This Finnish youngster has excelled while playing against men in Liiga. Still, he does not seem to be considered as a first-round-calibre prospect. What more does Lenni Hämeenaho have to do to gain proper recognition?
Birthplace: Kajaani, Finland
Date of birth: November 7, 2004
Shoots: Right
Position: Forward
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 174 lbs.
Team: Ässät (Liiga)
Hämeenaho is a player who makes small details look effortless and easy. He is not a flashy player by any means, but he finds ways to add value throughout a lineup by being a solid jack-of-many-trades.
You want a winger with decent shooting ability? Check. You want a winger who forechecks well and wins puck battles? You got him. You want a smart player, who can find open space and attack it? Look no further.
Not standing out does not mean that you have to be an average Joe. The fact that young Lenni held his own in Liiga this season and already looks like a solid senior player is a terrific grade in its own right.
There are naturally still things to work on. Hämeenaho is not the speediest winger you’ll see in this draft, nor is he the craftiest and niftiest of playmakers. That said, he ended his rookie season with 25 points in 59 Liiga games (regular season and playoffs).
The fact that those 25 points were split right down the middle through 12 goals and 13 assists will tell you that he is not a shooter-only type of winger once he enters the offensive zone. An interesting comparison is that last year’s first overall selection, Juraj Slafkovsky, ended 2021-22 with just 17 points over a total of 49 games.
Comparatively to his peers, Hämeenaho’s 21 regular-season points placed him third in overall rookie scoring during the regular season. With those numbers, he saw himself being beaten only by Lightning prospect Niko Huuhtanen and Montreal Canadiens pick Oliver Kapanen. Once the playoffs came around, there was not a single rookie who could top Lenni’s grand total of four points.
Preliminary Rankings
Dobber Prospects: #45
Elite Prospects: #69
FCHockey: #82
Hockey Prospect: #41
Hadi Kalakeche: N/R in Top 85
McKeen’s: #77
Bob McKenzie (TSN): #42
NHL Central Scouting: #8 (European Skaters)
Corey Pronman (The Athletic): N/R in Top 37
Scott Wheeler (The Athletic): #45
As we can see from the (preliminary) rankings, Hämeenaho is universally seen as a hot commodity once we reach the middle of the second round. Some have him even lower than that, with Elite Prospects, McKeen’s, and FCHockey having ranked him in their third round. Our own prospect analyst, Hadi Kalakeche, even has him as unranked in his Top 85 for April. When I asked him about the omission, this was his response:
“I don’t see enough offensive upside in his actual play, even though his production is good. It’s mainly been a result of a very mature game for his age. Board play, defensive positioning, and forechecking are all advanced and polished. The issue with that is, how much room for improvement does he have? I have a hunch that he’s just an early bloomer [and that] he’s going to plateau very soon.”
To sum it up, everyone seems to be in agreement that Hämeenaho is a solid prospect who has played mature beyond his years as a first-year senior. What seems to be missing is the high ceiling, that high potential which make teams hope that they may just have found that unpolished diamond outside of the first round.
There is every chance that an NHL general manager will go for safe and solid and select Hämeenaho early on day two. There is also an almost equal possibility that he could drop beyond the third round.
How early do you actually want to draft an 18-year old with solid overall measurables, genuine bottom-six upside, but no standout traits to get excited about? Would you take him ahead or below of those boom-or-bust guys with one or two standout traits, who are often left on the board when the second day of drafting comes around?
I guess it will all come down to whether you look at the word solid as a positive, or simply as a synonym for unexciting.
Anton Rasegård
