European Prospect Review: Lehkonen and Nättinen debut for Finland

Something I missed last week was that Artturi Lehkonen and Joonas Nättinen were both part of the Finnish team for the Channel One cup. Both made their debuts on the senior national team with a win against Czech Republic, and even played on the same line.

While Martin Reway battles bronchitis and Magnus Nygren is still recovering from an injury, nothing much aside from that happened for Canadiens prospects in Europe this week.

Joonas Nättinen, JYP

Nättinen had two games in the Channel One Cup for Finland. The only thing noticeable for him in that tournament was unfortunately a two minute minor penalty. In the Liiga this week, JYP lost 2-1, and Nattinen failed to register a point in the loss. He may have found himself on the penalty sheet again, but that cannot be confirmed, as the Liiga website has yet to be updated.

Lukas Vejdemo, Djurgården

The only game for Vejdemo this week finished with nothing on the board, in ten minutes of ice time.

Magnus Nygren, Färjestad

Still sidelined with an injury.

Artturi Lehkonen, Frölunda

Lehkonen attained a goal of his from this summer, debuting for the Finnish national team during the Channel One Cup, though we both used the old tournament name Izvestia when talking about it.

Lehkonen played two games, and like Nättinen, he only registered two minutes in the box. His other goal was to make the Finnish World Championship squad, and with the performance he is putting up in SHL he has a shot.

For Frölunda he scored one goal, stealing the puck on the offensive blue line and finishing off with a sharp wrist shot for the 2-1 goal against Malmö. He was the second star of the game, and signed stuff in the fan corner after the game, my Montreal cap being one of them.

Thanks to @SHLProspectGIFS for the video.

Artturi was also featured on the Frölundapodden, a podcast by the team, and he discussed his development this season and the last. It's in English. 

Martin Réway, Fribourg-Gottéron

Martin Reway has battled bronchitis during the week, and thus did not participate in any of the games in the NLA.

Hopefully some more players get back into action within the next week, and we'll have some more news for you in the next prospect update.

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