Jori Lehtera Player Discussion

[CanadianFlyer88]

Play him with Raffl and Weise to give quality 4th line minutes.

His cap hit doesn't matter because the Flyers have plenty of room.

Or keep him in the press box if Laughton is the preferred 4th line centre.

Lehtera is a replaceable, stop gap player that happens to be overpaid.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

Play him with Raffl and Weise to give quality 4th line minutes.

His cap hit doesn't matter because the Flyers have plenty of room.

Or keep him in the press box if Laughton is the preferred 4th line centre.

Lehtera is a replaceable, stop gap player that happens to be overpaid.

Yep. Even I am not going to go into fits of rage about this guy either way. Probably. Maybe. He can't be any worse than Boyd ****ing Gordon

 

[dats81]

I reckon that they would have settled for a mid round pick in 2018 instead of taking Lehtera's contract for a first, if Bellemare was still a Flyer.

If anything, this trade is bad news for Scott Laughton. He didn't have a roster spot last season and chances are slim now for him making it as a center.

 

[Magua]

I reckon that they would have settled for a mid round pick in 2018 instead of taking Lehtera's contract for a first, if Bellemare was still a Flyer

They likely wanted little to nothing to do with Lehtera's contract. Hextall would've taken that mid round pick in a heartbeat. But St. Louis would not have done the deal without moving Lehtera's contract to offset Schenn's similar cost one. It was simply a salary dump the Flyers felt they could manage cap-wise and work around roster-wise.

 

[Delete99991]

I reckon that they would have settled for a mid round pick in 2018 instead of taking Lehtera's contract for a first, if Bellemare was still a Flyer.

If anything, this trade is bad news for Scott Laughton. He didn't have a roster spot last season and chances are slim now for him making it as a center.

At this point Laughton projects better as a LW in the NHL, no?

I don't see him as having enough of a physical presence to manage checking line C duties.

 

[Fragmuffin]

Just the fact that he's better at faceoffs then PEB makes him an upgrade on the 4th

Really don't care about the cap hit, we weren't gonna sign any UFAs and have enough space to resign those who we have to.

 

[BritainStix]

It's been known that this guy can play LW. I wouldn't be surprised to see Laughton as the C and him on the left where he doesn't have the defensive responsibility.

 

[tade]

It's been known that this guy can play LW. I wouldn't be surprised to see Laughton as the C and him on the left where he doesn't have the defensive responsibility.

Lehtera is the type of player you want to have defensive responsibilities, he's a good 2-way center that you can rely on. He can play the LW, but his game is much better suited to center. Rather move Laughton to LW, if you really want him in the line-up, but with the acquisition of Lehtera, it will be tough for Laughton.

 

[Johnk0728]

Willing to watch with an open mind instead of hating him from the start.

I don't give a **** about his cap hit since it isn't stopping us from doing anything and isn't causing any issues.

It's only for two years. Everyone is assuming he is playing as 4th line center, what does that mean for Laughton? I thought Laughton was ok at wing.

 

[Striiker]

It's only for two years. Everyone is assuming he is playing as 4th line center, what does that mean for Laughton? I thought Laughton was ok at wing.

Lehtera can play LW, so really he's replacing Bellemare, not Laughton.

I'm expecting Lehtera-Laughton-Weise(?) as the 4th line. I can't imagine any scenario where Laughton isn't given a chance at C, at least to start, after all they've said about him and how happy they were with his work last year. This'll be his last chance, but a real chance, for sure.

 

[tade]

I just can't see Lehtera to play effectively at wing...

 

[deadhead]

Or maybe they try different line combinations in TC and see who looks the best playing different roles with different linemates?

 

[hatcher]

He's gonna play lots.

 

[BritainStix]

I mean, theres no guarantee this guy doesn't get bumped to the phantoms. It's not like we are desperate for cap space. We have younger players who could possibly replace him.

 

[tade]

I mean, theres no guarantee this guy doesn't get bumped to the phantoms. It's not like we are desperate for cap space. We have younger players who could possibly replace him.

Oh my god.

 

[Delete99991]

Yikes, tough thread!

 

[BritainStix]

Oh my god.

He isn't a fit for the top 3 lines. We have a glut of players that can play on the bottom line who are far better skaters than Lehtera. Don't act like it isn't a possibility.

 

[The Madrigal]

St. Louis fans have said he hasn't played much wing and he is better at center,

 

[Lord Defect]

He had 64 hits last year(4 less than Giroux), his points are going down each year, he does not seem to do anything stat wise that I notice well.
Is being slightly better than Bellemare on face offs his only saving grace? Wasn't that the same for Gordon?

 

[The Madrigal]

He had 64 hits last year(4 less than Giroux), his points are going down each year, he does not seem to do anything stat wise that I notice well.
Is being slightly better than Bellemare on face offs his only saving grace? Wasn't that the same for Gordon?

Bellemare
34 points in 217 games

Lehtera
100 points in 237 games

and you think being better on face offs is the only thing that separates him from Bellemare?

 

[Striiker]

He had 64 hits last year(4 less than Giroux), his points are going down each year, he does not seem to do anything stat wise that I notice well.
Is being slightly better than Bellemare on face offs his only saving grace? Wasn't that the same for Gordon?

He scored the same amount of points in 60-some games last year as Bellemare did in his last 150-some games.

 

[tade]

He had 64 hits last year(4 less than Giroux), his points are going down each year, he does not seem to do anything stat wise that I notice well.
Is being slightly better than Bellemare on face offs his only saving grace? Wasn't that the same for Gordon?

It is delusional to compare him to Bellemare, or using Gordon in the same sentence as Lehtera. I don't know whats up with some of you guys. I am not overrating Lehtera. I perfectly know what to expect from him, as I described earlier in this thread, and if he rebounds to 14-15' or 15-16' form then it would be awesome, but god damn, some of you guys are severely underrating him...

- Phantoms' bound
- Only slight upgrade over PEB
- Spare forward

Oh my.

 

[Rebels57]

It is delusional to compare him to Bellemare, or using Gordon in the same sentence as Lehtera. I don't know whats up with some of you guys. I am not overrating Lehtera. I perfectly know what to expect from him, as I described earlier in this thread, and if he rebounds to 14-15' or 15-16' form then it would be awesome, but god damn, some of you guys are severely underrating him...

- Phantoms' bound
- Only slight upgrade over PEB
- Spare forward

Oh my.

He's another bottom 6 forward added to a group that already has too many of them.

I think that's why many aren't a fan of this.

 

[tade]

He's another bottom 6 forward added to a group that already has too many of them.

I think that's why many aren't a fan of this.

And that's reason to already "hate" on him in June? That's reason to not judge him properly? He's very likely better than most of our bottom 6 forwards, yet posters here are thinking he could end up in Phantoms or be 13 th forward.

Ridiculous. Many users here probably don't know much about players from other teams, unless they are star players... or don't know how else to explain this.

 

[deadhead]

We may have too many, but at least they're legitimate bottom six forwards who can garner 20-30 points and look like they belong on the ice.
And injuries are almost certain to happen, "too many" can quickly become "not enough."