Confirmed with Link: Blues Sign Jori Lehtera (No, not again. It was just the one time. Deep breaths.)

[Dr Robot]

Everyone seems to have forgotten how worn down Tarasenko was towards the end of his first full season here. Weren't we all saying at the beginning if Jori was able to put up 40-45 points we would call his first season a success? Its his first year playing NA hockey and a full 82 game schedule, what is everyone upset about? He's 27 which is in his prime but if he can get his conditioning up and get used to the NA style he can grow to become a 50+ point center which is pretty exceptional for a found money player a lot of us didn't think was going to come over to begin with.

 

[PiggySmalls]

I think it was a great pick up, seeing him with Steen and Tarasenko is going to be fun next week.

 

[Kshahdoo]

I think Lehtera will be better the next season. But I hope he'll be better these playoffs.

 

[Captain Creampuff]

The non-NHL caliber comment was one of the funniest I've read all year on our forum. Guy finished with 2 less points than our 7 million dollar center with only one more game played.

 

[BadgersandBlues]

He's looked much better in the last 5 games or so. Moving his feet and showing some nice acceleration. I feel that he's found a second wind, just at the right time too.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

I don't think you can look at his year as a whole and not see it in a positive light. We all should have expected a slowdown and for him to hit a wall.

What I'm surprised by is that he looks like he's starting to come out of it. The last two weeks he's shown a lot more life. That'll be huge come playoff time if we can get him back to a high level of performance.

 

[Borderbluesfan]

Lehtera was definitely a good pickup this year. How can anyone not like this player? I think he has been an absolute steal based on what the Blues had to pay for him.

 

[Oan]

What grade would you give him for regular season?

 

[BlueDream]

What grade would you give him for regular season?

B. Exceeded my expectations. Solid 2nd-3rd line center.

 

[anlongo13]

What grade would you give him for regular season?

B. Made an impact much quicker than I expected, but trailed off big time for a while. Hopefully he has adjusted to the longer season, and is ready to go.

Just like Stastny, my opinion of him will be determined by playoff performance. I think he has the ability to make a huge impact on a series.

 

[shpongle falls]

So I was curious what everyone's thoughts are on Lehtera as far as what to expect from him point wise next season.

Lehtera was at a point per game pace in the early part of the season before he hit the inevitable rookie wall and he hit the wall hard, much like Tarasenko in his first season.
Assuming Jori gets his conditioning in gear this summer and will be ready energy wise to be effective in 82 games + playoffs next year, I see him as a 50-60 point center, maaaybe 70 point center (although admittedly that's a reach at this point). Something like 20ish goals with 40-50 assists.

I'm a Lehtera fan for sure, he makes us so much deeper down the middle and I think he will have alot more to offer next season than the 44 points he got this year.

What do you guys think?

 

[Dbrownss]

He needs skating lessons too. He needs to be more explosive with first few steps.

Honestly I didn't really see the elite playmaker that he was billed to be. He had a hard time creating space.

 

[PiggySmalls]

I see him being a solid offensive minded #2 center. I think he tries to be too much of a player maker with his puck shooting phobia. I hope after this year he realizes he needs to better assess the risks vs. rewards of passing and not shooting.

You see alot of euro players gets gassed in their first season here, the amount of scheduling and traveling takes its toll. I hope once his hand is fully healed, he starts into a good conditioning program. I'm stoked about him next season, his production wasn't so amazing that it would be hard to follow up, but he has the ability to build off of it.

 

[Dbrownss]

God his shot sucked too lol....a summer with Vladi can fix that

 

[Vladys Gumption]

All things considered I don't think we can complain with that season. I'm actually looking forward to how he looks next season. I'd like to see both Jori and Tarasenko stay in town and work out together with Shattenkirk. Whatever Shatty did last season worked wonders for him.

 

[JoshFromMO]

For a first nhl season, he was fairly impressive. I hope he has a higher ceiling than this year, because he exploded in points early on and kind of burned out. Maybe he can work on his shooting/confidence in the off-season and he's gonna be really great at center.

 

[Oberyn]

Good first half and then faded out hard. I don't personally see anything special in him and I think his chemistry with Tarasenko is overrated. He does have decent playmaking skills, but his shot, skating, and stamina all concern me.

 

[Blanick]

I would give him an incomplete. I still think there is more there. Anyone with eyes can tell he hit a wall in the 2nd half of the season. If he goes into the off season and works on the things that need work I have no doubt he could be a 60pt C going forward.

 

[Celtic Note]

The thing to remember about rookies coming into the league is the more time they play, the more tape available on them. The more tape, the more coaches and players can learn their tendencies. I think you see a lot of rookies prosper only to have sophomore slumps for this very reason. With The STL line firing on all cylinders, coaches expedited their quest to find answers. That's part of the reason for the drop off. That is in addition to the obvious fatigue factor.

If Lehtera is going to succeed he needs to get his body up to speed with the NHL schedule. Fighting through tougher defensive schemes is going to be physically challenging. But, he also needs to be able to adapt. That's harder to figure out.

 

[Dbrownss]

I agree Celtic Note. Frank can also pick up some new tricks. That line telegraphed everything. They were just neutralized.

 

[SteenMachine]

At a certain point after Lethera slumped Tarasekno also started being a lot more selfish with the puck. Trying to create his scoring chances on his own. Obviously defenders were picking up on it, but they started the season with so much fluid creativity and quick passing and instinctive positioning that it created scoring chances for both of them. I'm hoping that's something they can get back into, working in tandem they were able to just push through defenders and backchecking instead of being pushed to the outside and trapped on the boards or in an endless cycle.

 

[sst338d]

I really don't expect him to have the 44 points he had this season next year, but could be wrong. I see around 6-10 goals and 25-30 assists.

 

[Ranksu]

I'm not sure have here been any update Lehterä's hand. He was interviewed and he said his hand was broken and make it numb so he could play + that hand became even worse on that game. Not good.

 

[Dbrownss]

Bouwmeester........

 

[2 Minute Minor]

I'm not sure have here been any update Lehterä's hand. He was interviewed and he said his hand was broken and make it numb so he could play + that hand became even worse on that game. Not good.

This was an injury during the playoffs? I hadn't realized about that.