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Buying Atro Leppänen stock because of his elite puck skills
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Photo credit: Photo credit: Andy Devlin
Michael Menzies
Sep 24, 2025, 11:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 24, 2025, 10:01 EDT
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I won’t wax lyrical here about my intense study of preseason hockey. I’ll spare you.
I didn’t watch live on Sunday because it interfered with my staunch religious beliefs (NFL football and my sad-sack New York Giants) and only chunks of each game afterward. But, after an agonizing laptop repair, I fired up the old Oilers+ app for some Edmonton Oilers-Winnipeg Jets action on Wednesday night.
And then I’m thinking… Who on earth is this Atro Leppänen character? For a moment, I thought short John Klingberg had re-upped.
If you’re not up to speed with Leppänen, we’ll hit the popular Coles Notes.
First of all, he’s 26, left-shot, and had no problem filling the net in SM-liiga. He led the league in points last year. Pretty good. That was a record amongst defencemen. Sick.
The kid has an eye for making plays (I use the word kid since we’re the same age).
His assist on Ike Howard’s power-play one-timer was of the cheesy, secondary variety, granted, and he did have one defensive zone pizza that nearly cost the Oilers a goal. We’ll call that the Evan Bouchard reprieve for the time being.
Leppänen played the fifth most minutes for Edmonton with 19:24, according to Natural Stat Trick, but was less eventful than in Calgary on Sunday. He had three High Danger Chances Against, to two High Danger Chances For.
What catches your eye is the ability to reverse the puck to himself and make heads-up plays, attributes in today’s NHL that give him a higher ceiling. He’ll no doubt struggle at times adjusting to a better pro game and a higher calibre of competition.
Knoblauch is complementary of the Finn’s skill, though, saying his puck play is “definitely” at an NHL level.
All in all, through a couple of appearances, the Oilers have an interesting player in a clogged left-shot D slotting.
There’s no wiggle room as long as Nurse, Ekholm, Walman, and Kulak are on the team, but a strong showing at training camp and throughout the pre-season sets him up well for full-time in Bakersfield and the North American game.
He’s firmly in the Emberson, Stecher, Brown, Regula, and Dineen tier. Could he rise to the top?
I wasn’t paying as much attention during Stan Bowman’s spring European holiday that saw the variety of low-risk signings, nor do you really know about a player until they don the sweater and play against North American pro competition.
But so far, I like it.
There’s overlap in his skillsets with what the Oilers have already, plus he’s hampered by a need to have a 6-7th defenceman that’s more rugged (just without Josh Brown’s cement boots). But Leppänen is leaving a good impression on the staff.
Let’s keep an eye on how long Knoblauch and Co. keep him with the big club, especially with games on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. One more game? Two more?
What works well for Leppänen is just how great his improvement has been from year to year. He exploded for a 35-point improvement last season. A few years ago, he was playing in the 4th-highest league in Finland.
It’s been a bright upward trajectory. I’ll buy some stock in Leppänen.
If he differentiates himself from the rest in his tier by having one superior skill, he’ll earn a call-up at some point this season. 

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