I wrote about Atro Leppanen recently, saying “from a pure entertainment point of view, Leppänen is a blast for fans to observe. He can pass, shoot, skate and make plays at a high level. Bakersfield fans enjoyed some electric offence from Leppänen a year ago, and there’s more to come this fall. Unless injuries hit in a big way, his NHL aspirations will land shy. At least in Edmonton.” Please read this.
My friend Jouni Nieminen (Finnish sports journalist based in Edmonton) tweeted me yesterday, saying “Nobody is talking about Atro this year. Just like nobody talked about him in Finland before, either. And look what he did. Hope he gets a chance this year. He has a very particular set of skills, as Liam Neeson would say. He didnt really become a fulltime pro until about three years ago, and he is 27 now. The Natural!”
So, lets look at the Finnish flash and see what we can find in the numbers. He started poorly at even strength in Bakersfield, with early partner Cam Dineen. Things got better when Leppanen played alongside rookie Beau Akey (I’m completely convinced the Oilers have no idea what Akey can do) and landed in a good spot by the end of the year.
Here are Bakersfiield’s primary defenders in 2025-26, with their numbers. Remember, Leppanen started 10-20 (33 percent) in the first quarter of the season at even strength.
After the poor start in the first 17 games (10-20 goals), Leppanen’s final 36 games saw him deliver 29-24 goals (55 percent). He also lead Condors blue in goals, assists, points, even strength goals, assists, points, power play goals, assists, points. His five power-play goals ranked second in the AHL among defensemen.
As I mentioned in The Athletic article, Leppanen is blocked by the Oilers depth chart on left defense. Can he find a way? Well, Craig MacTavish was a coach (as is Mike Babcock) who adhered to the defensive side of the game, but he used Marc-Andre Bergeron despite pure chaos and Leppanen’s work was quite responsible after the early wobble. Leppanen also played well in preseason for the Oilers.
I can’t see Leppanen getting past Mattias Ekholm, Jake Walman, Ryan Shea, Shakir Mukhamadullin and Damien Carfagna, but my opinion on this doesn’t matter. Babcock may like what he brings. Leppanen is a unique player, and that always has value.
What’s the optimal plan for emerging Oilers winger Ike Howard in 2026-27?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7568039/2026/09/06/oilers-winger-ike-howard-2026/
For anyone with FloHockey (which is what the AHL games are on, starting last year), they show the USHL and Muskegon at 1 today. I’m not sure if Berzkalns is playing but I know he didn’t play their last game so, maybe? If so, looking forward to getting eyes on him for the first time.
On Akey, yes LT could be right that the org just has no idea but I wonder if this is just us fans not realizing how young and raw he is. He was young when drafted so there were two full junior seasons post-draft – last year was just his 1st year pro and I think the org may have been very cautious with him coming off the shoulder surgeries and starting pro hockey.
He has having a very solid rookie pro season (albeit in a sheltered role generally) until that puck shattered his face not he bench. I wouldn’t think that had any real effect on his off-season training and this past summer would have been his first non-rehab summer in a while. I am hopeful he pops in the AHL this season and puts himself in the conversation for next year – that skating is real and spectacular.
He’s an NHL skater now and his goal share at even strength as a rookie was quality. He’s righthanded. Injury is the only real question imo. As for being raw, well, he can stand the onrushing forward at the blue line and race back in time to get the puck, and he’s smart in coverage. If that’s raw, I’ll take it.
I agree with pretty much everything in this blog on Leppanen.
Starting with how poor he was (and the Leppanen/Dineen pairing was) to start the season. Leppanen may have been the worst “away from the puck” d-man I had ever seen play professionally. He has absolutely no clue about defensive zone structure and positioning and couldn’t have been more soft on players and his play at the offensive blue line would make Evan Bouchard look like Jacob Slavin – just absolutely zero identification of risk. It didn’t help that Cam Dineen was almost equally awful and the pairing all but unplayable (and they were the 1st pairing).
The development in Leppanen’s 2-way game was somewhat stunning as, within a couple of months, he was a fully serviceable defensive d-man and his offensive skills started to shine – as LT points out. He really is a very good offensive player in the o-zone cycle game.
I agree with Niemien (a great follow) that he isn’t being talked about enough but agree with LT this is largely a depth chart issue. I would have to group Leo and Carfagna and they are behind, of course, the locked in 7, then the Stastney/Regula tier and then the Brown/Stillman tier.
At the same time, Lep and Carfagna have a chance to blow right by all of those and get NHL games. I would suggest that, due to playing style, Carfagna is more likely to see games on this team – less risk but some real attributes (puck moving in particular).
These are two that kind of get shafted by the short camp and 4 exhibition game schedule.
At the risk of getting sent to the box for continuing yesterday’s conversation, all this talk about Maxim Berezkin (Beryozkin is a better transliteration) led me down a Russian language rabbit hole. In fact, there is one sports writer in Russia who was quoting LT earlier this summer. Russian article link here:
The article refers to the Oilers as «нефтяников», or Oil Workers (apologies as always to native speakers), and describes how Russians have disappointed management, while pointing to Podkolzin, characterized as “going through the best period of his career.” LT gets quoted on Berezkin, “Maxim gives the impression of a truly serious prospect at the NHL.”
(BTW, LT’s pen name in Cyrillic gets rendered as Аллан Митчелл.)
More recently, Lokomotiv’s President Yuri Yakovlev said September 2 in response to a question, will it be possible to retain [Berezkin] long term, given NHL interest? Yakovlev responded, “We invite him to remain. How Maxim decides, we do not yet know. It is impossible to predict everything. I also think he plays robustly here. Of course, for us the interests of our team come first. I think here he is comfortable. Let us see what will be.”