Confirmed with Link: Artturi Lehkonen (50% Retained) Traded to Colorado for a 2024 2nd Round Pick & Justin Barron

[26Mats]

You guys want to hear a joke?

There was quite a few people here who claimed Lehkonen was a good 4th liner that was unfortunately overplayed higher up the lineup due to overall low quality of our team.

He was consistently out produced by the likes of Byron and Armia throughout his time here - and he got plenty of opportunities.

Having said that, he may prove over a larger sample size to be Hyman type - a guy that can consistently produce playing with generational talent, even if he can't playing with more average players. And not everyone can do that.

 

[FrankMTL]

If he wants to stay long term with Colorado, he might accept that... But if he waits next season, he could get more...

I agree.

Depends if he want to stay on a winning team or not. He would probably accept less to stay on the Avalanche and a chance to win the Stanley Cup every season.

 

[BLONG7]

I agree.

Depends if he want to stay on a winning team or not. He would probably accept less to stay on the Avalanche and a chance to win the Stanley Cup every season.

They are built to stay in it for a couple of years, that's for sure.

 

[GrandBison]

They are built to stay in it for a couple of years, that's for sure.

Lehkonen type of players are useful to your team until they get a big pay,. We need to develop Evans, Poehling, Ylonen etc. to fill that secondary role on friendly contracts and let the money where it should go.

 

[cphabs]

Can’t make this his stuff up lmao!

 

[Andrei79]

You just don't give a good, developed, useful player like Lekky for a raw rookie. He will turn 27 next week. Still lots of good seasons ahead.

That last part is why he was traded. Lehkonen has a lot of good seasons ahead. The Habs don't.

 

[CHarlie]

Not sure why we are all happy about that 2nd......should of definitely been a 1st

 

[Price is Wright]

Happy for Lehkonen. I was supporting us to trade him. Better he win a Cup on Colorado than be given the pressure to help rebuild this team. He's the right age to make the biggest money in his career now.

 

[Hacketts]

From all the missed nets, posts, and awful luck during his regular season days.. He will go down in history as one of the clutches players in recent memory.

The Finnishing Fin

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Not sure why we are all happy about that 2nd......should of definitely been a 1st

Because the 2nd came with Barron.

I make that trade again for sure.

 

[Wats]

Not sure why we are all happy about that 2nd......should of definitely been a 1st

Barron was a 1st round pick in 2020 and hasn't done anything to change that valuation yet.

 

[Whitesnake]

Because the 2nd came with Barron.

I make that trade again for sure.

Remains to be seen. Look like it. But the win-WIN is still yet to be determined. There's CLEARLY a win now. As far as 2nd vs 1st....yeah I think it was fair at the time. 'CAuse of the way we used Lehky. If any sane management would have used him better and have him play with better players, we either keep him or the return would have been much better.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Remains to be seen. Look like it. But the win-WIN is still yet to be determined. There's CLEARLY a win now. As far as 2nd vs 1st....yeah I think it was fair at the time. 'CAuse of the way we used Lehky. If any sane management would have used him better and have him play with better players, we either keep him or the return would have been much better.

We wouldn’t have gotten more than we did. Again, if I were asked today if I’d make that trade I’d do it without any hesitation. I think Barton’s going to be a good blueliner for a long time.

This is what rebuilding looks like. You give away players who can help other teams win now. And you do it so you can build for the future. It’s a great trade for us. Exactly the kinds of moves we should continue to make.

Whether the guys we trade away succeed for other clubs or not doesn’t matter. What matters is that they weren’t winning anything here and we can get returns for them that help us down the road.

 

[Whitesnake]

We wouldn’t have gotten more than we did. Again, if I were asked today if I’d make that trade I’d do it without any hesitation. I think Barton’s going to be a good blueliner for a long time.

This is what rebuilding looks like. You give away players who can help other teams win now. And you do it so you can build for the future. It’s a great trade for us.

Again, not saying that we would have with the Lehky that we traded. Just saying that the Lehky we traded had the value that the old management gave him. Which far less than he should have had. As seen in these playoffs. Same for Eller. Because we were unable to surround them.

Obviously no problem with rebuilding. Thing is, Lehky is just 26. Not 30. Giving Lehky means that you probably don't expect to be up there in 3 years. If so, why do we keep every other dead wood we have? Why don't we concentrate in tanking again for Bedard and Cie? It has to be done this summer. Wright and Cie won't be enough.

 

[sandviper]

Great for Lehky! Always liked him not just as a player, but always seemed like a solid dude as well. However, we’re much better off having resigned Armia. /s

 

[417]

I'm genuinely NEVER happy when an ex-Habs player wins a Cup with another team, it actually makes me quite bitter.

