The Buffalo Sabres are expected to have as many as five players playing for their respective countries at the 2026 IIHF World Junior, but Team Finland has not listed 2024 first-rounder Konsta Helenius. The 19-year-old had 35 points for the Rochester Americans and was named to the AHL’s Top Prospects Team last season. This year, he has 23 points (9 goals, 14 assists) in 25 games for the Amerks.
According to Lassi Alanen of Elite Prospects, Helenius does not appear on the preliminary list because Finland does not know whether the Sabres will release him for the tournament.
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A trio of Sabres prospects from the 2024 NHL Draft class were selected by USA Hockey for the upcoming tournament earlier this month. Forward Brodie Ziemer, and defensemen Adam Kleber and Luke Osburn were all invited by Team USA to the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase in July.
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Kleber, the Sabres second-round pick (42nd overall) in 2024, and Ziemer, the club’s third rounder (71st overall), were members of Team USA’s gold medal-winning squad that defeated the Finns 4-3 in overtime in Ottawa last January. Osburn, Buffalo’s fourth-round pick (102nd overall) was named the USHL’s Defenseman of the Year.
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Kleber is a sophomore at Minnesota-Duluth, and has three points (2 goals, 1 assist) in 19 games for the Bulldogs, but the big righty is being relied on more for his defensive abilities and large wingspan. Ziemer had seven points in the WJC, and well on his way to eclipsing his freshman offensive totals at the University of Minnesota, with 19 points (12 goals, 7 assists) in 19 games for the Golden Gophers.
Osburn was considered a longshot before this summer, but was a standout at the Summer Showcase and has continued to impress as a freshman at Wisconsin, with eight points (2 goals, 6 assists) in 12 games with the Badgers. The Sabres are expected to have another prospect, 2025 first rounder Radim Mrtka, playing in the tournament for Czechia. Mrtka, selected ninth overall last June, played for Czechia in the Under-18’s last year and after a brief stint in Rochester, returned to the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds, where he has 16 points (1 goal, 15 assists) in 14 games.
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