Jori Lehterä

[Multimoodia]

Berglund is better than Lehtera at everything other than passing.

To be fair, that's a pretty critical part of being a center, especially when centering a shooter.

 

[BlueDream]

I don't think Lehtera and Tarasenko's chemistry is overblown. Sure it died down a little, but Lehtera made some passes that very few others on this team could make on some of his goals.

Also, Berglund is not better than Lehtera.

 

[Thallis]

I agree. Shattenkirk and Schwartz had a bigger impact. Berglund is better than Lehtera at everything other than passing. He also came over 2 years too late. But what can you do. Maybe he gets his fitness in order.

Faceoffs? Dekeing?

 

[KirkOut]

i think i'm one of the bigger berglund fans but no way he's better than lehtera

 

[Thallis]

i think i'm one of the bigger berglund fans but no way he's better than lehtera

100% agree.

 

[Alklha]

My main issue with this is that Lehtera has shown no indication that he can play with anyone other than Tarasenko, especially when many believe Frank should play with Stastny. The flexibility in our line combinations is reduced when Lehtera is on the roster. This deal could turn to be fair if Lehtera makes adjustments next season, but I'm not holding my breath.

How much of Lehterâ did we see with other players before his decline.

I understand the dislike towards the deal just now, but I think this is going to work out very well for us in a year.

 

[WalterSobchak]

1 Year bridge contract at best given how he gassed out at the end of the season. It is sad that this is the straw but I've lost faith in this management group. Up to know I've been disappointed but still willing to dip my toe in the water.

This is Paul Kariya/Jay McKee all over again. There was a period for this team where I accepted the casual over payment for questionable talent. it is what we needed to do to pull in free agents.

at this point if we are still having to do the same thing, this franchise is in bigger trouble than I thought.

 

[Oberyn]

How much of Lehterâ did we see with other players before his decline.

I understand the dislike towards the deal just now, but I think this is going to work out very well for us in a year.

He didn't show much when he played with Berglund, Steen, and Jaskin at various points in the season.

 

[Multimoodia]

The only really established scorer on that group is Steen. Berglund should be a shooter but isn't and Jaskin is...young.

 

[BlueDream]

He didn't show much when he played with Berglund, Steen, and Jaskin at various points in the season.

I see your point but to be fair, Stastny didn't show much when he played with Schwartz and Tarasenko.

I think both guys just need some more time.

 

[Captain Creampuff]

I expected more around 4.25 but I can live with this. I mean, we could have given him 5.5 like some other team gave their 2nd/3rd C.

 

[Oberyn]

I see your point but to be fair, Stastny didn't show much when he played with Schwartz and Tarasenko.

I think both guys just need some more time.

I guess that's kind of my issue here, nobody has a real idea of whether Lehtera is the real deal or not. We could have taken next season to evaluate him as a player and determine whether he fits the team's long term plans. Instead, Armstrong gives him a 3 year extension at a pretty hefty raise for a player whose lungs died out after 30 games. To me, this is an unnecessary risk that Armstrong took on.

 

[Majorityof1]

Hate this move. We are basing it being a potentially good price on a speculative jump in performance in his 2nd year when many players have a sophomore slump. As Oberyn has deftly pointed out, he creates line-up problems since he isn't good enough offensively for a second line role without Tarasenko, nor good enough defensively for a 3rd line role and he has to be attached at the hip with Tank for any role. There is no gurantee his conditioning will improve much despite whatever regimen he is given. As has been discussed before, body conditioning and routine is much harder to change for a 28 year old than a 22 year old.

Comparisons to Soderberg's contract show how bad it is. They had the exact same points this year and Soderberg had way worse line-mates and was solid defensively. Lehtera rode Tarasenko's coat tails and was pretty poor defensively. Yet they got paid the same amount, and Soderberg is considered overpaid.

The whole reason to negotiate early and extend someone is to get a good deal. This is only considered a good deal if he makes an astronomical jump in production. If we take away Tarasenko, which we should, and give him a role more suited to his talents, which we should, and limit his ice time and games played to conserve his energy, which we should, there is no way he does that.

 

[Chojin]

Lehtera is the same age as Frolik, has similar stats, but was signed for less money on a shorter-term deal. I'd say we did pretty damned well, especially when you consider this was just his first season.

EDIT: Whoops, I guess I got AAV's mixed up. Lehtera got a shorter-term contract, but for $4.7m as opposed to $4.3m. Still, I think we did pretty well.

 

[Jzk]

Lehtera is the same age as Frolik, has similar stats, but was signed for less money on a shorter-term deal. I'd say we did pretty damned well, especially when you consider this was just his first season.

Frolik also doesn't play with one of the best players in the world and plays 3rd line minutes. And is great defensively. He isn't really the player to compare Lehtera with.

 

[Thallis]

Hate this move. We are basing it being a potentially good price on a speculative jump in performance in his 2nd year when many players have a sophomore slump. As Oberyn has deftly pointed out, he creates line-up problems since he isn't good enough offensively for a second line role without Tarasenko,nor good enough defensively for a 3rd line role and he has to be attached at the hip with Tank for any role. There is no gurantee his conditioning will improve much despite whatever regimen he is given. As has been discussed before, body conditioning and routine is much harder to change for a 28 year old than a 22 year old.

Comparisons to Soderberg's contract show how bad it is. They had the exact same points this year and Soderberg had way worse line-mates and was solid defensively. Lehtera rode Tarasenko's coat tails and was pretty poor defensively. Yet they got paid the same amount, and Soderberg is considered overpaid.

