Confirmed with Link: [TOR/CBJ] LD Mikko Lehtonen to CBJ for G Veini Vehvilainen

[Stigma]

Well any goalie COULD become a Vezina winner. and I'v skimmed through like 6 pages now. not the reactions im seeing...

Same. I thought I missed something, but it's pretty much the opposite of a "typical leaf reaction"...if that even exists.

 

[Cor]

If the Leafs are moving Mikko , why was it a goalie in return? Our ECHL team is not playing and we have plenty of goalies to sit in the press box. This guy is not going to challenge for a back up spot, or a taxi squad spot, seems like a weird trade TBH.

You need 3 goalies to travel with the team.

Since Freddy/Campbell have faced injuries this year, it’s forced Woll to miss the first of the AHL season. Woll was just able to play with the Marlies yesterday.

So this trade will avoid that in the future. If an injury happens, this guy can go to the taxi squad and allow Woll to stay with the Marlies.

 

[Hockey Crazy]

Seth Jones is overrated ? Don’t think you watch him enough . Jones is a stud

Hes been terrible this season

 

[Coaches Coroner]

love that this fan base can treat any minor trade as some kind of game changing blunder. Lehtonen hasn't shown himself to have much value, now people are acting like we gave away a top 4 D for free. His value in the eyes of Leafs fans yesterday versus today is significantly higher lol

 

[MarMarSab3]

It's a nothing for nothing trade I think, CLB gains a dman with potential who I think cracks there top 6, Leafs gain a depth goalie with great euro stats. Dubas gains favor by trading away a euro signing who wasn't working out and gave him a shot elsewhere. I still think they gave up on Lehtonen to early

 

[Mess]

Veini Vehviläinen Makes His NHL Debut (Mar. 6, 2021)

 

[Dayjobdave]

With 3 goalies on the roster required this year you need 5 goalies for the Leafs/Marlies.

We started the year with these 6:
Andersen
Campbell
Dell
Hutch
Woll
Scott

But we lost Dell, Campbell and Scott are hurt, and Andersen has been hurt as well. At one point we were down to Hutch and Woll and some AHL fillers. That's not a good place to be.

Yes, haven’t the Marlies been playing a goalie that they had to bring in almost as a try out?

 

[Bluelines]

You need 3 goalies to travel with the team.

Since Freddy/Campbell have faced injuries this year, it’s forced Woll to miss the first of the AHL season. Woll was just able to play with the Marlies yesterday.

So this trade will avoid that in the future. If an injury happens, this guy can go to the taxi squad and allow Woll to stay with the Marlies.

Ok this makes sense, I guess I'm not as Columbo as I thought

 

[Bluelines]

Pretty obvious the blue jackets wanted lehtonen last summer
They have FINNISH GM and he likely had a hand in things
Plus the leafs took a goalie off their hands is maybe a prelude to nick foligno coming here

If we can get the Foligno hard on the puck , dirty SOB I will take him, if we are getting the geriatric soon to be in my rocker recliner Foligno, I will take a hard pass.

 

[Bluelines]

Marlies can't get consistent goaltending and Woll hasn't really proven anything at the pro level yet so it makes perfect sense. We had a guy who was sitting in a press box doing nothing while we have 2 defenders in Sandin and Liljegren who are NHL ready and Lehtonen doesn't really have any value because him being a KHL star doesn't mean anything over here. We didn't make this trade for this guy to be our Andersen replacement. He's literally just gonna be challenging Woll for the Marlies starter spot and I feel much more comfortable with our goaltending situation now with Woll and Vehvilainen on the Marlies and having Andersen, Campbell and Hutchinson as our 3 on the Leafs.

Makes sense, great avatar pic

 

[Gary Nylund]

It's a nothing for nothing trade I think, CLB gains a dman with potential who I think cracks there top 6, Leafs gain a depth goalie with great euro stats. Dubas gains favor by trading away a euro signing who wasn't working out and gave him a shot elsewhere. I still think they gave up on Lehtonen to early

This is how I see it too. I don't understand why we couldn't give Lehtonen a real chance to show what he could do, and now our depth on D is all but gone.

