Player Discussion Artturi Lehkonen

[lamp9post]

I've been disappointed in Lehkonen's offensive development. After 18 goals in his rookie year I thought he'd round in to a 25 goal second-liner with a solid all-around game. Now he looks like he might end up as what he's showing now, a 10-15 goal 3rd liner, however he's still young and could end up a second liner after all.

That said, I still really like the player. He's a young leader on the team, wearing the A when there are injuries and leading by example. He's a phenomenal forechecker, the best on our team IMO and he does it with smarts and positioning, good angles and anticipation, rather than pure speed. He's kept a lot of plays alive in the offensive end to extend pressure and there have been a couple times where this has resulted in goals where he wasn't credited with an assist.

He's part of the very good 'middle-6' depth the Habs have accumulated and I don't think they are looking to trade him short of a direct upgrade. I'm not sure a Lehkonen for LD trade makes much sense either as Mete, Kulak, and Reilly have been doing a fairly solid job lately, and I'm not sure Lehkonen alone would return much of an upgrade, if any, on these players.

 

[Rapala]

How did he not get better? If you are solely going by points, Pacioretty sucked that year and we had no replacement for Radulov. I also have him as a 3rd liner, how does that make me totally blind? Shaw has been excellent this season and Byron is undoubtedly better.

Maybe last year was an anomaly but I certainly thought Danault was better the previous season when he earned his way up through the ranks. Indeed I was only disappointed in his playoff performance.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Every time Jesperi passes it to Lehkonen i cringe a bit, because he's not getting that puck back. Lehkonen is so tilted and really wants to get a goal, so he's shooting the second he gets a chance.

 

[GHJimmy]

I have a feeling lehky has the most shot attempts on a habs jersey.. correct me if i'm wrong. I hope he finds his A game, i mean he scored 18 goals in his first career, what happened?

 

[Teufelsdreck]

My greatest concerns about the Habs are twofold:
First, they need a solid two-way left Dman. Second, they need a high-scoring RW. Of course. they don't get the opportunity to pick up a Lafleur (or even a Sergachev) in every draft On the bright side they have promising prospects in Poehling, Suzuki. and perhaps even Primeau (as an eventual replacement for Price or Niemi). I am encouraged that they Habs are no longer overwhelmed by the stronger teams in the other conference. Those western teams (particularly Chicago and Los Angeles) aren't as imposing as they used to be.

 

[Redux91]

I feel bad for Lehky, still love him, but its been a tough season for him, still works super hard, but the offense is just not enough for what the team needs right now in terms of secondary scoring

My father keeps telling me hes the first person he'd trade to get something at the deadline, and im starting to feel like if that ever happened, im getting more and more ok with it unfortunately

Still love the guy tho

 

[Le Barron de HF]

I don't like how his shots on goal is on the decline ever since his rookie year. If he doesn't take an additional step offensively next year, I accept that he's a Carl Hagelin and nothing more which is fine.

 

[le_sean]

He’s not good. Sorry everyone.

 

[ottawa]

Done with him...his ineffectiveness is costing us goals

 

[Thebesthockey]

bench time

 

[ottawa]

Would rather see trade time.

 

[26Mats]

I feel bad for Lehky, still love him, but its been a tough season for him, still works super hard, but the offense is just not enough for what the team needs right now in terms of secondary scoring

My father keeps telling me hes the first person he'd trade to get something at the deadline, and im starting to feel like if that ever happened, im getting more and more ok with it unfortunately

Still love the guy tho

He'd be great on the 4th line and the pk until he's ready to get to another level offensively.

Would like to get Marcus Johansson, Derrick Brassard, or Mats Zuccarello for the top 9 if one of them could be had without giving up a 2nd - say giving up Lindgren and a 3rd.

 

[ProspectsFanatic]

Switch Weise and Lehkonen. Lehkonen is strictly good defensively with no finishing abilities. Weise had success in the NHL in a top9 role where he could chip in offensively, he did had finishing abilities, I would give him a chance to see if he could recreate the magic, his 2-way IQ/PK abilities/4th line grinding isn't really his strength anyway.

 

[Thebesthockey]

Would rather see trade time.

trade when value is up
its far from up

 

[kris]

Every time Jesperi passes it to Lehkonen i cringe a bit, because he's not getting that puck back. Lehkonen is so tilted and really wants to get a goal, so he's shooting the second he gets a chance.

Did I stumble into the Brendan Gallagher thread?

 

[ottawa]

trade when value is up
its far from up

Doesn't look like he'll be getting back to his ~20 goal scoring days...trade when value is as high as it'll be.

 

[CoopersFalls]

I've been disappointed in Lehkonen's offensive development. After 18 goals in his rookie year I thought he'd round in to a 25 goal second-liner with a solid all-around game. Now he looks like he might end up as what he's showing now, a 10-15 goal 3rd liner, however he's still young and could end up a second liner after all.

That said, I still really like the player. He's a young leader on the team, wearing the A when there are injuries and leading by example. He's a phenomenal forechecker, the best on our team IMO and he does it with smarts and positioning, good angles and anticipation, rather than pure speed. He's kept a lot of plays alive in the offensive end to extend pressure and there have been a couple times where this has resulted in goals where he wasn't credited with an assist.

He's part of the very good 'middle-6' depth the Habs have accumulated and I don't think they are looking to trade him short of a direct upgrade. I'm not sure a Lehkonen for LD trade makes much sense either as Mete, Kulak, and Reilly have been doing a fairly solid job lately, and I'm not sure Lehkonen alone would return much of an upgrade, if any, on these players.

Came here to say this. The guy is a dog on a bone. After those 18 goals (many which were complete snipes), I had high hopes. Either his confidence is shot or that was a fluke year.

 

[The Great Weal]

I dont see why his value would be low. His stats are solid. Package him for a similarly aged lhd.

 

[ProspectsFanatic]

I dont see why his value would be low. His stats are solid. Package him for a similarly aged lhd.

We don't have that big of needs right now, we could try to package him to get rid of Alzner for another overprice but superior player that we could use in our lineup like Brandon Sutter.

 

[The Great Weal]

We don't have that big of needs right now, we could try to package him to get rid of Alzner for another overprice but superior player that we could use in our lineup like Brandon Sutter.

I'd say that a lhd is a pretty massive need.

 

[calder candidate]

He is a good player and he still has potential but if we are trying to improve I think he is a player that will be included in a package.

 

[ProspectsFanatic]

I'd say that a lhd is a pretty massive need.

I mean Lehkonen equivalent in terms of talent would get you another like 5th/6th D which this is pretty much all we have of. Lehkonen + for like 3rd/4th D would be really nice, but that is the dreamy deal that you know won't happen.

 

[The Great Weal]

I mean Lehkonen equivalent in terms of talent & age would get you another like 5th/6th D which this is pretty much all we have of. Lehkonen + for like 3rd/4th D would be really nice, but that is the dreamy deal that you know won't happen.

No way he only gets a 5th dman. I'm sure a decent add to him can get us a good top 4 dman.

 

[Habs]

We don't have that big of needs right now, we could try to package him to get rid of Alzner for another overprice but superior player that we could use in our lineup like Brandon Sutter.

You are joking right? The PP is 30th. The blueline is a bandaid of castaways and a 5'7 guy who has a wristshot that he can almost raise from the 35ft on a good day. If numbnuts can fix the PP instead of the 4th line, this team would make it a round.

Leks sucks.

 

[HabsCowboysOwn]

Guy has stone hands, he’s a bottom-6 plugger at this point and I wouldn’t mind trading him for a pick.