Speculation: Atro Leppänen / Liiga - Could some team take a chance on him?

[Treb]

Liiga is literally trash compared to SHL, so the point totals wont translate 1:1.

Cool story bro. I don't expect 1:1 points translation, but at the same time points are also dependent on your teammates. Leppanen is leading in both goals and points so he is definitely outplaying his team offensively.

SHL is pretty much Liiga though it's harder toi score points in Liiga because of its defensive nature.

NL is retirement league for euros so it wouldn't be move towards NHL.

It's AHL/NHL only if he wants the opportunity.

I'd have to get the stats out, but SHL has been considered a better league than Liiga. Pretty sure NL has been too.

The whole point was getting him an AHL/NHL opportunity if you've been paying attention. Obviously getting a NHL deal is better, but I was talking about these as a pre-step to an NHL deal.

 

[BusQuets]

Cool story bro. I don't expect 1:1 points translation, but at the same time points are also dependent on your teammates. Leppanen is leading in both goals and points so he is definitely outplaying his team offensively.




I'd have to get the stats out, but SHL has been considered a better league than Liiga. Pretty sure NL has been too.

The whole point was getting him an AHL/NHL opportunity if you've been paying attention. Obviously getting a NHL deal is better, but I was talking about these as a pre-step to an NHL deal.

The difference between those leagues are so small that they don't matter when trying to forecast NHL career. For example Oliver Kapanen went from 0.5ppg player in Liiga to a ppg player in SHL.
NL is top heavy league but it's still built mainly by swiss players and obviously they are worse than finnish/swedish players that make their leagues.

 

[Treb]

The difference between those leagues are so small that they don't matter when trying to forecast NHL career. For example Oliver Kapanen went from 0.5ppg player in Liiga to a ppg player in SHL.
NL is top heavy league but it's still built mainly by swiss players and obviously they are worse than finnish/swedish players that make their leagues.

So it goes back to what I was saying earlier that player scoring is not a good translatable data without context.

 

[Coffee]

What side does he play?

Both

 

[Chainshot]

Atro is amazing in Liiga, but someone already mentioned Sami Niku.. I'd say there is alot similarities, he would struggle big time along the boards in the NHL.

Eh, if he's as productive as Niku was with the Moose, I could see a team being happy with that outcome even if he doesn't wind up making an NHL club. Hell, a PMD free wallet who could be an excellent add for almost any AHL team.

 

[FinPanda]

He does have interest from NHL teams and won't be playing in Finland next season.

Atro Leppänen jättää Suomen – puolustajatähti vahvistaa: NHL-seurat perässä

Sportin sensaatiopuolustaja Atro Leppänen vahvistaa NHL-kyselyt. Leppänen kertoo lähtevänsä Vaasasta.

www.mtvuutiset.fi

 

[Albatros]

NL is top heavy league but it's still built mainly by swiss players and obviously they are worse than finnish/swedish players that make their leagues.

One is not like the other. You have Finnish players of this caliber even in the second-tier Allsvenskan over Liiga, whereas all the best Swiss players are in the NL if not the NHL. In other words I agree that the SHL has more quality overall, but with Liiga it's not that obvious.

 

[scholl]

He does have interest from NHL teams and won't be playing in Finland next season.

Atro Leppänen jättää Suomen – puolustajatähti vahvistaa: NHL-seurat perässä

Sportin sensaatiopuolustaja Atro Leppänen vahvistaa NHL-kyselyt. Leppänen kertoo lähtevänsä Vaasasta.

www.mtvuutiset.fi

of course won't because he has signed a contract in Sweden. So it's SHL or NHL. Last summer Jääskä got a contract in Carolina after showing much more modest results. Therefore I think that there is little chance that he continues to play in Europe.

If he was R, he would have been a great fit for Florida because some skill got missing when Montour and Ekman-Larsson left.

 

[barriers]

Free agents for NHL teams 2025: Top college, CHL and European players

Ranking this year's players to watch coming out of the CHL, NCAA and major European leagues.

www.nytimes.com

2. Atro Leppänen, LHD, Sport (Liiga)
Leppanen is having a monster season in Liiga. The defenseman is over a point per game and could score 20 goals. He is 26 years old so there is reason to be skeptical about how much his offense is going to be real in North America, but his sharp development is interesting. He’s a good skater with decent hockey sense and a big point shot. His defending and compete aren’t massive selling points, though.

 

[luiginb]

Free agents for NHL teams 2025: Top college, CHL and European players

Ranking this year's players to watch coming out of the CHL, NCAA and major European leagues.

www.nytimes.com

No compete and went from working in a mill to record holder in Finland in five years? What if he had compete, he'd be Bobby Orr?

 

[Sanf]

It would be an amazing story if he would ever played an NHL game. Though as some others have said it could be smartest move for him to cash out the success in Europe. Sadly I don´t see new Rafalski in here.

Liiga isn´t that good at the moment. I mean lot of the high scoring D´s from past season are guys like Les Lancaster, Charles-Edouard D´astous and Luke Martin. Guys that have been good in ECHL, but haven´t made it in AHL level. Ofcourse Atro Leppänen is his own individual, but it shows the level of top playmakind D´s in Liiga.

And it is difficult to say where Leppänen would fit. His skating is fine and has very good puck moving skills, but his defence... I mean he cheats looot in defence. I would be insanely happy if he would prove me wrong.

 

[jaa]

Actually now that I have thought about this more, I think for Leppänen, the highest risk-reward thing would do a 2-way contract to Panthers. They would need a cheap bottom4 D, who possibly could run a powerplay. Ofc they would prefer righ-handed version of this, but why not? One of Leppänen's biggest asset is finding openings to shoot from blueline, his skating is really good by liiga standards, I think Florida's style would fit him.

The challenge is how he could handle the defensive side of things, but the fast pace of NHL I think wouldn't be a problem for him. He is good under pressure, can give good opening pass, can QB a powerplay.

How about other NHL systems, is there an offence-first team outside playoffs that would need a player with the toolbox of Leppänen? I think he will not thrive in a system, which plays oldschool, physical and defence-first, "dump the puck" kind of NA hockey.