Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
2025-26 season start time Consta Helenius Back on October 10th, during the Rochester Americans’ season opener.
Along the way, the American forward played in the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic, played in his first nine NHL games, scored his first NHL goal, played in the Calder Cup Playoffs, joined the Buffalo Sabers for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and then competed with Team Finland in the IIHF World Championship.
Oh, and he turned 20 last month.
His season ended on Sunday night in Zurich, where he scored a golden goal in overtime against hosts Switzerland to win Finland its third gold medal in the last seven editions of the tournament.
Helenius pushed the puck up the wing from the wing in the Swiss zone, then swept it from the right side, breaking through the defense and sneaking the puck past the goalie. Leonardo Genoni The game went into overtime at 10:42 and won 1-0. Justus AnnunenA four-season veteran of the Colorado Eagles, he made 22 saves in the game. Finland won six of seven games in the round-robin tournament before knocking out the Czechs, Canada and previously undefeated Switzerland.
It turned out to be a big Sunday for the AHL rookie. Earlier in the day in the bronze medal match between Canada and Norway at the Swiss Life Arena, Noah SteenThe extra-time goal earned Norway their first top-flight medal. Steen, 22, is a seventh-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2024 and has seven goals in 10 games in the tournament. After finishing the Swedish Hockey League season in Örebro, the Lightning gave him a late-season look with the Syracuse Crunch. He scored one goal in five regular-season games and then played two more games in the Calder Cup playoffs.
For Helenius, Sunday proved to be the latest big moment in a season that has lasted nearly nine months. He leads Rochester with 63 points (21 goals, 42 assists) in 63 games and is tied for ninth in the league in scoring. The Sabers selected Helenius with the 14th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and elected to start him in Rochester last season when he was just 18 years old. In his first season with the Amerkes, he scored 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists) in 65 games and was named to the 2024-25 AHL All-Rookie Team.
The Sabers upgraded Helenius after the Toronto Marlies eliminated Amerkes in the Calder Cup playoffs. He played in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Montreal Canadiens and scored two goals in four games. On May 18, when Buffalo was eliminated in overtime in Game 7, he accepted an invitation to join Finland. The team quickly put Helenius into action, allowing him to play alongside NHL veterans Alexander Barkov and Mikael Granlund. Helenius has six points (three goals, three assists) in six games against some of the best talent in Europe and North America.
From the beginning of this season, Finland’s lineup has a clear AHL style, even beyond Helenius. Joining Helenius as gold medal winners were defenders Wille Heinola (Manitoba Moose) & Forward Lenny Haminajo (Comet Utica). Among AHL alumni, forward Atul RatiThe Abbotsford Canucks, who won the Calder Cup last year with the Abbotsford Canucks, have secured another championship. Jesse PuljujarviRepresented the Charlotte Checkers against Ratty’s Canucks, finished as Calder Cup runner-up, and scored 9 points (4 goals, 5 assists) in 10 games for Finland. Other AHL alumni include Henry Jokihayu, Ollie Mata, Nicholas Martinpalo, Willi Salijärvi and Urho Vakanainen On the blue line in Finland. Ahead is Granlund, Jenny Kuokkanen, Saku Menalanen, Zachary Manninen, Valtteri Merella and Taiwo Teravainen. 2016 Calder Cup Champions with Annunen Jonas Korpisalo and Harry Suttree.
Norway, which also includes the Grand Rapids Griffins forward, has not finished higher than 10th at the world championships since 2012 Michael Brandsegg-Nygaardsan diego gulls defender Stian Solbergand AHL alumni Andreas Martinson and Emilio Paterson.
About two decades in the American Hockey League, TheAHL.com feature writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. In 2016, he received the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for outstanding coverage of the league.
