Avalanche’s Artturi Lehkonen to ‘miss some time’ with injury
Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told reporters following Monday’s 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings that forward Artturi Lehkonen will be out for the forseeable future.
🗣️ Jared Bednar "I haven't gotten the full report on [Artturi Lehkonen], but he's going to be out and miss some time" #GoAvsGo | Driven By: landmarklincoln.com
“I haven’t gotten the full report on him, but he’s going to be out and miss some time,” Bednar said, according to Guerilla Sports.
Lehkonen left the game after playing just 3:21 of ice time. It’s not clear how the Avalanche forward suffered the injury, but at one point during the first period he went to the dressing room with a team trainer and did not return.
The team later announced that he had suffered an upper-body injury.
Avalanche’s Artturi Lehkonen leaves game against Kings with upper-body injury dailyfaceoff.com/news/colorado-…
In 59 games this season, the Finnish winger has 19 goals and 23 assists for 42 points, averaging just under 19 minutes per game. Now in his 10th NHL season, the 30-year-old has 163 goals and 167 assists for 330 points in 649 regular-season games with the Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens.
Last season, he scored a career-high 27 goals, while in 2022-23, he recorded a career-high 51 points.
Lehkonen also has 26 goals and 21 assists for 47 points in 78 career playoff games, and helped Colorado win the Stanley Cup in 2022. He was also part of the Canadiens’ 2021 Cup Final run, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.
Lehkonen, taken in the second round of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft by the Canadiens, spent several seasons in Europe before making the jump into the NHL. In 2015-16, his final season with Frolunda HC in Sweden’s top domestic league, he recorded 16 goals and 17 assists for 33 points in 49 regular-season games, then posted 11 goals and 19 points in 16 playoff games, helping the club win a league championship.
Internationally, Lehkonen has represented his native Finland on several occasions, including three appearances at the World Junior Championships, winning the gold medal in 2014. He also helped Finland earn a bronze medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.