| Topias Hynninen | Jukurit | Liiga | L | RW | 5’10” | 164 | Vihti, FIN | 2005 | 2023-2024: B+ |
Game Grade: B-
Comments: Hynninen is a hard working forward with a high motor. He was great on the forecheck tonight, winning races to dumped in pucks and battling hard to earn possession for his team below the goal line. He showed great hustle in the first period to negate an icing call. Hynninen also played a very responsible defensive game tonight. He made active scans of his own end to identify threats and shifted his position accordingly to shut down potential opportunities. He finished his checks hard and was not afraid to get a little dirty to win a puck battle. He did not touch the puck often tonight but his play without it was very impressive.
| Konsta Helenius | Jukurit | Liiga | R | C | 5’11” | 180 | Ylojarvi, FIN | 2006 | 2023-2024: A |
Game Grade: B
Comments: This was a decent showing for Helenius. His defensive game was good. He took away lanes with an active stick and stayed in motion to keep up with opponents. He forechecked and applied tight pressure behind the net. Helenius joins battles as F2 and helps to dig pucks out of a scrum rather than battle physically along the wall. He is a positionally sound forward and consistently holds his own in the defensive end. With the puck on his stick, there are flashes of a skilled puck handler and high IQ playmaker, but he needs to take more risks with the puck. He sticks to the outside and very rarely makes an attempt at taking the puck towards the cage. He pulled off some skilled moves to evade pressure with hard stops, tight turns, and well-timed stick handles to avoid opponents. Konsta kept his head up with the puck and was able to find trailing/cutting teammates with well-timed passes but did not have many high danger pass attempts in tonight’s game. Konsta needs to be a bit stronger on the puck as he was knocked away from possession quite easily tonight with a simple body check on multiple occasions. Konsta is a strong defensive forward but based on some of our recent viewings, there may be a bit of a concern about his offensive upside.