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

[My3Sons]

Eh, he scored 8 goals in his first 9 GP, that felt a bit fluky. He’s shooting 7.4% on the year, hopefully that can improve.

He’s getting a lot of pucks at the net.


7.4% SH%
Assat: 8th
Liiga: 109th among forwards (15 GP min)

189 SOG:
4.2 per game
Assat: 1st
Liiga: 8th among forwards (15 GP min)

14.6 per 60 minutes
Assat: 2nd
Liiga: 9th among forwards (15 GP min)

Goals
14 Goals
Assat: 1st
Liiga: 47th among forwards

0.311 per game
Assat: 1st
Liiga: 38th among forwards (15 GP min)

1.1 per 60 minutes
Assat: 2nd
Liiga: 39th among forwards (15 GP min)

Points
30 Points
Assat: 2nd
Liiga: 55th among forwards

0.667 per game
Assat: 2nd
Liiga: 45th among forwards (15 GP min)

2.3 per 60 minutes
Assat: 2nd
Liiga: 47th among forwards (15 GP min)

Extra Info (fun!)

Ice Time (per game)
TOI 17:14 - 5th among Assat forwards
Shifts 20 - 6th
PP Time 2:25 - 3rd
Did not PK
1st Period 5:37 - 3rd
2nd Period 5:26 - 5th
3rd Period 5:46 - 5th

For 5v5
On Ice SH% 6.33%
On Ice SV% 96.87%
PDO 103.2

His counting stats have all improved although his per 60 numbers I’m too incompetent to look up. His international junior counting stats took a nice leap forward so he’s going in the right direction. Hopefully he can improve his skating enough to allow him to use his other abilities.

 

[Juzmo]

Lenni assist!

Battled the puck from the corner to the point. A bit of extra physical play by him today



Edit. 3rd assist on the 2-2 goal also early in the third. Solid game so far by Lenni and his line.

 

[Juzmo]

Well that's Lenni's Liiga season done with the 3-2 loss.

 

[forceten]

Lenni come to utica

 

[My3Sons]

Well that's Lenni's Liiga season done with the 3-2 loss.

Thanks so much for taking the time to keep us up to date with Lenni’s progress. He seems like a solid prospect and easily worth the investment of time and effort. At this point does he just wait until he learns whether or not he is selected for the World Championships?

 

[Guttersniped]

Well that's Lenni's Liiga season done with the 3-2 loss.

Assat to @Juzmo right now:

Oh well, thanks for all the Lenni updates.

 

[Guadana]

Well that's Lenni's Liiga season done with the 3-2 loss.

Thanks you very much for your updates. It was a great journey this year.

 

[MasterofGrond]

Honestly a really nice season from Lenni. Don't know how it will turn out, but so far so good.

 

[Comparison Ford]

one of the few bright spots for the devils organization this year

 

[forceten]

So Hameenaho is signed for one more year with Assat. I know that these have NHL escape clauses... but do we prefer he play in Liiga one more year or move here and play in Utica? He'll be 20.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

I'd like him to tear up the Liiga next year.

 

[Juzmo]

Thanks so much for taking the time to keep us up to date with Lenni’s progress. He seems like a solid prospect and easily worth the investment of time and effort. At this point does he just wait until he learns whether or not he is selected for the World Championships?

Yeah, I'll update when anything happens with anything.

 

[glenwo2]

So Hameenaho is signed for one more year with Assat. I know that these have NHL escape clauses... but do we prefer he play in Liiga one more year or move here and play in Utica? He'll be 20.

 

[OmNomNom]

shouldn't he be able to swing a PTO w utica to end the year? kind of like what filmon did?

 

[Juzmo]

Lenni back to playing with the U20 squad for the first time in 2 years in the deciding quarterfinals today in 2h45min. Playing with his brother, and Knihti from the big club who was also brought back to this game. Already had a few others who played a decent chunk in Liiga also.

Pretty neat even though it feels like too often these things have ended up not really working out possibly due to chemistry/shuffling/whatever., but could just be out of necessity.

 

[longislanddevil]

Can Lenni play both wings? We have a logjam at RW with Bratt, Mercer, Meier (where he should be playing) and possibly Holtz.

 

[NJDfan86]

So Hameenaho is signed for one more year with Assat. I know that these have NHL escape clauses... but do we prefer he play in Liiga one more year or move here and play in Utica? He'll be 20.

Prefer to get him on NA ice for a year to adapt to the playing surface.

 

[Guttersniped]

Lenni content with video! Exciting!

Lenni Hameenaho has been having an incredibly strong season in the Finnish Liiga. With so much improvement and excitement for this player, it’s worth examining just how high his upside is now. Can he be a point-per-game player in the NHL? How soon will we see him in North America? We will examine these questions and more.

The New Jersey Devils picked Hameenaho toward the end of the second round in 2023, 58th overall. With a November birthdate, he was fairly old for his draft year. This enabled him to play in 51 games in the Liiga during his draft season. The 21 points he scored in 51 games may seem low, but as an 18-year-old in a tough men's league, it was fairly impressive.

