As the New Jersey Devils keep their season alive with a three-game win streak, they are learning more and more about themselves, as well as their young prospects.
One of those young prospects, Lenni Hameenaho, should be in the NHL with the Devils to stay, no questions asked.
Hameenaho, 21, has helped the Devils finally form a truly formidable third line without costing the team its depth, emerging as a stabilizing force next to Arseny Gritsyuk and Cody Glass.
The Devils' 2023 second-round pick scored the first two points of his fledgling NHL career against the Vancouver Canucks on Friday, knocking home a Simon Nemec rebound to pot his first NHL goal and notching a primary assist on Glass's first of two tallies to put the Devils up 3-0 early in the second period.
Of course, in classic Devils fashion, the team needed to win 5-4 on the strength of Glass's second goal of the night midway through the third period, but that's largely irrelevant. Hameenaho has been cooking and helped them to get two points for the third time; the Devils have won every game their rookie has played in thus far.
Since Hameenaho made his NHL debut in a 2-1 overtime win over the Calgary Flames on Jan. 19, only Gritsyuk has a higher Corsi for percentage (66.15%) at 5-on-5, and Hameenaho is the only Devils player to have not been on the ice for a 5-on-5 goal against in that same period of time, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The young Finn also leads the Devils in 5-on-5 high-danger chance percentage (9-3, 75%), scoring chance percentage (19-6, 76%), and expected goals percentage (86.71%).
Now, with Hameenaho well integrated into the lineup and performing well, the Devils have no reason to send him back to the AHL, and it's something they, frankly, should not even be considering unless his play totally falls off a cliff.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe now has the freedom to move two-way speedster Connor Brown around in the lineup without having to worry about disrupting the flow of the bottom-six.
Ironically, Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt are the only Devils to have not been on the ice for a 5-on-5 goal since Hameenaho debuted, so it's the two big guns who really need to step up their game in the offensive zone and finish off a few chances.
Until then, though, we can be sure the Devils are enjoying getting some quality play-driving and finishing from one of their bottom-six units for once, especially when it features a newcomer like Hameenaho.