To the casual, box-score observer of the Montreal Canadiens, Artturi Lehkonen is a player that does not generate much discussion or buzz. As the Canadiens performance this year continues to surprise skeptics, the players who the casual observers have credited for this success have been Carey Price and Shea Weber (for the usual good reasons), Max Domi (leads the team in points, with 71), and Brendan Gallagher (leads the team in goals, with 33).
Of course, for the lazy pundit who clearly has not watched nor followed the Canadiens much this season, this would be a quick way to draw conclusions and move on with the discussion. But this approach really undersells the great performances of other players, including Philip Danault, who is turning into Patrice Bergeron-lite for his ability to play against opposition top lines, Tomas Tatar, whose defensive prowess has been a revelation for Canadiens fans in addition to his offensive production, and Paul Byron, who has been an effective Swiss army knife, that can play any role for the club and that keeps opposition defenders on edge with his speed and smarts.
Artturi Lehkonen is another player that belongs on that list of unheralded, but incredibly important players for the Canadiens. A quick glance at his statsheet shows rather modest, if not unimpressive, offensive numbers. Through 80 games, his 11 goals and 18 assists, ranks him 11th on the team in points (although his 29 point season is a career high). Additionally, Lehkonen has gone through crippling slumps this year. Prior to his goal against San Jose on 7 March, Lehkonen went 29 games without a goal. Prior to his assist against Tampa Bay on 2 April, Lehkonen went 27 games without an assist. NHL players that go nearly two months without goals or assists surely find themselves out of the lineup at one point or another, yet Lehkonen has played every game this year, and continues to earn the trust of his coach Claude Julien.
The value of Artturi Lehkonen comes from his ability to forecheck and his overall pitbull like tenacity to harry opposition defenders. When the Canadiens have been at their very best this season, they have succeeded at playing an aggressive “press/reload” style system. The major tenets of this system include 1) having the forecheckers win the puck back as quickly as possible or forcing the opposition defenseman to make an errant pass, 2) having the Canadiens defensemen step up in the neutral zone to cut off the puck carrier, or errant pass and 3) having the original forechecker skate back as quickly as possible to provide cover for the defenseman that has stepped into the neutral zone. This system requires intelligent and speedy forecheckers, who have the commitment and fitness to be aggressive in two directions.
Claude Julien has likely pointed to Artturi Lehkonen’s style of play as the style he would like all his forwards to play, and it becomes immediately apparent why. Lehkonen has been the embodiment of an aggressive, intelligent, and diligent forechecker, who even through his many offensive lulls, is still contributing to the team’s system and success, by winning offensive zone turnovers and wearing down opposition defensemen. Even as the Canadiens have gone through their own slumps as a team this season, where the energy level to keep up with the physical demands of this system have waned, Artturi Lehkonen was still exerting his influence.
Lehkonen started the season playing mostly with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Joel Armia to form a Finnish trio, however as his offensive outputs declined, he was placed on the fourth line. Yet, Julien never took him out of the lineup altogether, and even mired in slump, in which he scored only once in 34 games, Julien promoted Lehkonen to play on the left side with Max Domi and Andrew Shaw. Since this change, which took place on 16 March against Chicago, Domi and Shaw have been able to spend much more time in the offensive zone as Lehkonen has provided much more stability. Additionally, in the nine games since this line was put together, Lehkonen has scored three times. Again, the numbers are not overwhelming, but the impact on the team’s overall play has been, as the Canadiens have been 6-2-1 during a stretch in which the club has been fighting for a playoff spot. Irrespective of where Lehkonen has played, he has put together a 53.5 CF% this year.
Lehkonen’s overall value was demonstrated on Tuesday night, when the Canadiens played arguably their best game of the season against the league’s best Tampa Bay Lightning, who have put together a 60 win season. The Canadiens played with a ferocious pace, outshooting Tampa 45-24 and controlling 85% of the high danger shots. It was Lehkonen who broke the game open with an impressive display of hand eye coordination in the third period, to put the Canadiens into a 3-2 lead. His laser eye perception was on display for Max Domi’s 4-2 goal, in which Lehkonen found a streaking Domi in an area of the the ice that no Tampa defender could cover. That goal brought the Bell Centre to life, and kept the Canadiens playoff hopes very much alive.
It is truly a cliche that hockey is a team game, that the best teams must have all 19 players dressed contributing something positive on the ice. At the end of the season, when the hockey pundits look at the Canadiens successes in the 2018-19 season, Artturi Lehkonen’s name will not register in the conversation. However, let’s be quite clear, his effort and persistence all season is a major reason for why the Canadiens are where they are now, and those that truly recognize how this underdog team got this far will recognize that Artturi Lehkonen has been an integral piece.
Jaideep Kanungo
Jaikan Sport 