The EP Rinkside team rated Hameenaho as the 61st best player available in the 2023 draft so taking him 58th seemed about right. The team really liked his hockey sense, clearly his best feature. However, there were serious concerns about his skating, concerns that still persist today. As noted in the guide, he might be the player in the 2023 draft with the widest gap between his hockey sense and skating.

Looking at Hameenaho’s tracking data from Lassi Alanen, much of it does not look great. The expected goals and assists per 60 minutes are not great. Most of the transition numbers are also not good. He is, however, very good defensively, which is a major feat for playing in such a difficult league. Alanen does not yet have the tracking data for 2023-24, unfortunately.

According to Hockey Prospecting, Hameenaho has been under a five percent chance of being a star producer in both of his tracked seasons. He did increase his NHLer probability to 42% this year based on his strong play, so that is a good sign. Looking at his comparables in the model, there aren’t many good ones and even the ones that stand out like Igor Larianov seem more than a stretch.

In the pNHLe model, Hameenaho is trending straight up to around a 60-point pace player. His comparables in this model are equally uninspiring like Curtis Lazar and Vinnie Hinostroza. However uninspiring, they may be accurate. It will be interesting to see how he fares once he comes to North America.

The Fantasy Hockey Life player card shows that Hameenaho is fairly solid in numerous categories. His scoring is well above average for the entire league based on per 60-minute numbers, an incredible feat for such a young player. It also shows that his blocks, shots, and hits are decent, which gives him a reasonable floor in fantasy even if the points don’t fully translate to the NHL.

To get a better idea of what to expect from Hameenaho, I reached out to my colleague who covers him closely.

Lassi Alanen Director of European Scouting for EP Rinkside:

“Hämeenaho’s goal-scoring halted down very noticeably after a very explosive start to the season; there was a stretch of over two months where he went without a goal, albeit some of that time was spent at the World Juniors. Overall, this season was still a clear step up from his rookie year, becoming increasingly more dangerous offensively and finding new ways to impact the game. At the World Juniors, he was arguably Finland’s best forward and could’ve easily had more points with a dash of luck. The skating remains the big point of concern, but the intelligence on both sides of the puck gives him top-nine upside. Adding another gear and improving his agility would do wonders to his chances of reaching that ceiling.”

We like Hämeenaho a whole lot. This step forward by him in his draft plus one season increases his NHLer likelihood considerably. Though we’re still not sure he can be a top-six forward, there is more of a chance than last season. In the right situation, with the right linemates, Hämeenaho could certainly find himself in a scoring role putting up 60+ points a season. Not to mention his peripheral floor and there is much to like about this player in your dynasty formats as well. There is also likely little wait time as he’s already shown he can play against men.

Fantasy Hockey Feature: Lenni Hämeenaho is taking the right steps

Victor Nuño checks in on Devils' prospect, Lenni Hämeenaho and how the Finnish forward can overcome his skating issues to one day produce in the NHL

eprinkside.com

 

[My3Sons]

Lenni content with video! Exciting!
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Fantasy Hockey Feature: Lenni Hämeenaho is taking the right steps

Victor Nuño checks in on Devils' prospect, Lenni Hämeenaho and how the Finnish forward can overcome his skating issues to one day produce in the NHL

eprinkside.com

Did the EP ringside guy get asked if he'd go ahead of Hutson in the redraft?

 

[Juzmo]

Lenni back to playing with the U20 squad for the first time in 2 years in the deciding quarterfinals today in 2h45min. Playing with his brother, and Knihti from the big club who was also brought back to this game. Already had a few others who played a decent chunk in Liiga also.

Pretty neat even though it feels like too often these things have ended up not really working out possibly due to chemistry/shuffling/whatever., but could just be out of necessity.

6-1 win. With the 15:13 TOI he had two primary assists, was a plus two, took three shots, and won his one face-off.



Assists at 01:45 & 02:05

Semifinals start on Friday vs the top team in the reg. season.

 

[Juzmo]

6-1 win. With the 15:13 TOI he had two primary assists, was a plus two, took three shots, and won his one face-off.

Head coach of the team told that Lenni (and Knihti) hadn't really practiced after the Liiga season ended two weeks ago, but had spent a bit time on the ice. Thought both fit in well with the team.

 

[Juzmo]

Semifinals start on Friday vs the top team in the reg. season.

Didn’t play in the first two on Friday (2-1 OT-win) & Saturday (7-6 SO-win), but was back with his brother and Knihti today.

They won 4-3 in OT, and heading into the finals that start on the 7th.

In 19:17 TOI Lenni scored a goal and had two assists (including the primary one on the GW PP-goal), was a plus one, and took three shots.

(will post the video later)

 

[Guttersniped]

The other Hameenaho is Lenni’s older brother.

Maybe he gets a camp invite for fun.

 

[Juzmo]

00:45 secondary assist - 1:03 goal - 2:16 primary assist

 

[Juzmo]

They won 4-3 in OT, and heading into the finals that start on the 7th.

In the first game (6-5 loss) Lenni with 16:38 TOI: 3 goals, 1 assist, plus 2, 9 shots.

Next game tomorrow at home.