Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
The 2025-26 season started for Konsta Helenius in the Rochester Americans’ season opener way back on Oct. 10.
Along the way the Amerks forward went to the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic, played his first nine NHL games, scored his first NHL goal, went to the Calder Cup Playoffs, joined the Buffalo Sabres for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and then joined Finland at the IIHF World Championship.
Oh, and he turned 20 last month.
His season ended late on Sunday night in Zurich, where his overtime golden goal against host Switzerland won Finland gold for the third time in the last seven tournaments.
Helenius wheeled the puck from his off-wing inside the Swiss zone out high before sweeping down the right side, breaking coverage, and sneaking a shot past goaltender Leonardo Genoni 10:42 into overtime for a 1-0 victory. Justus Annunen, who played parts of four seasons for the Colorado Eagles, made 22 saves in the shutout. Finland won six of seven games in round-robin play before eliminating Czechia, Canada and the previously undefeated Swiss.
It turned out to be a big Sunday for AHL prospects. In the Canada-Norway bronze-medal game earlier in the day at Swiss Life Arena, Noah Steen’s overtime goal earned Norway its first medal in top-level play. Steen, 22, is a 2024 Tampa Bay Lightning seventh-round pick and had seven goals in 10 games at the tournament. After finishing his Swedish Hockey League season with Örebro, the Lightning gave him a late-season look with the Syracuse Crunch. He finished with a goal in five regular-season games before playing two more in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
For Helenius, Sunday proved to be the latest big moment in a season that stretched nearly nine months. He led Rochester with 63 points (21 goals, 42 assists) in 63 games to tie for ninth in league scoring. The Sabres, who selected Helenius 14th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft, opted to start him in Rochester as an 18-year-old last season. He finished with 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists) in 65 games in his first season with the Amerks and was named to the 2024-25 AHL Top Prospects Team.
After the Toronto Marlies eliminated the Amerks from the Calder Cup Playoffs, the Sabres promoted Helenius. He stepped in for their second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens and finished with a pair of goals in four games. When Buffalo was eliminated in a Game 7 overtime loss May 18, he accepted an invitation to join Finland. The team quickly worked Helenius into action, using him on the top line alongside NHL veterans Aleksander Barkov and Mikael Granlund. Helenius finished with six points (three goals, three assists) in six games competing against some of Europe and North America’s finest talent.
Finland had a significant AHL flavor from this season to its roster even beyond Helenius. Joining Helenius as gold-medal winners are defenseman Ville Heinola (Manitoba Moose) and forward Lenni Hämeenaho (Utica Comets). Among AHL alumni, forward Aatu Räty, a Calder Cup champion last year with the Abbotsford Canucks, has another title. Jesse Puljujärvi, a Calder Cup runner-up for the Charlotte Checkers against Räty’s Canucks, had nine points (four goals, five assists) in 10 games for Finland. Other AHL alumni include Henri Jokiharju, Olli Määttä, Nikolas Matinpalo, Vili Saarijärvi and Urho Vaakanainen on Finland’s blue line. Up front are Granlund, Janne Kuokkanen, Saku Mäenalanen, Sakari Manninen, Waltteri Merelä and Teuvo Teräväinen. Joining Annunen are 2016 Calder Cup winner Joonas Korpisalo and Harri Säteri.
The roster for Norway, which had not finished higher than 10th place in the World Championships since 2012, also included Grand Rapids Griffins forward Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, San Diego Gulls defenseman Stian Solberg, and AHL alums Andreas Martinsen and Emilio Pettersen.
