Konsta Helenius is a Finnish center in the Buffalo Sabres organisation, drafted 14th overall in 2024, and on 31 May 2026 he scored the overtime goal that won Finland the World Championship. Two weeks earlier, he had scored twice in the NHL playoffs against Montreal, after a season in which he tied for ninth in AHL scoring with the Rochester Americans. He is eligible as an NHL rookie in 2026-27.
| Fast facts: Konsta Helenius | |
|---|---|
| Current team | Buffalo Sabres. AHL affiliate: Rochester Americans |
| Position | Centre, also plays wing |
| Shoots | Right |
| Born | 11 May 2006, Ylöjärvi, Finland |
| Height / weight | 5’11” (180 cm) / 190 lbs, per the Rochester Americans |
| Drafted | 2024, first round, 14th overall, Buffalo Sabres |
| Contract status | Three-year entry-level contract signed 8 July 2024, running through 2027-28 at a $953,750 cap hit |
| Jersey | No. 94 in Buffalo |
How good is Konsta Helenius?
Good enough that Buffalo sees him as a center to build around. Helenius is a right-shot playmaker whose best tool is his hockey sense, and NHL Central Scouting ranked him third among international skaters before the 2024 draft.
What sets him apart at 5’11” is how he plays in traffic. Michael Leone, his coach in Rochester, put it this way: “I think when Konsta is playing his best, he’s almost like a rat. He’s engaged, he’s in scrums, and then you let his skill take over.”
Scouts’ concerns are size, strength and a skating stride that can look choppy on his pivots. Daily Faceoff projected him as Buffalo’s third-line center for 2026-27.
What has Konsta Helenius done for Finland?
He won Finland the 2026 World Championship. In the final in Zürich on 31 May 2026, Finland and Switzerland were scoreless after 60 minutes, and Helenius beat Leonardo Genoni at 10:42 of three-on-three overtime to win it 1-0. The Sabres published their own account of the golden goal, and we covered how Finnish television called it.
It was Finland’s fifth world title. Helenius joined the tournament late, flying to Switzerland after Buffalo’s playoff exit, and still finished with three goals and six points in six games. “When I got a chance to shoot in overtime, I let it go and it went in,” he told Yle, speaking in Finnish.
It was his second senior World Championship. He was the youngest player at the 2024 tournament, and before that he played two U18 World Championships and two World Juniors, winning silver in 2025. Our 2026 World Championship guide has the full tournament.
What are Konsta Helenius’s career stats?
Through 2025-26, Konsta Helenius had played two seasons in Finland’s Liiga, two in the AHL and nine regular-season NHL games.
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | Jukurit | Liiga | 33 | 3 | 8 | 11 |
| 2023-24 | Jukurit | Liiga | 51 | 14 | 22 | 36 |
| 2024-25 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 65 | 14 | 21 | 35 |
| 2025-26 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 63 | 21 | 42 | 63 |
| 2025-26 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 9 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 2025-26 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL playoffs | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Between 12 and 31 May 2026, Konsta Helenius played ten games across the NHL playoffs and the World Championship and scored five goals, the last of them the one that won a world title.
His 63 AHL points in 2025-26 were the most by a teenager in Rochester Americans history, passing Jozef Cierny’s 54 from 1992-93, and earned him a second straight place on the AHL Top Prospects Team. In Finland he became the second-youngest player ever to score a Liiga hat-trick, at 17 years and 8 months, behind only Tuomo Ruutu.
Is Konsta Helenius playing in the NHL?
Not full-time yet. Going into 2026-27 training camp, he had a real chance to be on Buffalo’s opening-night roster. His NHL debut came on 19 January 2026 against Carolina, and a night later in Nashville he scored his first goal and added two assists in a 5-3 win.
Buffalo sent him back to Rochester in February, then used him in the second round of the playoffs against Montreal, in the club’s first postseason since 2011. He came in for Game 4 with the Sabres trailing the series 2-1 and scored in Games 5 and 6.
Alex Tuch’s departure in a sign-and-trade with Washington in June 2026 opened a place among Buffalo’s forwards, and NHL.com listed Helenius as a contender for a full-time top-nine role. Channels are in our guide to how to watch the Sabres.
He is a rookie for 2026-27, because nine games is well short of the NHL’s 25-game limit, and Daily Faceoff put him on its 2026-27 preseason Calder Trophy list alongside Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg.
What is Konsta Helenius’ NHL contract?
Konsta Helenius is on a three-year entry-level contract signed with Buffalo on 8 July 2024. Because he spent 2024-25 in the AHL as a teenager, the deal slid a season, and it now runs through 2027-28 at a $953,750 cap hit, according to PuckPedia’s contract data. He is due to become a restricted free agent in 2028.
Who drafted Konsta Helenius?
The Buffalo Sabres, 14th overall in the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft. Buffalo traded down from 11th with San Jose to take him, and then general manager Kevyn Adams said afterward that Helenius was the one player the club would have worried about missing by moving down. Jarmo Kekäläinen replaced Adams as general manager in December 2025.
Is Konsta Helenius related to Samuel Helenius?
No family connection between them has been reported. Samuel Helenius was born in Dallas in 2002, the son of former NHL defenceman Sami Helenius, while Konsta Helenius comes from Ylöjärvi in Finland.
Konsta’s own older brother is Kalle Helenius, who has also played for Jukurit. “He hates losing,” Kalle said on draft day. “Every time I won against him in the backyard, he wanted to play again until he won.”
Is Konsta Helenius a center?
Yes. Helenius is a natural center who can also play the wing, and he led the 2023 U18 World Championship in faceoff percentage at 65.5 percent. After the World Championship, Kekäläinen said he was “probably ready to play with the duties of a center-iceman.”
How old is Konsta Helenius, and where is he from?
Konsta Helenius was born on 11 May 2006 in Ylöjärvi, next to Tampere in Finland. He came through Tappara’s junior system before joining Jukurit’s senior team at 16. The Rochester Americans list him at 5’11” and 190 lbs, and he wore No. 94 in Buffalo.
