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

[Confucius]

Other than Mikheyev I'm not really sure who these European gems are that we apparently keep unearthing. Might be time to stop that exercise, put more effort into the NCAA?

The NCAA, half the Hobey Baker winners don't even make the nhl. The decent players rarely play there more than a year or two and are well scouted before they start there.

 

[The90]

When he played, he got power play time. He had his fair share of opportunity. Bias towards a player because he’s new shouldn’t trump that of a guy who’s proven to be good where he is [dermott].

This is where I’m at. Dermott played well enough that it wasn’t fair to keep scratching him to put in A rookie. Dermott gets the benefit of the doubt because he’s been here for a few years and has played well

 

[All Mod Cons]

The NCAA, half the Hobey Baker winners don't even make the nhl. The decent players rarely play there more than a year or two and are well scouted before they start there.

Yeah, you're right. Seems like a whole lot of effort for not much. Zaitsev, Ozhiganov, Barabanov, Lehtonen, Konitola. I'm sure I'm missing someone.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Looks like he requested a trade. Don't blame him. He needs to be playing nhl games.

Dermott has stepped up and we are not in the business of developing at the NHL level this season.

 

[SprDaVE]

That's a weird one... Lehtonen was pretty meh overall. I didn't see the hype at all.

 

[hotpaws]

When he played, he got power play time. He had his fair share of opportunity. Bias towards a player because he’s new shouldn’t trump that of a guy who’s proven to be good where he is [dermott].

i was never was biased towards him nor was i part of the crowd who proclaimed him a top 4 lock because he was the K d of the year last season

i'm just saying that if you're going to sign these guys then you should at least give them some sort of opportunity to show what they have unless of course they just look brutal which he didn't and if you don't chances are they'll stop looking at Toronto as an option

 

[Kurtz]

Most of you people are way too relaxed about the fact that Marincin is now deathly close to being a feature in the playoffs for us again.

 

[crump]

Don’t get it. Lose a good depth D man for someone who will probably never play much this year. Not sure how the contracts flesh out... will have to investigate.

 

[Crosscrease14]

Sign for the Leafs and you'll find yourself playing for Columbus.

Hugely attractive.

I know they're having a rough year but they beat the leafs in the play ins like 6 months ago lol

 

[moon111]

Can you imagine waking up from a night of partying and finding yourself wearing a Vehviläinen jersey?

 

[Confucius]

Yeah, you're right. Seems like a whole lot of effort for not much. Zaitsev, Ozhiganov, Barabanov, Lehtonen, Konitola. I'm sure I'm missing someone.

We may not have gotten them but plenty of great players came from Europe and the KHL.
Vesey won the Hobey Baker as the best player in the NCAA. And he was better than many of the past winners who never played a single game in the NHL.

 

[Mr Knies Guy]

The sky is falling..

Nothing gets the Leafs fan base more worked up than depth players.

Love broad-brush comments like this. Like it’s not ok to have a dissenting or negative opinion of a trade. Saying you’re upset about losing a player with potential means you think it’s the end of the world.

 

[Toronto makebeleifs]

Hey, not too shabby. Guy came in as a free contract, didn't work out as hoped and we turn that into net depth with a few more yrs of team control. Do not dislike at all.

 

[ACC1224]

Never heard of the goalie but he must be pretty good to move a top 4 defenseman for him.

 

[All Mod Cons]

We may not have gotten them but plenty of great players came from Europe and the KHL.
Vesey won the Hobey Baker as the best player in the NCAA. And he was better than many of the past winners who never played a single game in the NHL.

Yeah, I suppose it'd be nice if we got them, instead of the leftovers we've been getting (except Mikheyev)

 

[Tairy Greene]

Could be a nothing trade, but if this guy is unlikely to ever play I think I would have preferred to keep some depth on D.

 

[LeafSteel]

We got fleeced...

Burn the boats!

Trade everyone!

Fire the coach, the GM, and President!

Boycott MLSE!

Sell the Leafs to Putin!

ok, now what?

 

[Albatros]

Isn't Vehviläinen pretty similar to a goalie version of Lehtonen? Great in Liiga and hasn't made an impact yet in NA. He's also 24 vs Lehtonen at 27 so he has some time.

I think the leafs will look for someone who can fill the Bogo/Holl/Muzzin role in a pinch as depth. Lehtonen might turn out to be good but he was never going to be that.

Lehtonen was the best defenseman in the KHL and all-star at the World Championships, not merely good in Liiga.

 

[hockeywiz542]

Toronto Maple Leafs ship Mikko Lehtonen to Columbus Blue Jackets for goalie Veini Vehvilainen - TSN.ca

Head coach Sheldon Keefe alluded on Thursday to the fact that Lehtonen had already been phased out of Toronto’s plans in some ways, simply because of how well the current lineup was gelling.

“I think we've reached a different phase of the season here,” Keefe explained. “I think we gave lots of opportunity to different people early in the season, Mikko being one, at times when maybe we really didn't have a reason to change the lineup, other than to give more opportunity for Mikko and others. We're at a point here now where the season has definitely got lots of momentum and you gotta give yourself the best opportunity to win each day.”

Keefe conceded that Lehtonen had displayed an excellent work ethic in his tenure with the Leafs, praising the blueliner for being “extremely committed, extremely focused.” At the same time, Keefe found that, “for the last little while, we just haven't seen a reason to make the change [and put him in].”

Toronto had high hopes for Lehtonen at the outset though. When training camp started, Keefe had Lehtonen with Zach Bogosian on the Leafs’ third pairing, and told reporters that, “We have [those] two guys coming in here that we really like, and we want and expect to make our defence better. So we'll give them that opportunity to pair together.”

It wasn’t long before Travis Dermott had jumped over Lehtonen to play with Bogosian, and from there the 27-year-old struggled to regain any traction.

