Toronto Maple Leafs made a significant addition to their roster on Monday by signing Finish defenseman Mikko Lehtonen. The 26-year-old comes to NHL as a free agent, having negotiated a contract termination with KHL side Jokerit last month.
Lehtonen inked a one-year entry-level contract with Toronto, which will pay him $925,000 for the 2020/21 NHL season.
Lehtonen was KHL’s highest-scoring defenseman last season, netting 17 goals. He added 32 assists for a total of 49 points, propelling Jokerit to the second round of KHL playoffs for the first time since the team joined the league in 2014. Lehtonen himself earned All-Star honors for his performances.
The addition of Mikko Lehtonen was welcomed by Toronto Maple Leafs’ supporters, considering he was among the best free-agents up for grabs abroad. However, it could be argued that Lehtonen doesn’t fill the need for Toronto. He is a lefty, and the team is already stocked with defensemen on the left side while lacking players on the right side.
Lehtonen himself doesn’t see this as an issue, as he has experience playing on the opposite side.
“I played in Sweden a whole season on the right-side [with HV71 Jonkoping in 2018-19], so it’s not important to me,” he told reporters on a conference call on Monday. “Doesn’t matter, right or left side, I’m OK with both. Actually, sometimes I like more right side.”
It now remains to be seen whether Maple Leafs are willing to experiment with Lehtonen on the right side, or decided to reshuffle the roster in some other way. The latter would probably include trading some lefties like Rasmus Sandin and Travis Dermott.
