Atro Leppanen comes from the Finnish factory town of Mantta that merged with neighbouring Vilppula, the municipality an hour north of Tampere, a little place of under 10,000 people where museums are one of the attractions.
Why are we talking art when we’re talking hockey player Leppanen?
“I worked at a museum, watching the paintings,” says the interesting Edmonton Oilers defence prospect, who led the Finnish Liiga, their highest-level hockey, in points last season, breaking the longtime defenceman record of New Jersey Devils-Detroit Red Wings Brian Rafalski, who played over there.
Leppanen was like a security guard?
“Yeah, in a way. Nobody touches the paintings. That was my job.”
Clearly, the 183-pound Leppanen, who spent four years in Division 2 league the Mestis back home before making the Liiga in 2023, when he was 24, has come a long way.
“Liiga was what I lived for,” said Leppanen, 26, whose late factory-worker dad Arsi also played in the lower leagues as a forward and has his jersey hanging from the rafters in the one indoor rink in Mantta.
“To be in the NHL? Never.”
But here he is, playing exhibition games for the Oilers. He’s not making the NHL today because the left-shot defenceman signed a one-year free-agent deal with a team that has Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse, Jake Walman and Brett Kulak clearly ahead of him, with Walman now on right side with Nurse in the second pairing. He was a power-play virtuoso for Sport in Vaasa last season — former Oilers draft pick Miroslav Svoboda was their goalie — and obviously he was unstoppable 5-on-5, too, with 21 goals and 63 points, but the power play in Edmonton is Evan Bouchard’s private preserve.
He’ll likely run the power play for farm coach Colin Chaulk in Bakersfield, but he’s not playing here unless there’s an injury. So why sign here?
“Just an intuition choice,” said Leppanen about picking a team that had been to two Cup finals.
“Yes I thought about it. Definitely a tough lineup to crack,” he said. But then his hockey story seems one of battles.
“It’s not a fight, You’re getting money for this. It’s been fun,” he said.
Despite his heroics back home last year, not a lot of NHL teams were knocking on his door. Maybe due to his size, also his age, although the NHL is populated with small offensive defencemen these days. And, if he does well in Bako, the Oilers will notice and give him another contract, or somebody else will.
“There was only one other (NHL) team that made an offer.”
“It was an easy choice. This is a nice place, with pretty nice players,” said Leppanen, who might not have his master’s degree in Oilers history — maybe he’s never heard of Risto Jalo — but he’s from the same town as fellow D Risto Siltanen from the early Oilers NHL days and all Finnish hockey players know this is where Jari Kurri, Esa Tikkanen and Rexi Ruotsalainen won Stanley Cups. Finnish one-time Oilers scout Matti Vaisanen, who was Barry Fraser’s sidekick for years, also has his name on the Cup.
While Vancouver has long liked their Swedes, Edmonton has loved their Finns. And the climate here in the winter months is like Finland, although he’ll be in California, where shorts and flip flops are mandatory Bakersfield away-from-rink attire.
Still, this is where he wants to be, in North America.
And he’s likely left a lot of money on the table to be here.
“This is my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said.
“If you get it, you have to take it.”
He would be a richer man if he had stayed in Europe this season, rather than try to crack the deepest part of the Edmonton Oilers roster. Some say he might be making a million Euro to run a power play on a team in, say, Switzerland today with his offensive acumen. Instead, he’ll be making $80,000 U.S. to play in the AHL.
But, that’s what makes Leppanen’s journey so interesting.
Again, he’s 26 and in a few months he’ll be 27.
Could he have come over earlier?
“I don’t think so. I needed last year back home,” he said.
Does he know who Rafalski, who has three Cup rings, is?
“Yeah, I’ve read a bit about him,” he said.
The 5-foot-10 Rafalski was shorter than Leppanen, coming to the NHL at 26.
“I’m small?” he laughs.
He took a long road to even make it to the Liiga in Finland. He was never drafted by an NHL team, never played for his country internationally as a junior, spending four years in Division 2, working other jobs until last season’s out-of-the-blue breakout. He did play 19 international games for his country last season, and he was on their spring world championship team.
While his dad and mum have worked in factories for real jobs — his mum makes table tops — that wasn’t for Atro, not full-time anyway.
“I had no real interest except in playing hockey. I was never thinking much about quitting. I had nothing else to do,” he said.
As a junior, he never really got a real shot, say, in neighbouring Tampere.
“I come from a small town … I had some tryouts but broke my collarbone, then a bone in my arm. Kind of bad luck. Went home, finished my school,” he said.
Clearly, the Oilers liked his offence in Finland and with their current modus operandi of signing Euros to hopefully fill prospect holes after trading so many draft picks in a win-now mode, Leppanen was worth the gamble.
His 63 points was a whopping statement back home.
“I was free to do a lot and I had a lot of confidence to move around in the O-zone and do my stuff, the thing I’m pretty good at,” said Leppanen. “Our power play was a good and I led the league in shots, I think. You do that and pucks go in.”
He’s kind of starting over in North America after the big season back home, but that’s fine. “I kind of started at the bottom in Mestis, too. First season, I was playing many games as forward. Kind of used to it, grinding it out,” he said.
Scouts who have watched Leppanen at this camp say he’s strong on his skates for a small guy, obviously a good thing as he navigates the more claustrophobic NHL sheet than the bigger Euro rinks.
“The speed is very fast, compared to what I’m used to,” he said, “but I’ve been able to move the puck well and I’ve played well defensively. One thing, maybe more time in the O-zone, but I’m happy.”
“Honestly, I don’t think the smaller rink is that much of a problem. I’ve adjusted. They forecheck harder and hit harder but you move the puck and the guys you are playing with make plays and it moves forward.”
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch is certainly on board with Leppanen’s progress.
“Lots of credit to Leppanen and Quinn Hutson, because it was three games in four days for both guys … travelling back from a game in Winnipeg (Tuesday), then on the ice for a morning skate, then playing against Seattle (Wednesday),” he said.
“Lepps was really good early, moving the puck out. I remember a few shifts with (Connor) McDavid and (Leon) Draisaitl, making some nice passes. That’s what they want. They want the puck in mid stride, they don’t want to chase it down and forecheck. He was excellent at transporting the puck,” said Knoblauch.