Photo credit: Jiri Halttunen
Samuel Helenius becomes the second member of the LA Kings 2021 NHL Draft class to sign his ELC.
On Thursday, the LA Kings signed another member of their 2021 NHL Draft class, inking Samuel Helenius to a three-year entry-level contract. The Kings selected the Finnish forward with the 59th overall pick in the second round.
#LAKings have signed 2021 2nd RD pick (59th overall) Samuel Helenius to a 3 year ELC
$850,833 cap hit
$925,000 AAV2021-22: $750.0k Base + $92.5k SB + $82.5k PB
2022-23: $750.0k Base + $92.5k SB + $82.5k PB
2023-24: $775.0k Base + $92.5k SB + $57.5k PBhttps://t.co/LRR5iKi6Zq— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) August 12, 2021
He joins eighth-overall pick Brandt Clarke as the second player the team has locked up to a rookie contract, with second-round pick Francesco Pinelli and fourth-rounder Kirill Kirsanov still to be signed.
Helenius stands at a towering 6-foot-6 and weighs 201 pounds at 18 years old. The big-bodied forward played for JYP of Liiga, Finland’s top-tier hockey league, registering seven goals, seven assists, and 61 PIM in 54 games last season.
He also represented Team Finland at the 2021 World Juniors, tallying two goals and four points in seven games, helping his team win bronze.
“This kid is already an NHL skater, and he hasn’t even come close to growing into his body,” Kings Director of Amateur Scouting Mark Yannetti said of Helenius. “When his body catches up to his feet, we look at him being an above-average NHL skater and he’s six-foot-six. He plays a hard, heavy game. He leads with compete and physicality to go along with his skating. If you watched at the World Juniors, while offense is certainly not the primary aspect of his game, he possesses a really good shot.
“When you start looking at the third line, in terms of creating offense, you usually see a little bit more individualistic…you see more direct plays going in the net. A kid like this, who can get to those areas and use his size and his shot to provide secondary offense, that kind of fills in the way we view a middle-six in terms of trying to find offense there.”
Helenius is expected to return to JYP for the 2021-22 season, and he recently took part in Team Finland’s 2022 World Junior Summer Showcase.
LA Kings: Samuel Helenius “Never Misses a Chance to Get Better”
Kid reminds me of Michal Handzus.
Yes he does! That’s a really good comp. if he turns out that way, Kings will be in a really good spot!