Montreal Canadiens: Season Expectations for Artturi Lehkonen
By Omar L
There’s 62 days left until the beginning of the 2017-2018 season, let’s look at what Montreal Canadiens fans can expect from Artturi Lehkonen.
It took three years, but Artturi Lehkonen finally made his NHL debut with the Montreal Canadiens this past season. There was no doubt that Lehkonen was an offensive threat. He had 30 points in 45 games with KalPa of Liiga, which was a decent total for a then 17-year-old. However, his next two regular seasons with KalPa and then Frölunda HC of the SHL were pretty underwhelming.
Lehkonen turned it up during the 2015-2016 season with 33 points in 49 points. To top that off, he had an unbelievable playoffs scoring 11 goals and 8 assists in 16 games. He was ready for the NHL.
The main concern regarding his transition was his size. Lehkonen stood at six-feet and 182 pounds. It wasn’t a terrible measure, but not ideal to handle the hardships of the NHL. Fortunately for the Montreal Canadiens, Lehkonen made all those fears disappear by how well he played.
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The 2013 2nd round pick began the 2016-2017 season as the team’s second line left-winger. He had veteran center Tomas Plekanec and new addition Alexander Radulov on his line as well. Lehkonen also spend some time playing with Phillip Danault and Andrew Shaw. The Finland-native finished the regular season with 18 goals and 10 assists in 73 games. He also had 4 points in 6 playoff games.
You’d think that with the kind of shot Lehkonen had, he would’ve had a lot of snipes finding their way past goaltenders. And this is where we get to one of the best aspects of his game. A handful of those goals came in those close areas around the nets. For someone who is tagged for being undersized, he definitely wasn’t scared to get into those rough areas. However, he wasn’t shy to let that wicked shot loose when he could.
The 22-year-old may already have the same position locked in for next season. A 25 goal season is within reach for Lehkonen in his second year with the Montreal Canadiens. Depending on how coach Claude Julien runs his lines, there’s a possibility that he could play with Jonathan Drouin. Now wouldn’t that be something.
Next: Projecting the 2017-2018 Roster
What are your expectations for Lehkonen next season? Can he become a 20-goal scorer? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Player stats from Hockey-Reference.com and Eliteprospects.com