How tough love has helped mold Konsta Helenius into a budding star

At a December game in Cleveland, Rochester Americans head coach Mike Leone sent a message to his 19-year-old star Konsta Helenius by benching him for multiple shifts.

Helenius – who had 26 points in 28 games entering that night on Dec. 27 – was rotated past for “not playing the right way,” as Leone said later.

That tough-love style of coaching has been embraced by Helenius in his first two AHL seasons. In that particular instance, Helenius understood why he was benched; he wasn’t making strong enough plays with the puck.

 “I told [Leone] if I'm not playing well, I want you to tell me,” Helenius said. “I want you to be hard on me. I like when the coach is honest with you. If I do something wrong, tell me and I fix it.”  

Leone and Helenius joined Rochester at the same time, a shared new endeavor at the start of last season. Leone had left the Green Bay Gamblers (USHL) for his first professional head coaching job. Helenius left his home country, Finland, to play in the AHL at 18 years old, a daunting task for a player unaccustomed to the North American style.

Leone quickly recognized Helenius’ talents and knew he had to challenge him. Their conversations often include a simple question.

“I ask Konsta all the time, ‘Do you want to be good or do you want to be great?’” Leone said.

Leone has been unafraid to pull punches with Sabres top prospects like Helenius, Noah Ostlund and Anton Wahlberg to elevate their respective games. It’s become a commonly respected trait of Leone, who’s often described as tough, a quality leader and a players’ coach.

Helenius said Leone and assistant coaches Vinny Prospal and Nathan Paetsch have established a standard in Rochester in which going to the rink to improve is an expectation.

"The standard is you come to the rink to try to get better, not just come here because it's on the schedule,” Helenius said. “[Leone] always says be responsible, don't turn the puck over and if you play well defensively, you get the puck more and you can do more. When we have the puck, we can do good stuff with it and dominate the game."

Leone’s instruction helped Helenius thrive in his first nine NHL games, which included a three-point effort in his second career contest in Nashville on Jan. 20.

Leone came away from that game impressed more by the small details in Helenius’ game than the laser of a shot the rookie had fired past countryman Juuse Saros. He highlighted multiple instances on plays both with the puck and away from it that showcased Helenius’ ability to impact the game in ways that go beyond the box score: faceoff detail, puck support in transition, stopping on pucks in the offensive zone. All things that helped the Sabres gain or maintain possession of the puck.

“I've probably coached Helly harder than any other player that I've coached from my time going back to Green Bay to the U.S. National Program,” Leone said “... Everything has been away from the puck. And I told Helly when you go up, you stop on the puck, you have good habits, you watch your shift length, that's what's going to help you, and you get rewarded for playing the right way.”

Part of Leone’s coaching philosophy is understanding what buttons to push with his prospects. However, one thing he won’t alter is the way Helenius plays offensively. The AHL All-Star has 43 points (14+29) in 46 games with the Amerks.

Leone makes it a point to give his Helenius creative freedom on offense. He took the same approach with Ostlund, now thriving with the Sabres.

“We've coached Helly hard, and it's not going to be all perfect for him,” Leone said. “He's a 19-year-old kid, but offensively (with) those kids, you have to get out of the way. Sure, at times of the game, you got to manage it. You got to play winning hockey, but I'm not telling Konsta and Ozzy what to do on line rushes or O-zone play. Those guys have gifts that you can't teach. My job is to teach them how to play winning hockey.”

Leone was Helenius’ first coach in North America after the latter played in Liiga, the top professional league in Finland, at 16 and 17 years old.

Leone has worked with talented young players in Green Bay and at the USNTDP, where he coached NHL standouts such as Lane Hutson, Luke Hughes, Matt Beniers and Logan Cooley.

Helenius said Leone’s experience developing young talent played a critical role in helping him adjust to the North American style which is a faster-paced game on a smaller ice surface.

"It's hard to come here, smaller ice and no family or friends, no Finns on the team,” Helenius said. “It was hard but once I got to know the players and coaches more, it was much easier. This season, I know all the staff there, the equipment guys, coaches, players. ... It's fun to come to the rink and Leo helped me a lot with my game and how we play because we play much faster here in North America than we play in Europe. I like that we get much more rushes and scoring chances and stuff like that."

A key ingredient to Helenius’ development has been assistant coach Prospal, who logged 1,108 NHL games during 16 NHL seasons.

Leone credited Prospal for his ability to help refine and improve young players like Helenius. Prospal has coached the power play in Rochester, operating with a style that Helenius described as “old school” with pushups for missing the net on shots.

Helenius – who has seven power-play goals on the season – said Prospal has pushed him in practice to work on the special teams element of his game. It's this commitment to growing as a player and willingness to accept feedback that’s allowed Helenius to become a top NHL prospect.  

“I'm proud of him for the strides that he made,” Leone said. “Not that he was difficult to coach, but we knew going into it, an 18-year-old player coming over here, there's going to be really difficult times. This year, the two things I could say about Konsta is he's willing to be coached and he likes being coached hard. He could take it. There's certain guys where you have to manage how you coach the player, and he's been coachable."

Prospect Spotlight

Brodie Ziemer, F – University of Minnesota (NCAA)

Ziemer’s sophomore season at Minnesota came to a close on Wednesday following a loss to Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal round.

The Golden Gophers will not be in the NCAA Tournament. It was still a strong season for Ziemer (third round, 2024), who led the team with 23 goals and 36 points in 36 games.

Ziemer’s 23 goals are tied for fourth in the country.

Gavin McCarthy, D – Boston University (NCAA)

Much like Minnesota, it’s been an atypically down season for Boston University, which is outside the 16-team field for the NCAA Tournament. However, McCarthy (3rd round, 2023) has had a strong junior season as BU’s captain.

McCarthy has a career-high 21 points in 35 games with four goals and 17 assists which are both career-best marks. He has the third most points by a defenseman in Hockey East and is tied for 11th in the conference in assists.

The Clarence Center native will face off with his longtime friend – and fellow Sabres prospect – Jake Richard on Saturday in the Hockey East Quarterfinals.