Montreal Canadiens: Artturi Lehkonen Returns to Lineup, But Why Did He Sit?

The Montreal Canadiens decided to sit Artturi Lehkonen against the Washington Capitals. He is back in the lineup now, but why did he sit in the first place?

The Montreal Canadiens are certainly going to be sellers leading up to Monday’s trade deadline. In fact, they started the selling process when they dealt Marco Scandella to the St. Louis Blues for a second round pick in 2020 and conditional fourth round draft pick in 2021. It was a good haul considering the Habs acquired Scandella about six weeks earlier for a fourth round pick.

Knowing the team was in sellers mode, alarm bells were set off when Lehkonen was announced as a scratch from the lineup on Thursday night. The Habs were taking on the Washington Capitals and Lehkonen was sitting in the press box while Jordan Weal was inserted into the lineup.

This left many fans to speculate Lehkonen may be on the move in a trade. It seemed unrealistic that he would actually be a healthy scratch due to his performance. The Finnish winger isn’t the best offensive weapon on the team, but he might be the best defensive forward. He plays a key role on the team’s penalty killing unit and can always be trusted to make the right plays in the Habs defensive zone.

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Lehkonen has 12 goals and 25 points in 62 games this season. He is one of the few Habs forwards who hadn’t missed a single game and though his offensive production is sporadic his defensive prowess was one of the few consistencies on the entire Canadiens roster this season.

Following the game, we found out that Lehkonen was not traded and that it was a coaches decision to sit him because Julien wants him to bring more offensively. That’s a simple enough excuse, but why would they all of a sudden expect more offence from Lehkonen?

The 24 year old forward set a career high for goals in his rookie season with 18. This is now his fourth NHL season and he is pace to set a career high with 33 points. He hasn’t been scoring a lot lately, with just three points in his last 17 games but he remains the team’s most trusted penalty killer.

The mixed messages being sent from the Habs coaching staff and management team are hard to decode. They continue to say they are trying to make the playoffs. They are rushing players back from injury and starting Carey Price every night. But then they bench Lehkonen.

Why bench Lehkonen in favour of Jordan Weal?

With the trade deadline looming, it is possible that another team wanted to have a look at Weal before Monday. That is the only think that makes sense. There isn’t really another reason to sit your best penalty killer if you are still trying to make the playoffs. Most fans understand the futility of the playoff chase, but Price is starting for the 15th time in the last 16 games tonight so Bergevin and Julien obviously think they still have something to play for.

What did Weal have to play for? Hopefully an audition for another team that is dealing with injuries and could use some depth for the playoff race. Bergevin has ridden himself of some troublesome contracts in the past like Brandon Prust’s, Alexei Emelin’s and Rene Bourque’s.

Weal is signed through next year at $1.4 million. It is not the biggest problem to deal with, but moving him for a late draft pick would be quite the maneuver from Bergevin. Hopefully that was why they decided to bench Lehkonen against the Capitals.