Riku Helenius

Finland Riku Helenius


Date of birth	March 1, 1988
place of birth	Pälkäne , Finland
size	190 cm
Weight	92 kg

position	goalkeeper
number	# 31
Catch hand	Left

Draft

NHL Entry Draft	2006 , 1st round, 15th position Tampa Bay Lightning

Career stations

until 2007	Ilves Tampere
2007-2008	Seattle Thunderbirds
2008-2010	Norfolk Admirals
2010-2011	Södertälje SK
2011–2012	JYP Jyväskylä
2012-2014	Syracuse crunch
2014-2017	Jokerite
2017-2019	Ilves Tampere
2019	JYP Jyväskylä
since 2020	Dresden Ice Lions

Riku Helenius (born March 1, 1988 in Pälkäne ) is a Finnish ice hockey goalkeeper who has been under contract with the Dresdner Eislöwen from the DEL2 since January 2020 .

Career

Riku Helenius began his career as a hockey player in the youth of the Finnish first division club Ilves Tampere , in which he was active until 2007. In addition, from 2005 to 2007 he sat a total of nine times for their professional team in the SM-liiga on the bench without playing. During this period he was selected in the first round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft as the 15th player of the Tampa Bay Lightning .

After the goalkeeper was on the ice in the 2007/08 season for the Seattle Thunderbirds in Canada's top junior division Western Hockey League , he made his debut in the National Hockey League for Tampa in the 2008/09 season , this being his only use Lightning was on the NHL team. The Finn spent the rest of the season in the American Hockey League with the Norfolk Admirals and in the ECHL with the Mississippi Sea Wolves , Elmira Jackals and Augusta Lynx . The following season the Finn began with the Norfolk Admirals in the AHL, in which Helenius guarded the goal in 12 games as back-up from Dustin Tokarski .

In January 2010 he was sent to Sweden on loan to Södertälje SK in the Elitserien and stood in nine games between the posts by the end of the 2009/10 season . After Helenius had spent the entire 2010/11 season at Södertälje SK, with which he missed the league and was relegated to the HockeyAllsvenskan , the Finn was committed in May 2011 by JYP Jyväskylä from the SM-liiga. With JYP he won the Finnish championship at the end of the season and was awarded the Urpo Ylönen trophy as best goalkeeper .

Between 2012 and 2014 Helenius was again under contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, which used him in the AHL at the Syracuse Crunch and in the ECHL at the Florida Everblades .

Between 2014 and 2017 he was under contract with Jokerit in the Continental Hockey League and played over 60 KHL games for the Joker .

From June 2019 Helenius was again under contract with JYP Jyväskylä in the Liiga , but only played one game for the club. In November 2019 he left the club and was then signed by the Pelicans Lahti by trial contract . He was also used in a game by the Pelicans, but received no contract. In mid-January 2020 Helenius was signed by the Dresdner Eislöwen from the DEL2 , which reacted to Florian Proske's failure .