Fantasy Hockey Feature: Lenni Hämeenaho is taking the right steps
Lenni Hameenaho has been having an incredibly strong season in the Finnish Liiga. With so much improvement and excitement for this player, it’s worth examining just how high his upside is now. Can he be a point-per-game player in the NHL? How soon will we see him in North America? We will examine these questions and more.
The New Jersey Devils picked Hameenaho toward the end of the second round in 2023, 58th overall. With a November birthdate, he was fairly old for his draft year. This enabled him to play in 51 games in the Liiga during his draft season. The 21 points he scored in 51 games may seem low, but as an 18-year-old in a tough men's league, it was fairly impressive.
The EP Rinkside team rated Hameenaho as the 61st best player available in the 2023 draft so taking him 58th seemed abo