But it's a totally different feeling with Lehkonen, he's such a good player and i'm happy he's found a team that values what he brings to the table.

 

[Nedved]

It's obvious, after watching this series, that Lehkonen has high IQ. He played with their top guys and didn't look out of place and anticipated the the play. Happy for him, looking at talent on both tampa and colorado our management would be dumb to make any off-season moves that didn't involve us being able to flip them at this year's trade deadline. We're 5 years away from being even close to that and need to be bottom 3 next year too. We're far away.

 

[windycity]

Now we're gonna get all the hot takes about how we should have gotten more for Lehkonen. I love Lehky but I was happy with the haul then and not gonna change my mind. It might not work out for the Habs but that happens. Deal was a good one at the time imo

 

[Wats]

Now we're gonna get all the hot takes about how we should have gotten more for Lehkonen. I love Lehky but I was happy with the haul then and not gonna change my mind. It might not work out for the Habs but that happens. Deal was a good one at the time imo

Agreed. Only way he is worth more IMO is if he turns into a 50-60 point player and signs decent contract. There is no Mackinnon/Makar in this organization so it's hard to really say he can do same here. Feel like he's the same boat as Eller except he will likely end up making much more $$.

 

[Price is Wright]

Because the 2nd came with Barron.

I make that trade again for sure.

I don't think people realize what a big deal the trade was. GMs were unhappy Joe Sakic gave Barron up.

NHL GMs sharply criticize Justin Barron trade, reveal Lehkonen wasn't the target in the first place

The trade between the Montreal Canadiens and the Colorado Avalanche, involving Artturi Lehkonen and Justin Barron, continues to cause a

www.habsfanatics.com

Basically the Barron and 2nd was originally offered for other guys, most likely for Claude Giroux if he accepted a move to Colorado.

When Sidney Crosby is just randomly coming out in public to praise the potential of Justin Barron? There's something to it.

Sidney Crosby harshly criticizes the trade between the Canadiens and the Avalanche

As you obviously know, the Montreal Canadiens made a major trade with the Avalanche on Monday at the trade deadline.

www.habsfanatics.com

Over on the Athletic the other perspective is that Sakic has called about Lehkonen before and really wanted him.

LeBrun: Inside the trade that sent Artturi Lehkonen to the Avalanche

The trade that sent Lehkonen to the Avalanche — and ultimately, a second straight Stanley Cup Final — came down to the wire on deadline day.

theathletic.com

But at the end of the day, as much as Hughes didn’t want to trade Lehkonen, there was a price threshold and if a team met it, he would have to go through with it. For the longest time, the Avs were only willing to move one asset — I believe Colorado was trying to get Lehkonen one-for-one for Barron. The clincher came within the last 15-20 minutes before the deadline when Colorado finally relented and grudgingly gave up the second-round pick. So the Habs essentially got a first (2020) and a second (2024) for Lehkonen. Couldn’t pass that up.

So to recap:

- Colorado was trying to land a top trade deadline deal offering Barron and a 2nd
- When calling for Lehkonen they would only offer Barron
- Hughes held on, Sakic couldn't get the other guys
- Sakic finally said okay Lehkonen for Barron and a 2nd
- Hughes said yes
- Other GMs were mad Sakic gave up the package he was offering for highly desired players to Lehkonen
- Sidney Crosby called it a mistake by Colorado

People now have retroactively decided that Habs should have also got a first.

 

[Paddyjack]

Remains to be seen. Look like it. But the win-WIN is still yet to be determined. There's CLEARLY a win now. As far as 2nd vs 1st....yeah I think it was fair at the time. 'CAuse of the way we used Lehky. If any sane management would have used him better and have him play with better players, we either keep him or the return would have been much better.

True, although we gave him that your star centre from Finland but unfortunately he was only hindering his development and slowing his offense. Or so I was told by many posters here.

 

[schwang26]

Not sure why we are all happy about that 2nd......should of definitely been a 1st

Not with Baron too. Leks is good and had been clutch for them, but no way anyone could've foreseen he'd score more clutch goals like that.

 

[Whitesnake]

I don't think people realize what a big deal the trade was. GMs were unhappy Joe Sakic gave Barron up.

NHL GMs sharply criticize Justin Barron trade, reveal Lehkonen wasn't the target in the first place

The trade between the Montreal Canadiens and the Colorado Avalanche, involving Artturi Lehkonen and Justin Barron, continues to cause a

www.habsfanatics.com

Basically the Barron and 2nd was originally offered for other guys, most likely for Claude Giroux if he accepted a move to Colorado.

When Sidney Crosby is just randomly coming out in public to praise the potential of Justin Barron? There's something to it.