The whole reason to negotiate early and extend someone is to get a good deal. This is only considered a good deal if he makes an astronomical jump in production. If we take away Tarasenko, which we should, and give him a role more suited to his talents, which we should, and limit his ice time and games played to conserve his energy, which we should, there is no way he does that.

Lehtera was a very big part in Tarasenko's start. I don't think you could say he rode the coat-tails at all. Both were PPG players for the first ~35 games this season. Sure, he ran out of gas, but everyone and their dog knew it was coming during the pre-season. His attachment to Tarasenko wasn't just a product of him being better with Tarasenko, but also because Stastny was pretty poor with him whenever they played together. It was just better for everyone when they were together. Both you and Oberyn are acting like an unknown(how he plays with other players) is for sure a negative. His play early in the season suggests that he's a good passer who is decent along the boards. That doesn't matter who he's with. This is a good deal if he hits 50 points, which should be very doable for him after a summer.

 

[SirPaste]

Lehtera is the same age as Frolik, has similar stats, but was signed for less money on a shorter-term deal. I'd say we did pretty damned well, especially when you consider this was just his first season.

EDIT: Whoops, I guess I got AAV's mixed up. Lehtera got a shorter-term contract, but for $4.7m as opposed to $4.3m. Still, I think we did pretty well.

Frolik is also much, much better defensively than Lehtera

 

[Jussi]

Copying my post from Transactions board thread:

Lehterä still has room to improve physically, mainly skating. Ville Nieminen drove him and two other Tampere based players (one of them Barkov) twice a week last summer to the Sports Science Lab in Turku (apparently the only one outside Nort America) where he worked on his skating. According to the guy who runs the place, there's plenty of areas Lehterä can still improve on.

Adding to that, he worked his ass off in the gym the previous two summers to get his body in NHL shape and famously posted on twitter how he measured in at 100,2 kilos. I think that may be a bit too much now and I could see him trimming a few kilos off of that to improve his endurance.

 

[izzy]

About a mil too much after his second half. If he could keep pace this year, it'll be a good contract.

 

[taylord22]

I guess that's kind of my issue here, nobody has a real idea of whether Lehtera is the real deal or not. We could have taken next season to evaluate him as a player and determine whether he fits the team's long term plans. Instead, Armstrong gives him a 3 year extension at a pretty hefty raise for a player whose lungs died out after 30 games. To me, this is an unnecessary risk that Armstrong took on.

I think what it boils down to is that, at worst, Lehtera is a solid 3rd line C that can play up the lineup. Most of the guys who fit that mold are making around 4. So we paid a small premium to gamble on him improving. And, really, all he needs to improve upon is endurance, which I think he will. If he improves his skating some in the process, it's just an added bonus. The guy was just too heavy last year.

If he does improve into a 60pt C that can get up and down the ice, we've got ourselves a steal. For a first year NHL er, everyone is quick to comment about how his offensive instincts were impressive/quick to translate, but his defense was more impressive to me. He could have been categorized as a +defender his first year in the league.

...and keeping him probably makes Tarasenko happy.

 

[LetsGoBooze]

I'm gonna choose a more positive spin and include this year: We have Lehtera for 4 more years at an AAV @ 4.08m.

These coincide with his prime hockey age years, and also maybe this influences Tarasenko's contract in the slightest staying on a more team friendly deal, since his buddy is gonna be here for a more established time frame.

I personally like the deal.

LGB

 

[Vladys Gumption]

It's a calculated risk that's for sure. It's not a great deal right now but I don't hate it because I expect him to be better next season. If he improves to to 60 point range it'll be a very good contract.

 

[Brian39]

I think what it boils down to is that, at worst, Lehtera is a solid 3rd line C that can play up the lineup. Most of the guys who fit that mold are making around 4. So we paid a small premium to gamble on him improving. And, really, all he needs to improve upon is endurance, which I think he will. If he improves his skating some in the process, it's just an added bonus. The guy was just too heavy last year.

If he does improve into a 60pt C that can get up and down the ice, we've got ourselves a steal. For a first year NHL er, everyone is quick to comment about how his offensive instincts were impressive/quick to translate, but his defense was more impressive to me. He could have been categorized as a +defender his first year in the league.

...and keeping him probably makes Tarasenko happy.

I completely agree with all of this. I think worst case scenario, he will be overpaid by about $750k. I am willing to take that gamble because I think the odds of him not improving at all are very slim. Tons of older players run out of gas around the halfway mark of their first NHL season and most of them are able to improve their conditioning/routine/effort level enough to be fine in subsequent seasons.

I am pretty confident that he will be a consistent 50-60 point player over this contract and will probably have one 65+ point season in that stretch. If he does that, this is a very, very good deal and I think it is worth the gamble. I was hoping for $4 mil/per when I saw that it was 3 years, but that was best case scenario. Had we not extended him, I think the risk of him having a big year next year and pricing himself out of STL was larger than the risk from this deal.

 

[2 Minute Minor]

My main issue with this is that Lehtera has shown no indication that he can play with anyone other than Tarasenko, especially when many believe Frank should play with Stastny. The flexibility in our line combinations is reduced when Lehtera is on the roster. This deal could turn to be fair if Lehtera makes adjustments next season, but I'm not holding my breath.

I agree with you. If Lehtera is centering players other than Tarasenko, his numbers probably won't look as good despite playing at the same level. But this is for 3 UFA years for a guy with a lot of offensive upside who could eclipse his first season pretty easily, assuming conditioning is fixed up.

 

[EastonBlues22]

Well, looks like the Blues were comfortable committing to Lehtera in a top 6 role and were willing to pay him accordingly.

Have to think this puts a serious dent in the likelihood of Backes being extended.