Mikko Tapani Lehtonen (born 12 June 1978) is a Finnish former

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

. He played 15 games in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

with the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (colloquially referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Predators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Divisio ...

during the 2006–07 season. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1999 to 2014, was mainly spent with Kärpät in the Finnish

SM-liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mest ...

. Internationally Lehtonen played for the Finnish national team at the

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and 2009 World Championships, winning a bronze in 2006.

Playing career

Lehtonen appeared in his first

game on 7 October 2006 with the

against the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confer ...

, and registered his first NHL goal in that game. The goal was scored eight seconds into his first NHL shift, coming one second short of tying the all-time record set by Dave Christian. On 27 February 2007, Lehtonen was traded to the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Con ...

for a fourth-round pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. Having won the Finnish Championship for a third time playing for

Oulun Kärpät Oulun Kärpät (Finnish language, Finnish for "Oulu Stoat, Ermines", sometimes referred to as Kärpät Oulu) is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Oulu and playing in the top-tier Finnish Liiga. Kärpät have won the Finnish champion ...

, Lehtonen signed a one-year deal with Swedish team

Timrå IK Timrå IK is a professional Swedish ice hockey team based in Timrå, north of Sundsvall. It competes in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), which is the top-tier league in Sweden, since being promoted by winning 2021 SHL qualifiers. Previous sea ...

on 9 June 2008. On 6 May 2009, Lehtonen signed with

Frölunda HC Frölunda Hockey Club, previously known as the Frölunda Indians, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They currently play in the highest Swedish league, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), formerly the Elitserien, where th ...

for the 2009–10 Frölunda HC season.Därför valde Lehtonen Frölunda före Timrå

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 1978 births Living people Finnish ice hockey defencemen Frölunda HC players Milwaukee Admirals players Nashville Predators players Oulun Kärpät players People from Kiiminki Rochester Americans players Ice hockey people from North Ostrobothnia Timrå IK players {{finland-icehockey-defenceman-stub