Konsta Helenius has done just about everything the Buffalo Sabres could ask of a young prospect trying to force his way into the NHL.
He stepped into the Sabres’ lineup during their second-round playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens and never looked overmatched. Then he carried that momentum to the international stage, where he played a starring role in Finland’s run to the 2026 IIHF World Championship gold medal.
Now the real test begins: can the 20-year-old forward handle an 84-game season?
NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman, Mike G. Morreale and Sebastien Deschambault think he can. The trio ranked Helenius as the league’s 11th-best prospect ahead of the 2026-27 season and made their stance pretty clear.
"There's no doubt Helenius, selected in the first round (No. 14) of the 2024 draft, is ready for full-time NHL duty, it's just a matter of how high up the lineup he slots," the NHL.com report stated. "A spot in the middle of the second line, and time on the second power play, looks possible."
That confidence comes with good reason. Helenius put up 63 points - 21 goals and 42 assists - in 63 games for the AHL’s Rochester Americans last season. Even more impressive, he did it while often having to prop up an offense hit hard by injuries, trades and Buffalo recalls.
The Sabres are giving him a real chance to make the leap this fall. Training camp opens the door to an Opening Night job, and the first game on the schedule is Oct. 1 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
But the path is not clean. Buffalo has 16 forwards fighting for 13 active roster spots, which means somebody is going to get squeezed. The Sabres also won’t want Helenius sitting around as a healthy scratch, so he’ll need to earn his place and keep it.
He’s also one of three players in that roster battle - along with Noah Ostlund and Jiri Kulich - who is waivers exempt. That matters, because sending him back to Rochester would be the easiest move if general manager Jarmo Kekalainen wants to preserve maximum organizational depth.
So the pressure is on. Helenius has to make camp and preseason count, and he has to give Kekalainen, head coach Lindy Ruff and the rest of the staff no excuse to send him down when the regular season starts.
If he doesn’t, Rochester remains on the table to open the year.
The bigger picture in Buffalo helps explain why this is such a tricky call. The Sabres did not add another high-profile forward after Alex Tuch left the organization, but they may not need one. They already have a crowded group up front, and barring injuries, a couple NHL-caliber players are going to end up with the Amerks.
That creates a few obvious complications.
Noah Ostlund looks too good to be parked on the fourth line, especially after the way his on-ice impact showed what he can become when healthy last season. At the same time, the Sabres would probably prefer to keep Sam Carrick in the lineup most nights because of what he brings in the faceoff circle. That has become an area of weakness for the club, particularly when Tage Thompson is at center, and Carrick gave them a lift after arriving in a trade with the New York Rangers last season.
The numbers-only math is part of why a major offseason trade always felt like a possibility in Buffalo. Moving at least one forward for a player such as Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck would have made the roster fit more neatly.
Still, Kekalainen has also emphasized the value of depth for a seven-month regular season and a possible two-month playoff run. That’s the context around Helenius: he looks ready now, but Buffalo may still choose the safer long view if the roster logjam leaves no easy opening.
The most likely outcome is that he sticks with the Sabres after camp. Even so, fans should not rule out a short-term assignment to Rochester if the numbers and circumstances break that way. And even if he ends up playing closer to 60 games for Buffalo, Helenius has still positioned himself as one of the organization’s most intriguing young pieces.
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For the Sabres, the path to getting past Montreal starts with areas that have to improve, especially in goal. The gap is not just about chasing the Canadiens in the standings or trying to match them shift for shift, but proving Buffalo can handle a team that has already shown it can stand in the way when the games matter most. If that matchup ends the same way again, the pressure to shake up the roster is going to get a lot harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]