Sidney Crosby harshly criticizes the trade between the Canadiens and the Avalanche

As you obviously know, the Montreal Canadiens made a major trade with the Avalanche on Monday at the trade deadline.

www.habsfanatics.com

Over on the Athletic the other perspective is that Sakic has called about Lehkonen before and really wanted him.

LeBrun: Inside the trade that sent Artturi Lehkonen to the Avalanche

The trade that sent Lehkonen to the Avalanche — and ultimately, a second straight Stanley Cup Final — came down to the wire on deadline day.

theathletic.com

So to recap:

- Colorado was trying to land a top trade deadline deal offering Barron and a 2nd
- When calling for Lehkonen they would only offer Barron
- Hughes held on, Sakic couldn't get the other guys
- Sakic finally said okay Lehkonen for Barron and a 2nd
- Hughes said yes
- Other GMs were mad Sakic gave up the package he was offering for highly desired players to Lehkonen
- Sidney Crosby called it a mistake by Colorado

People now have retroactively decided that Habs should have also got a first.

First, it's not PEOPLE. It's a few posters. Than, the recap to do is this...the Montreal Canadiens, at the beginning of Marc WastedYears he had players like Price, Pacioretty, Subban, Eller, Plekanec, Gallagher, Markov, Emelin, Galchenyuk, Gionta. Then added Lehky and Radulov and Byron and Danault. And Petry.

There is NO REASONS why we couldn't build a cup winning team and a contender with those pieces. You add the goalie. You add offense. You add depth. That he was mostly given. But also added a few things. Yet, was never able to build team with that.

As PEOPLE keep saying there are players that brings you in. And also players that makes you win. We had that. We f***ed it up. If paired appropriately, Lehky would have be a top 6 player. Not paired approriately, he became a 3rd line player. Probably one of the best if not THE best.

People keep talking about development. Yeah, that happens. But you know what the best development is? Playing on great teams. SUDDENLY, Lehkonen opened the eyes playing with McKinnon. No shit. Maybe if we would have orchestrate our rebuild sooner we would have been the Avs this year. With what WastedYears did, we have to restart a rebuild as if we had won something....

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Again, not saying that we would have with the Lehky that we traded. Just saying that the Lehky we traded had the value that the old management gave him. Which far less than he should have had. As seen in these playoffs. Same for Eller. Because we were unable to surround them.

Obviously no problem with rebuilding. Thing is, Lehky is just 26. Not 30. Giving Lehky means that you probably don't expect to be up there in 3 years. If so, why do we keep every other dead wood we have? Why don't we concentrate in tanking again for Bedard and Cie? It has to be done this summer. Wright and Cie won't be enough.

I absolutely would trade more vets. I think we need one more year of drafting high.

I think Hughes gets that and that’s why I expect we’ll wind up trading Petry for futures.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

First, it's not PEOPLE. It's a few posters. Than, the recap to do is this...the Montreal Canadiens, at the beginning of Marc WastedYears he had players like Price, Pacioretty, Subban, Eller, Plekanec, Gallagher, Markov, Emelin, Galchenyuk, Gionta. Then added Lehky and Radulov and Byron and Danault. And Petry.

There is NO REASONS why we couldn't build a cup winning team and a contender with those pieces. You add the goalie. You add offense. You add depth. That he was mostly given. But also added a few things. Yet, was never able to build team with that.

As PEOPLE keep saying there are players that brings you in. And also players that makes you win. We had that. We f***ed it up. If paired appropriately, Lehky would have be a top 6 player. Not paired approriately, he became a 3rd line player. Probably one of the best if not THE best.

People keep talking about development. Yeah, that happens. But you know what the best development is? Playing on great teams. SUDDENLY, Lehkonen opened the eyes playing with McKinnon. No shit. Maybe if we would have orchestrate our rebuild sooner we would have been the Avs this year. With what WastedYears did, we have to restart a rebuild as if we had won something....

Sidenote: Most top picks start off on crappy teams. Sakic himself played on terrible teams so did Mackinnon.

As for Lek, loved the guy. But he was never a first liner. I’d never have played him on the first over a Tofoli. He had moments of greatness but was so inconsistent. And his finishing was poor. But… he was skilled. I liked him.

So YES a player like that would do better surrounded by greater players, but that wasn’t us. And if we were a better team we wouldn’t have traded him to begin with.

No use fretting about what he does in Colorado ‘cause he was never going to do it here. Moreover, I’m happy for him. I think we got an awesome return and I’m thrilled with the deal for us. I’d love to see MORE of these kinds of trades. In fact, we probably did better on this deal than the Tofoli one.