Of all the European import signings who have been trickling into the NHL over the past month, Mikko Lehtonen could make the greatest immediate impact.
Let the bidding begin.
Lehtonen and Jokerit mutually agreed to terminate the defenceman’s contract one season early Friday, leaving the 26-year-old free to sign in North America and chase a Stanley Cup as soon as the 2020–21 season.
Never drafted, Lehtonen hails from the cultural centre of Turku, the oldest city in Finland and the same one that blessed the NHL with Miikka Kiprusoff, the Koivu brothers, Rasmus Ristolainen and Kaapo Kakko.
Lehtonen is a left-shot offensive defenceman who can quarterback a power play and wields a seeing-eye wrister from the point. He won gold medals with his country at the 2014 world juniors and 2019 world championships. He also repped for Finland at the 2018 Olympic Games. He has bounced around Europe’s top circuits, starring in the Finnish and Swedish Elite leagues before dominating in his first season in the KHL.
In 2019–20, he scored 17 goals and 32 assists in 52 games for Jokerit, making him the top point-getter among all KHL defenders and the sixth-highest scorer overall. The all-star’s four points in six games led Jokerit to a Round 1 playoff series victory over Lokomotiv. Then the KHL cancelled its season.
In a statement, Jokerit GM Jari Kurri thanked Lehtonen and wished him luck in the NHL, “where he has every chance to become an important player on his team.”
Side note: This week the KHL’s board of directors implemented a flat salary cap of 900 million rubles (US$11.9 million) for 2020–21, when they’d considered increasing the cap to 1.3 billion rubles (US$17.2 million).
The Los Angeles Kings, New Jersey Devils and Montreal Canadiens — long in the market for a play-driving, left-shot defenceman — are but three teams said to have interest in the NHL-ready import whose stock and confidence have soared since that world championships gold last May.
“It all started with the world championship,” Lehtonen told the KHL website. “Then, after a good summer, I arrived in a good team. It’s easier when you have fantastic teammates, and they make you a better player.”