved as well
  • took more of a backseat to the offense as the game went on, but that was to be expected with porin going up by 3 so early
not necessarily a marked improvement today, but continuing a trend of building things up again
 
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game 7
  • skating/pace inexplicably looked worse today. obviously its never gonna be great, but i didnt have much issue with it this year. for whatever reason, in this one, i thought he looked slower in puck races, weaker/shakier against contact, easier to contain on the puck, etc. nerves? fatigue? both?
  • his positional sense, which has always been a staple of his game, seemed off as well. struggled to find soft spots out front, and when he did post up (further out), he wasnt a very productive option for his linemates at 5v5. multiple shifts of his unit basically playing around him in the off zone
  • puck management was also not too impressive. passes werent as accurate, decisions were lazy at times (ie challenging traffic or throwing pucks away on clear attempts). also thought he was holding pucks longer than he should have under pressure. seemed like a lot of wasted possessions
  • D zone also not as effective. slower/not as aggressive challenging puck carriers/the point. not always proactive with his positioning
  • he did get an apple, so theres that, but i mean it was a pretty routine pass on the pp (as has been the trend). goal happened because the D got the shot through and it caused a scramble in front
had been steadily improving over the course of this series and i was hoping he was gonna carry that momentum into a solid showing today. unfortunately, lenni was a bit of a dud. now, of course this is an outlier game, hes had a lot of solid progress throughout this season, but i have to imagine the pressure of game 7 (on top of an already lackluster series) got to him because this was not it
 
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evnted said:
game 7
  • skating/pace inexplicably looked worse today. obviously its never gonna be great, but i didnt have much issue with it this year. for whatever reason, in this one, i thought he looked slower in puck races, weaker/shakier against contact, easier to contain on the puck, etc. nerves? fatigue? both?
  • his positional sense, which has always been a staple of his game, seemed off as well. struggled to find soft spots out front, and when he did post up (further out), he wasnt a very productive option for his linemates at 5v5. multiple shifts of his unit basically playing around him in the off zone
  • puck management was also not too impressive. passes werent as accurate, decisions were lazy at times (ie challenging traffic or throwing pucks away on clear attempts). also thought he was holding pucks longer than he should have under pressure. seemed like a lot of wasted possessions
  • D zone also not as effective. slower/not as aggressive challenging puck carriers/the point. not always proactive with his positioning
  • he did get an apple, so theres that, but i mean it was a pretty routine pass on the pp (as has been the trend). goal happened because the D got the shot through and it caused a scramble in front
had been steadily improving over the course of this series and i was hoping he was gonna carry that momentum into a solid showing today. unfortunately, lenni was a bit of a dud. now, of course this is an outlier game, hes had a lot of solid progress throughout this season, but i have to imagine the pressure of game 7 (on top of an already lackluster series) got to him because this was not it
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He’s a 20 year old kid playing in a men’s league in a seventh game. I don’t doubt he was feeling some stress and frankly if the team asked him to “step up” or do anything other than what he had been doing all season they probably contributed to the problem. If I was making decisions I’d fly him over for the NHL playoffs and let him practice with the team and see the pace and intensity of thr NHL and tell him to get to work on his skating and building strength.
 
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My3Sons said:
He’s a 20 year old kid playing in a men’s league in a seventh game. I don’t doubt he was feeling some stress and frankly if the team asked him to “step up” or do anything other than what he had been doing all season they probably contributed to the problem. If I was making decisions I’d fly him over for the NHL playoffs and let him practice with the team and see the pace and intensity of thr NHL and tell him to get to work on his skating and building strength.
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to your point, i guess i could have put this in my post, porin didnt stop using him over this. he was still out pp1, he was still out 6 on 5 with the game on the line, he was still getting his looks in the ovi zone, etc. just like he had been all season. so maybe the continued deployment/responsibility of being a top option in spite of his dried up numbers also contributed
 
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evnted said:
to your point, i guess i could have put this in my post, porin didnt stop using him over this. he was still out pp1, he was still out 6 on 5 with the game on the line, he was still getting his looks in the ovi zone, etc. just like he had been all season. so maybe the continued deployment/responsibility of being a top option in spite of his dried up numbers also contributed
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He’d be a college sophomore in thr US? I imagine he will improve from this experience
 
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So close, so obnoxiously close, but not enough for Lenni and the team.

Don't really have anything to add, but here’s his secondary assist on the PP:



Said he’ll need a breather, and that we’ll have to wait for info about the whole NHL situation.

Once anything comes up from this end I’ll update.
 
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Lenni getting an invite to be on the World Championship* camp, which does feel quite surprising with it feeling like he could be a bit banged up or something. But hey... both of his linemates also get to be there, with Järvinen making his mens national team debut at 37. Not very common stuff.

Will play vs Sweden on the 17th (7pm Finnish time) & 18th (5pm).

*Start in 4 weeks on the 9th.
 
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Also based on the info of the local paper Satakunnan Kansa in a situation where Lenni and the Devils saw that a year in Europe would be good for his development they would be looking to have him play in a higher tier league, i.e. the SHL.

While also saying usual of how there has been plenty of contact/interest from the Devils during all this time, and also being ready to sign him even earlier. But we shall wait...
 
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Hockey Sports Fan said:
I’m a little worried about Albany as a development environment, in the short term at least, but ideally something is done about that too. Hard to imagine Lenni excelling in the A without any competent centers to play with.
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I don't know how long you have been out of the picture, but the farm has been in Utica NY for the past 4 seasons and was in Binghamton before that for 4 more years.

The last time the AHL franchise was in Albany was the 2016-17 season.
 
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