The 2024 NHL Scouting Combine is taking place this week at KeyBank Center and LECOM HarborCenter in Buffalo. The combine will allow NHL teams an opportunity to conduct interviews and provide physical and medical assessments of the top prospects eligible for the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft. NHL.com will bring you all the sights and sounds.
BUFFALO -- Konsta Helenius is confident he's ready to make the move to the NHL next season.
"I played against NHL guys, [and] it gives me confidence because I think I did a great job against them," Helenius said. "I think I'm very close to the NHL."
The center, who turned 18 on May 11, had 36 points (14 goals, 22 assists) in 51 games this season with Jukurit in Liiga, the top professional league in Finland. It's the fourth-most points by an under-18 player in Liiga history, behind Aleksander Barkov (48 points, 2012-13), Mikael Granlund (40 points, 2009-10) and Kaapo Kakko (38 points, 2018-19).
He also had one assist in four games for Finland at the 2024 IIHF World Championship and is No. 3 among International skaters in NHL Central Scouting's final rankings.
Helenius (5-foot-11, 180 pounds) said there are a few areas he needs to improve but a full season playing with and against players with NHL experience gave him an understanding of what he needs to do before the start of next season.
"It's a long summer coming, so I want to improve my physicality and straight [line] skating speed," he said. "Because I think I'm a good skater, but I want to be better."
Olli Jokinen, who coached Helenius the past two seasons, said it wouldn't be much of a surprise to see him with an NHL team next season.
"Now until the next NHL training camps, there's a lot of time so he will only get stronger," Jokinen said. "That's the one reason why I keep telling everyone that I think he's got a true chance of cracking an NHL lineup next year is because he's not just a talent -- he also puts the work in and he wants to get better every day.
"For him, at the young age, the eating habits, all the decisions he makes off the ice, he makes to become a better hockey player. It's his life and he makes very good choices off the rink as well. Everything for him, it's not to become an NHL player, he wants to be best Finnish born player who ever played."
Parekh a goalie?
Zayne Parekh was voted the best defenseman in the Canadian Hockey League this season after he led Ontario Hockey League defensemen with 96 points (33 goals, 63 assists) in 66 games for Saginaw. He's No. 5 among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking.
But his start in hockey came as a goalie.
The 18-year-old is the youngest of three hockey-playing brothers, so when it came for mini-sticks games in the basement, young Zayne would end up stuck in goal.
"I played goalie all the time," he said. "I loved it."
His time in goal didn't last long, though, and Zayne followed in his brothers' footsteps and became a defenseman.
He also nearly followed them into college hockey. Aydin, 22, played this season at Utica University, an NCAA Division III school, and Isa, 20, will be a freshman at Bemidji State University in the fall.
"[College hockey] really was a big talk, and at one point it was something I really thought I was going to end up doing," Parekh said. "But it didn't work out that way. I ended up wanting to go to play in Saginaw just because in the OHL you get 70 games a year. It's been huge for my development, and I'm super happy with the choice I made."
Unique spot for He
Niagara forward Kevin He has the chance to become the second player born in China to be selected in the NHL draft.
He was born in Beijing, but his family moved to Montreal when he was 6 years old before eventually settling in Toronto.
Andong Song is the only other player born in China to be selected, when the New York Islanders chose the defenseman in the sixth round (No. 172) in the 2015 NHL Draft. Song was born in Beijing and selected after playing at The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.
Song never played professionally, but He (5-11, 182) has the chance to contribute as a middle-six forward in the NHL. The 18-year-old left wing led Niagara with 31 goals in 64 games and was second with 53 points. He is No. 78 in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North America skaters.
"He's got that quickness and acceleration to pull away with the puck," Central Scouting director Dan Marr said. "And then he's also got that recovery speed, he can be that first forward back. Skating and hockey sense are his two strongest assets."
He understands the significance of what being selected in the draft could have on the next generation of players.
"I think it'd be a unique opportunity," he said. "Growing up, I looked up to older guys as well, Jason Robertson, I worked out with [Josh] Ho-Sang. Looking up to those guys as a little kid really helped me a lot and kind of the spirit of the sport. Having the opportunity, if I get the opportunity, to be a role model for other players, I think it would be great."
Becher in rare spot at combine
Prince George forward Ondrej Becher is in his third and final season of NHL draft eligibility but is a first-timer at the combine.
The 20-year-old forward is No. 69 in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters after he had 96 points (32 goals, 64 assists) in 58 regular-season games, more than double the 38 points (16 goals, 22 assists) he had in 63 games last season, his first with Prince George after coming to North America from his native Czech Republic.
He also had 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in seven games to help Czechia take home the bronze medal at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Becher capped his season with 19 points (five goals, 14 assists) in 15 games in the Western Hockey League playoffs to tie for his team’s lead.
"I worked really, really hard last summer, so probably just hard work," he said. "I think I was much more confident this year. I believed in myself this year."
John Williams of NHL Central Scouting said Becher could be a surprise second- or third-round selection.
"He has been invited to the combine, which is a rare thing for a guy that's been through the draft a couple times," Williams said. "He's a player that in his second year in Prince George I think he [nearly] tripled his output offensively, and he showed at the World Juniors that he's an elite player in his age group on the international stage. I think he might go a little higher than the mid-rounds."
