In a contract year, Artturi Lehkonen is off to the best two-game start of his NHL career while continuing to play the same relentless game that has made him so valuable to the Avalanche.
DENVER — Artturi Lehkonen is giving the Avalanche plenty to think about in a contract year.
Three goals in the first two games of his 10th NHL season certainly don't hurt.
Lehkonen is in the final year of the five-year, $22.5 million contract he signed with Colorado in July 2022, just after helping the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup. He doesn't have a deal for next season, but this is hardly the first time Lehkonen has given Colorado a reason to want him around.
He scored the overtime winner against Edmonton in Game 4 of the 2022 Western Conference Final to send the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup Final. Two weeks later, he scored again in Game 6 against Tampa Bay, this time to clinch the Stanley Cup. A year earlier, while with Montreal, he scored the overtime winner against Vegas that sent the Canadiens to the Final.
That's been Lehkonen's thing for a long time. Put him in an important game and, more often than not, he finds a way to matter.
Now he's started this season with three goals in two games, the best two-game start of his career.
So is there something different about him?
Colorado's soon-to-be $20.4 million defenseman doesn't see a huge change.
“I don’t know if he’s playing with a different edge,” Cale Makar told The Hockey News. “I think that’s always just Art.
“The puck’s found his stick the last few games, and he’s doing a great job of knocking it down. But little intangibles in his game are the things that make him special, and when he does those super well, he’s getting rewarded right now.”
Those are the parts of Lehkonen's game that can get lost when the goals start piling up. He's not going to cheat for offense. He's going to the net. He's going to battle for pucks. He'll take the hit to make the play. And when he gets a chance, he's usually willing to put himself in a place where the play might hurt a little.
Jared Bednar used a different word for it.
“Relentless.”
The Avalanche coach said Lehkonen’s work ethic and competitiveness are about as consistent as anything he sees from a player in the league. The difference early this season is that Lehkonen looks sharp all over the ice.
“He looks sharp early (on) both sides of the puck,” Bednar said. “He’s getting great touches on the puck to put it in areas for his teammates.
He’s getting to the net, something he has always done well. And two games in, Bednar thinks Lehkonen already looks like he’s been playing for much longer.
“He’s always gone to the net hard,” he continued. “He just looks like he’s in midseason form already.”
That’s probably the most interesting part of Lehkonen’s start. The scoring rate is new. The way he’s getting those goals isn’t.
And that’s where the contract situation becomes interesting.
The Avalanche know what Lehkonen is. They know what he has meant to them in the biggest games, and they know what he brings on the nights when he doesn't score. They also know there have been stretches when injuries have kept him out, including the shoulder surgery he underwent in 2024.
Lehkonen, meanwhile, doesn't seem particularly interested in turning any of that into a personal campaign.
During training camp, The Hockey News asked how he manages to get himself ready for those moments when the game is on the line.
His answer was about as Lehkonen as it gets.
“I don’t know, it’s... Just trying to find that being in the right place at the right time, I guess.”
That's it.
No talk about having another gear. No explanation for why he seems to find himself around the puck when the game is on the line. Just being in the right place at the right time.
It's also a pretty good reflection of how Lehkonen approaches the rest of his game. He doesn't seem overly concerned with whether his name is the one getting talked about. He just wants to do his job, and that happens to fit pretty well with the way the Avalanche want to play.
There's a lot of talent in Colorado's lineup, but the team has always put a premium on players who are willing to do the less glamorous work, too. Lehkonen has never needed to be the star of the show to have an impact on it.
Maybe that's why Makar doesn't see a different edge from him now.
Maybe it's why Bednar already thinks he's in midseason form.
And maybe it's why, with a contract decision looming, the Avalanche have plenty to think about.
Because Lehkonen isn't trying to convince anyone he's a different player.
He's just being Art.