I guess I have to trust that Keefe/Dubas know what they're doing but ATM, I can't say I like this one bit.

 

[Dekes For Days]

Sucks that he didn't work out for us, but fact is, he wasn't one of our six best defensemen, and doubt we'd be able to keep him past this year regardless.

 

[david999]

There has to be another defensman on the Leafs radar ( probably Savard from Columbus) as there is no way they go into playoffs with Marincin as next up. They are probably waiting for more cap room to open up before pulling the trigger.

 

[aingefan]

This is how I see it too. I don't understand why we couldn't give Lehtonen a real chance to show what he could do, and now our depth on D is all but gone.

I guess I have to trust that Keefe/Dubas know what they're doing but ATM, I can't say I like this one bit.

I get that concern, and I was very hopeful with Lehtonen too, but he’s also a UFA after the year and didn’t beat out Travis Dermott or Bogo for regular playing time.
There’s a bit more of a depth risk with injury I guess, but there are two Marlies with more NHL and North American experience than him too.

 

[SprDaVE]

There has to be another defensman on the Leafs radar ( probably Savard from Columbus) as there is no way they go into playoffs with Marincin as next up. They are probably waiting for more cap room to open up before pulling the trigger.

Why would the Leafs have interest in a 4M defenseman to sit on the bench.

I don't know why trading Lehtonen all of a sudden makes everyone panic that we need to add a bunch of defenseman.

 

[stickty111]

 

[aingefan]

I see nothing but benefits from good karma driven moves.

I would have loved Lehtonen outplaying everyone and cementing himself. Ah well.

 

[LeafGrief]

Oh well. Hope he does well in Columbus.

 

[nuck]

System needed another goalie better than ECHL quality. Having a player rot on in the press box doesn't help them and doesn't help you attract other UFAs. I don't think it was fair value but it was something they needed to do. At this point there is no evidence the guy was going to be better than 3rd pairing for the club at best.

 

[justashadowof]

Doesn't look too small to me but he seems to get low and overcover along the ice a la Dominic Hasek.

 

[AllDay28]

if were all sad to be giving up a norris 7th dman whos a ufa to be... why werent you people mad when he wasnt playing.. ever?

 

[mcleex]

I just feel like we could have gotten more than just the goalie. Like even a 4th or 5th rounder as throw in would have been nice

 

[GBLeaf]

I think Dubas is trying to create positive environment here. He's done similar in the past.

He's put the career of a player ahead of his/Toronto's selfish needs.

Lehtonen wasn't playing, Keefe didn't fancy him - rightly or wrong.

But Lehtonen wants to come to the NHL, play and make his name. I think Dubas has said, 'okay, it's not happening here, you deserve your opportunity, we'll make it happen'.

He's done it before with a few players. Josh Leivo springs to mind.

Maybe it will cost in the long run. But it definitely gives people a good feeling too. Players talk, agents talk.

If there's another free agent up for grabs in the KHL that Toronto wants, he and his agent will know if Toronto come calling, if it doesn't work, they will find somewhere they will get a chance. They wont be selfish and bury them.

I like it personally. It shows a humanity and I want to see that.

 

[moon111]

You judge the merits of the transaction. How the Leafs got Lehtonen is completely irrelevant.

If I trade a brand new Lexus SUV for a used Hyundai, it doesn’t matter if the Lexus was free, it’s a bad trade.

If you’re sitting there justifying that the Lexus was free in the first place, it’s like you know you made a bad trade and are looking for other ways to justify it.

That said, I though Lehtonen was still under contract, so an about-to-walk UFA this makes way more sense.

But if you already have a Lamborghine Urus, G-wagon, and a Jeep Trackhawk, you might not have a need for the Lexus.
If for some reason like Covid, a race season was canceled, it might be an interesting deal to trade it for that $170,000 BRC Racing-prepared
Hyundai i30N TCR seeing it wasn't even give a chance to be put on the track yet.

 

[indigobuffalo]

Just had a thought... could be this trade is part of a larger deal with Columbus. We’ve been linked to Foligno, so maybe this is just part of bigger deal involving Foligno where they wanted more time to elapse for cap considerations.

Lehtonen also occupied a spot on the taxi squad so that could be a consideration too.