Keefe repeatedly praised Lehtonen’s ability to quarterback one of Toronto’s power-play units when he was in the lineup, but danced around the fact his 5-on-5 play wasn’t where it needed to be.

Part of what held Lehtonen back was the lack of an exhibition schedule in the NHL’s pandemic-shortened season, giving the newcomer little time to get his game up to speed on the smaller ice surface.

When he left the KHL, Lehtonen had just completed his most productive year ever, scoring 17 goals and 49 points in 60 games for Jokerit Helsinki. Toronto wanted to see that same ability manifest in the NHL.

“We're looking for him to show that his game can translate seamlessly to this level,” Keefe said of Lehtonen on Jan. 18. “That’s the greatest challenge for players like him is the nature of training camp and no exhibition season, you can't really get the kinks out, you can't make the adjustments, you can't make the mistakes in those games that don't matter and then have it cleaned up by the time you're playing for real.”

Now, Lehtonen can look ahead to a fresh start with the Blue Jackets, while Toronto gets a goaltending prospect in Vehvilainen.

The 24-year-old was selected in the sixth round, 173rd overall, by Columbus in the 2018 NHL Draft, and just made his NHL debut on March 4 in relief of Blue Jackets' starter Joonas Korpisalo. Vehvilainen had good success with the Finnish Elite League’s Karpat prior to being taken by the Blue Jackets, posting a 45-13-13 record from 2017-19 with a .925 save percentage.

He has represented Finland on multiple occasions internationally, winning a gold medal at the 2019 World Championships and a gold with the 2016 World Junior team.

Vehvilainen was also one of Finland’s top players at the 2017 World Juniors, producing a 3-2-0 record with a 1.51 goals-against average.

This season he played 13 games with JYP (Liiga) with a 3-7-3 record and .890 save percentage before suiting up in one game for the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters (0-1-0, .875 save percentage).

 

[Martin Skoula]

I haven't been this upset by a trade since the Malgin blockbuster.

 

[ponder]

I assume this was simply doing a solid for a Lehtonen. He wasn’t getting much ice time here, so we sent him to a spot where he can play more.

D depth isn’t an issue for us, Sandin and Liljegren are right behind Lehtonen and just as good. Wish we could have got a better piece, like a 4th round puck or something, but it’s really no big deal.

 

[Notsince67]

Dudes lightning fast glove and extreme speed in net who can hang with speedy breakaways ... completely different look than we have ... an athletic goaler for a CHANGE ... it is a new look for us ... more Dubie like

Always willing to look at goalies but we have seen athletic goalies. Sparks was one. That said, these goalies are high risk, high reward. When you find one that is good, they are unicorns and awesome.

 

[zeke]

Leafs' 4 goalie prospects, by age:

* = current season


Age 23

VV*: Liiga 13gms, .896
Woll: ---
Scott: ---

Age 22

VV: AHL 33gms, .901
Woll*: AHL 0gms
Scott: ---

Age 21

VV: Liiga 38gms, .933 ----- Plyff 17gms, .939
Woll: AHL 32gms, .880
Scott*: AHL 0gms

Age 20

VV: Liiga 35gms, .925 ------ Plyff 17gms, .933
Woll: NCAA 37gms, .919 -- Plyff -----
Scott: AHL 0gms

Age 19

VV: Liiga 18gms, .918 ------ Plyff ------------------------- WJC-20 6gms, .931
Woll: NCAA 30gms, .915 -- Plyff ------------------------- WJC-20 5gms, .886
Scott: WHL 49gms, .932 --- Plyff 23gms, .925 ------ WJC-20 1gms, .882
AA*: VHL 14gms, .927 ----- Plyff 3gms, .891 --------- WJC-20 1gms, .944
AA*: MHL 9gms, .935 ------ Plyff 2gms, .925

Age 18

VV: Liiga 28gms, .925 ------ Plyff 3gms, .796 ------- WJC-20 4gms, .838
Woll: NCAA 34gms, .913 -- Plyff ------------------------ WJC-20 2gms, .935
Scott: WHL 50gms, .897 --- Plyff 7gms, .897
AA: MHL 46gms, .931 ------ Plyff 1gms, 1.000

Age 17

VV: Mestis 26gms, .927 --- Plyff 4gms, .922 ------- WJC-18 7gms, .949
Woll: USDP 33gms, .918 -- Plyff ----------------------- WJC-18 3gms, .947
Scott: WHL 50gms, .895 -- WJC-18 4gms, .861
AA: MHL 54gms, .921


For me AA is still the most promising, but VV is probably a good step up in prospect quality from the likes of Woll/Scott.

 

[Crosscrease14]

Lehtonen was the best defenseman in the KHL and all-star at the World Championships, not merely good in Liiga.

I was referring to Vehviläinen. I was high on Lehtonen I still think he could be an NHL regular. VV was also pretty highly touted before coming over and he's ~3 years younger

Neither player has shown anything in NA of substance yet so I see it as a lateralish move. Good will to the player

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Yeah, you're right. Seems like a whole lot of effort for not much. Zaitsev, Ozhiganov, Barabanov, Lehtonen, Konitola. I'm sure I'm missing someone.

Panarin, Georgiev, and Bobrovsky do not matter? Zaitsev and Zub are also solid NHL defenseman right now, and Ozhiganov and Lehtonen gave us solid, cheap depth for absolutely nothing. We were just fortunate enough to not suffer any defensive injuries, so we had no need for Lehtonen at this time.

They don't need to work out every time, but they are providing surplus value for absolutely nothing. It's like complaining that any of our bargain bin UFA's don't work out. Who cares? Lehtonen is getting us free goalie depth now, and will allow for Woll to stay in the AHL full time now.