Lenni Hameenaho’s NHL Arrival: A Patient Plan Paying Off in New Jersey
It started with a loose puck just outside the Winnipeg blue line. Lenni Hameenaho, the Devils’ rookie forward, scooped it up, split two Jets defenders with a burst of speed, and found himself alone in front of one of the toughest goalies in the game - reigning MVP and three-time Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck.
With the defense closing in, Hameenaho didn’t flinch. He snapped off a quick shot that slipped five-hole and lit up the Prudential Center.
The crowd roared - not just for the goal, but for what it represented. A glimpse of the future.
A payoff to months of patience. A young player stepping into the moment.
For fans who’ve been tracking the 21-year-old from Kajaani, Finland, this moment didn’t come out of nowhere. Hameenaho has been on the radar since rookie camp last September, where he arrived fresh off a breakout season with Ässät in Finland’s Liiga - 20 goals and 51 points in 58 games. The Devils saw enough to invest a second-round pick in him back in 2023 (58th overall), and this season marked his first real test on North American ice.
But the transition wasn’t seamless. A preseason injury kept him off the Devils’ opening night roster, and he was sent down to Utica in the AHL to get his footing - both literally and figuratively. The smaller rinks, the tighter checking, the more physical, grind-it-out style of play - it’s a different world from what he was used to in Finland.
And the Devils didn’t rush him. In fact, they took the opposite approach.
Hameenaho went scoreless in his first nine AHL games. Not because he wasn’t trying - but because the focus was on defense.
The Devils wanted him to build his game from the back end out. Learn the positioning.
Win puck battles. Be responsible without the puck.
It’s not always glamorous, but it’s the kind of foundation that lasts.
To his credit, Hameenaho bought in. He put his offensive instincts on hold and leaned into the development plan. And when the offense finally came, it came in bunches.
After breaking his scoreless streak, he caught fire - putting up nine goals and 21 points in his final 24 games with Utica, leading the team in scoring. His confidence was building, and so was his two-way game.
“I’ve gotten more and more offense,” Hameenaho said. “I think that’s been good to start on the defensive side of the game and then just try to build that offense also.”
By mid-January, with the Devils needing a forward recall, Hameenaho was the obvious choice. He’d recorded points in 12 of his last 16 games with the Comets, including two three-point nights. He wasn’t just producing - he was driving play.
On January 19 in Calgary, he made his NHL debut. Skating 12:38 alongside center Cody Glass and winger Arseny Gritsyuk, Hameenaho logged two shots and looked comfortable in a 2-1 overtime win.
“You have a lot of things in your mind the whole day,” he said after the game. “You try not to think really of anything and just go out and play your game.
I felt pretty good. I had really good linemates.
That was a big help for me to play my own game.”
Then came Vancouver, two games later. His first NHL goal - and his first assist - in a two-point night. After a faceoff win in the offensive zone, Hameenaho drove the net, found himself in the right spot as a Simon Nemec shot caromed off the end boards, and buried it into a wide-open cage.
“It’s a dream to score your first goal,” he said. “You don’t know before that happens how it feels. It was a great feeling.”
Through five games on the Glass-Gritsyuk-Hameenaho line, the trio has combined for six goals and 12 points. There’s chemistry there - the kind that doesn’t always show up on the stat sheet but is easy to spot when you watch them move the puck, rotate in the zone, and support each other defensively.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe has taken notice.
“He’s complimented those guys very well,” Keefe said. “Whether it’s him being the shooter, him finding space, him being the passer - he’s been reliable defensively. There’s been a whole lot to like there.”
Hameenaho knows he’s in good company.
“Both players are so good, everything they do on the ice,” he said of his linemates. “It’s been pretty easy to jump in there with those guys. I’m just trying to do my best and play to my strengths.”
Still, the Devils are keeping a close eye on his progression. The NHL grind is real - cross-country travel, quick turnarounds, the mental and physical toll of playing at the highest level. For a young player, it’s a lot to absorb.
“We have to continue to monitor him,” Keefe said. “As the newness of it wears off and the challenges of the league - such as traveling from three time zones away and all of a sudden you’re back playing again - it’s not a weekend league.
How do you manage that as a young player playing in the league for the first time? That’s what we have to manage with him.”
But the early signs are encouraging. And the Devils’ methodical, patient approach seems to be paying off.
“Coming up, we took a patient approach to let him really develop and get some traction at the AHL level,” Keefe said. “For me, for a guy like him, the hope is once he comes that he never goes back.”
Whether that happens this season or next, one thing is clear: Lenni Hameenaho is on the right track. He’s not just flashing potential - he’s showing the kind of all-around game that can stick in the NHL.
And for now, he’s keeping it simple.
“I’m trying to enjoy my time and just do my best,” he said.
So far, that’s working just fine.