Montreal Canadiens: Artturi Lehkonen days until the start of the season

There are 62 days until the start of the 2018-19 season reminding Montreal Canadiens fans of the big year Artturi Lehkonen has in front of him.

Artturi Lehkonen has been at the top of personal breakout lists for the 2018-19 season. The 23-year-old saw his goal total fall to 12 after scoring 18 in his first year on the Montreal Canadiens. Some including myself had Lehkonen scoring at least 20 goals, but the snake venom took to his season performance quickly.

Lehkonen had a better end to the 2017-18 campaign scoring 7 goals in the final 14 games. That doesn’t seem like the greatest rate, but considering there were 11, 23, and 14 game stretches where the Finland native went without a goal. All signs point to a much more improved season though.

For starters, and similar to Charles Hudon, Lehkonen’s shooting percentage took a steep drop going from 11.4% to 7.3% despite his shot totals increasing. It’s incredible how unlucky he was considering his shot maps.

If you were to apply his shooting percentage last season to the number of shots taken this season, Lehkonen would’ve had another 18-goal season, or very close to it.

There’s no reason why he shouldn’t get to that mark. Playing on a line with Max Domi should help that mission along very nicely. Domi has seen his skills as a playmaker improve in the last two years and should be able to find Lehkonen in the offensive zone considering where he goes.

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The 2013 second-round pick isn’t afraid to go to the high-danger areas of the ice, but also has a good shot that he can send from the right circle.

Additionally, Lehkonen could very well replace Alex Galchenyuk on the top powerplay unit allowing him to see time with Jonathan Drouin. He along with Drouin and Galchenyuk generated a lot of scoring chances when playing together this past season; they just weren’t able to capitalize on them. That should change with the new year.

Is it within the realm of possibility for Lehkonen to score 20 this season? Absolutely. He’ll be given a top-six role again lining up with players who can get him the puck.

It’s also important to mention that it’s a contract year for Lehkonen as his entry-level is set to expire next summer. Marc Bergevin has shied away from those long-term contract signings, save for Drouin, but there’s an opportunity to drive up that AAV even if it’s a bridge deal.

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Having the best season of his NHL career would be a good way to drive the point home that he’s worth the investment.

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