Riku Helenius

Riku Helenius (born March 1, 1988) is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for Dresdner Eislöwen in the DEL2.

Riku Helenius
Born (1988-03-01) March 1, 1988
Pälkäne, Finland
Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight 183 lb (83 kg; 13 st 1 lb)
Position Goaltender
DEL2 team
Former teams		 Dresdner Eislöwen
Tampa Bay Lightning
Södertälje SK
JYP Jyväskylä
Jokerit
KalPa
Ilves
Lahti Pelicans
NHL Draft 15th overall, 2006
Tampa Bay Lightning
Playing career 2008–present

Playing career

Helenius was selected 15th overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning,[1] partly on the strength of his silver-medal-winning performance for the Finnish national men's hockey team in the 2006 under-18 World Junior Championships. He played for Ilves during the 2006–07 season but due to a shoulder injury only played four games.

The Seattle Thunderbirds selected Helenius with the 46th overall selection in the 2007 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft. Helenius joined the Thunderbirds roster at the start of the 2007–2008 season. In December 2007, Helenius was selected as goalie for the Finnish World Junior Team in the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championships.[2]

On October 17, 2008, Helenius was assigned to the Augusta Lynx of the ECHL. He played first NHL game on January 30, 2009 against the Philadelphia Flyers.[2]

In 2009, he went on to play for Södertälje SK after playing just 10 game for the Norfolk Admirals.

For the 2011–12 season he returned to Finland and signed with JYP Jyväskylä of the SM-liiga, where he won the league championship and the Urpo Ylönen trophy for best goaltender.

After a great season in Finland, Steve Yzerman, General Manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, expressed interest in bringing Helenius back to North America, as he was still a Lightning prospect. On June 13, 2012, Helenius signed a two-year contract with the Lightning.

In the midst of the 2013–14 season, with Helenius unable to make an impact up the Lightning's depth chart, on February 22, 2014, he was placed on $125 unconditional waivers, which would bring his contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning to an mutual end.

On April 14, 2014, Helenius agreed to a multi-year contract with Finnish club Jokerit of the KHL.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T/OT MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2007–08 Seattle Thunderbirds WHL 41 22 12 6 2358 95 3 2.42 .915 9 4 5 534 24 0 2.70 .911
2008–09 Augusta Lynx ECHL 8 3 4 1 463 34 0 4.41 .874 — — — — — — — —
2008–09 Mississippi Sea Wolves ECHL 3 1 1 1 184 7 0 2.28 .944 — — — — — — — —
2008–09 Norfolk Admirals AHL 25 9 15 0 1388 63 1 2.72 .918 — — — — — — — —
2008–09 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 1 0 0 0 7 0 0 0.00 1.000 — — — — — — — —
2008–09 Elmira Jackals ECHL — — — — — — — — — 2 0 1 87 10 0 6.90 .787
2009–10 Norfolk Admirals AHL 12 5 7 0 719 33 0 2.75 .896 — — — — — — — —
2009–10 Sodertalje SK SEL 9 — — — 545 22 0 2.42 .922 — — — — — — — —
2010–11 Sodertalje SK SEL 18 — — — 911 46 0 3.03 .884 — — — — — — — —
2011–12 JYP SM-l 33 17 9 5 1908 52 7 1.64 .936 13 11 2 833 24 0 1.73 —
2012–13 Syracuse Crunch AHL 32 17 14 0 1772 76 4 2.57 .900 — — — — — — — —
2013–14 Syracuse Crunch AHL 5 2 3 0 297 17 0 3.43 .875 — — — — — — — —
2013–14 Florida Everblades ECHL 4 0 2 0 148 15 0 6.08 .797 — — — — — — — —
2014–15 Jokerit KHL 22 14 5 2 1272 50 2 2.36 .918 1 1 0 60 1 0 1.00 .944
2015–16 Jokerit KHL 21 7 6 4 1045 42 2 2.41 .891 — — — — — — — —
2016–17 Jokerit KHL 20 10 6 4 1219 54 0 2.66 .902 — — — — — — — —
2017–18 KalPa Liiga 4 0 4 0 235 11 0 2.80 .899 — — — — — — — —
2017–18 Ilves Liiga 27 12 9 4 1514 71 1 2.81 .889 — — — — — — — —
2018–19 Ilves Liiga 32 12 11 8 1845 86 2 2.69 .885 — — — — — — — —
2019–20 JYP Liiga 1 0 1 0 60 5 0 5.00 .773 — — — — — — — —
2019–20 Lahti Pelicans Liiga 3 0 1 0 98 10 0 6.13 .760 — — — — — — — —
NHL totals 1 0 0 0 7 0 0 0.00 1.000 — — — — — — — —

International
Year Team Event Result GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2006 Finland WJC18 6 4 1 1 360 11 1 1.83 .942
2008 Finland WJC 6th 4 — — — 214 12 1 3.36 .902
Junior totals 10 — — — 574 23 2 — —
gollark: ```simulating..."simulated to depth 1"1about to be gollarioussimulating..."simulated to depth 1"0about to be gollarioussimulating..."simulated to depth 1"1about to be gollarioussimulating..."simulated to depth 1"0about to be gollarioussimulating...^C*** user interrupt ***```See, gollariosity and metagollariosity simulate each other.
gollark: Now I just have to deal with metagollarious recursion.
gollark: Oh, I see, it was a bracket issue.
gollark: ... I fixed that, I am now trying to work out the ißue.
gollark: ```scheme(define metagollariosity (lambda (x y z) (define opponent-next-move (z y x z)) (display "about to be gollarious\n") (display "simulating...\n") (write z) (define simulate (lambda (n) (z (cons n y) (cons opponent-next-move x) z)) (define if-defect (simulate 1)) (write "simulated to depth 1") (define if-cooperate (simulate 0)) (write if-cooperate) (if (> (car (prisond 1 if-defect)) (car (prisond 0 if-cooperate))) 1 0))))```

References
  1. "All draft choices". Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey Club. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
  2. "Riku Helenius player profile". Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Vladimír Mihálik		 Tampa Bay Lightning first round draft pick
2006		 Succeeded by
Steven Stamkos
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