{"id":15288,"date":"2017-08-30T19:05:53","date_gmt":"2017-08-30T23:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=15288"},"modified":"2017-08-30T19:05:53","modified_gmt":"2017-08-30T23:05:53","slug":"habs-to-watch-artturi-lehkonen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2017\/08\/30\/habs-to-watch-artturi-lehkonen\/","title":{"rendered":"Habs to Watch in 2017-18: Artturi Lehkonen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/lehkoar01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Artturi Lehkonen<\/a><\/strong> wouldn&#8217;t make the illustrious list of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/canadiens\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Montreal Canadiens<\/a> top <a href=\"http:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/1546883-top-5-rookie-seasons-in-montreal-canadiens-history\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rookie performers<\/a>, there is something about his game that has people <a href=\"http:\/\/www.habsworld.net\/2017\/07\/breakout-candidates-artturi-lehkonen\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">excited<\/a>. While he has a history of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.allaboutthehabs.ca\/artturi-lehkonen-scoring-impressive-rate\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">assists<\/a>, last year it was his 18 goals during the regular season that stood out. Lehkonen is good skater, a great stickhandler, and has excellent hockey sense. For proof, check this out:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Artturi Lehkonen&#039;s All Goals from the 2016-2017 NHL Season\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jFZVyZ2duBI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h1>Habs to Watch in 2017-18: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/lehkoar01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Artturi Lehkonen<\/a><\/h1>\n<p>What stands out when you watch these goals is that he doesn&#8217;t appear afraid to go to the front of the net or do battle in the corner. He remains competitive despite his diminutive size. Perhaps more importantly, in the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/j\/juliecl01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Claude Julien<\/a><\/strong> era, he is recognized as defensively responsible.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Lehkonen displayed unusual hockey sense for a rookie. This may be due to his decision to delay coming to the NHL. Drafted 55th overall (2nd round) in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft by the Habs, between 2013 and 2015 he benefited from the coaching he received from NHL veteran <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kapansa01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sami Kapanen<\/a><\/strong> in Finland and Frolunda coach <strong>Roger R\u00f6nnberg<\/strong> in Sweden.\u00a0Lehkonen was poised in his three appearances at the World Junior Hockey Championship. He led Finland to a gold medal in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>There is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.allaboutthehabs.ca\/lehkonen-ikonen-developing-elite-frolunda-system\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">growing interest<\/a> in the Swedish Hockey League and its approach to hockey development. Fr\u00f6lunda Hockey Club prides itself on preparing future NHLers. Habs draft pick <strong>Joni Ikonen<\/strong> is developing there and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/f\/fribema01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Max Friberg<\/a><\/strong>, who captained the Ice Caps last season, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.habseyesontheprize.com\/2017\/5\/4\/14482864\/max-friberg-icecaps-montreal-canadiens-frolunda-sweden-shl-habs-captain-free-agent\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">heading to Sweden<\/a> to play for them alongside 2018 top prospect <strong>Rasmus Dahlin<\/strong>. Judging by the success of the past players coming out of\u00a0Fr\u00f6lunda, perhaps AHL teams ought to take a closer look.<\/p>\n<p>While Lehkonen did not necessarily have a break out season in 2016-2017, he played only 13 minutes per game. The good news is that he averaged more than two shots on goal per game. He seemed to get better as the year progressed. For example, Lehkonen had six goals and four assists in the last 10 games of the season. He went on to score two goals and had two assists in the playoffs. Check out this beauty:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lehkonen goal Playoff 2017 Montreal Canadiens vs NY Rangers  Game 3\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JKA6t_KtPAw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>So where does Lehkonen fit in this years line up? Its too soon to say, of course. While he played last year on the left wing, he has played on the right side in the past. A lot depends on where <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/drouijo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jonathan Drouin<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/galchal01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Galchenyuk<\/a><\/strong> end up. Given his smart approach to the forecheck and defensive responsibility, he might be a great line mate for either of them, as they hopefully emerge as a reliable center. While some assume Lehkonen\u00a0will be playing on the <a href=\"http:\/\/thehockeywriters.com\/projecting-lines-for-the-2017-18-canadiens\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">third line<\/a>, don&#8217;t be surprised if we see him on the second line and grabbing some powerplay minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Wherever he plays, Lehkonen is likely to take yet another step in his young career. He can play both wings, has a terrific shot, and appears to possess elite hockey sense. More important than those things is his persistence and consistent effort. Amidst the pessimism in Montreal this year, Lehkonen is on his way to be a top-six player in the NHL. Get excited.<\/p>\n<h3>Artturi Lehkonen 2017\/18 Projections<\/h3>\n<p>21 Goals<\/p>\n<p>25 Assists<\/p>\n<p>46 Points<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"IU4uM9vMSN5tb8e5Y4oSpA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.ca\/detail\/647752586\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:&#8217;IU4uM9vMSN5tb8e5Y4oSpA&#8217;,sig:&#8217;8efar1o-8ms9cXfHawwIZs6Yx3u9b-lJsvRyTzTu9RA=&#8217;,w:&#8217;594px&#8217;,h:&#8217;396px&#8217;,items:&#8217;647752586&#8242;,caption: true ,tld:&#8217;ca&#8217;,is360: false })});<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While Artturi Lehkonen wouldn&#8217;t make the illustrious list of Montreal Canadiens top rookie performers, there is something about his game that has people excited. While he has a history of assists, last year it was his 18 goals during the regular season that stood out. Lehkonen is good skater, a great stickhandler, and has excellent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2253,"featured_media":15331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[201,1158,37,1702,2463,152,38,2139],"class_list":["post-15288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canadiens","tag-artturi-lehkonen","tag-claude-julien","tag-hockey","tag-joni-ikonen","tag-max-friberg","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nhl","tag-rasmus-dahlin"],"modified_by":"Nic Hendrickson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}