Lehkonen About To Breakout? News/Notes on Training Camp, Addison Injured. (pacioretty)

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Lehkonen About To Breakout? News/Notes on Training Camp, Addison Injured.

By Brandon Smillie

Sep 15, 2017 • 2:22 pm

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Is Lehkonen ready to break through?

A mostly successful 16-17 season for the Canadiens did have its share of disappointments. Ranging from major injuries to Gallagher and Galchenyuk to an early exit in the playoffs despite being, arguably, the better team. There were some revelations that helped the Canadiens have such a strong season despite the injuries and one of the bright spots was the play of the 22 year old rookie winger Artturi Lehkonen who came over to the Canadiens after a record setting point performance for Frolunda HC in the SHL playoffs. Lehkonen put up 33 points in 49 games during the season followed by 19 points in 16 games to beat Daniel Alfredsson’s previous SHL playoff points record of 18 points.

Artturi put up a very stellar 18 goals and 10 assists over 73 games in a season that saw Lehkonen’s ice time fluctuate all season between around 10 minutes to 17 minutes (rare) per game and saw him settle at an 13:52 average time on ice for the year. He received very little power play time until the late stages of last season before getting a huge power play boost in the 6 game series against the New York Rangers. He only produced 2 goals and 2 assists on the PP during the season while averaging 00:55 worth of man advantage time a game. The playoffs saw this average increase to 2:21 where he produced a goal and assist on the PP and the same at even strength.

Most of Lehkonen’s time was spent in a 3rd line role and he was deployed in the defensive zone 55.5% of the time. When looking at Lehkonen's usage per game you see a player who improved over the course of the season and was trusted more as the season wore on. The playoffs were something of a coming out party for Lehkonen as well as his average TOI increased to 15:32. Clearly the staff recognized that his play warranted better usage and that’s incredible for a rookie to be given that opportunity in the most important games of the year.

Is Lehkonen’s season a aberration or a sign of player who’s trajectory is likely to trend upward? No one can truly say for sure, but I’ll make an argument that it’s the latter. Lehkonen’s shot totals (158) show that he gets his looks and he can get the puck through. Better deployment in a more offensive role could see those increase to 200+ next season. His shooting percentage (11.4%) isn’t too far off from the average high end NHL talent so an increase in shots and power play opportunities could put Lehkonen in a position to score 23 or more goals this season. A more offensive role with consistent PP time should yield an increase in his assists as well. Lehkonen also put up a 52.8 CF% with a PDO of 99.4, so he was ever so slightly “unlucky… last season. The work Lehkonen did was exemplary for a rookie in his position.

All in all it wouldn’t be outrageous to believe that if Lehkonen fits into a second line role at even strength and PP (which he easily should) he could see a 15 point jump season over season. A healthy season could see him post numbers around 23 goals and 20 assists for the newly christened 22 year old and the future definitely looks bright for Artturi. I only hope he remains in a second line role for the entire season to truly develop him into a top 6 forward.

Bad news for prospect, and Memorial Cup champion, Jeremiah Addison. He will be out indefinitely after undergoing shoulder surgery.

Addison was likely heading for Laval so his loss may have a big impact on the Canadiens AHL squad this season. He was likely to be a mid line up forward and I was looking forward to tracking his progress this season. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery.

The Canadiens released their training camp teams this morning as well. Listed below are teams A, B, and C.

Team C may need a little help this week.

*UPDATE* Had to add this after I saw it.

*UPDATE 2*

OVERTIME

Geoff Molson might not be allowed to publicly speculate about other teams players but we sure can. How bad has is it for Matt Duchene and the Colorado Avalanche?

Can the Av’s just finish this already? They are ruining their image and Duchene’s value every day at this point. Perhaps a trade will happen soon, maybe to the Canadiens?

Go Habs Go!

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