Leppanen looks to continue Oilers’ proud Finnish tradition

EDMONTON — The same way Vancouver has always welcomed Swedish players — from Gradin to Sedin, from Edler to Eldebrink — the Finns have always found a home in Edmonton.

Perhaps it is because Vancouver bears a resemblance to Stockholm, two picturesque, major international cities situated on the seaside, while Northern Alberta reminds more of the Finnish Lapland — minus the saunas. It gets dark and cold in Helsinki in the wintertime, and the Finnish capital shares a spot among the Top 3 northernmost major cities in the world with — you guessed it — Edmonton.

Finns and Oil Country. Itâ€s a bond that goes back to the great scout Matty Vaisanen, the right-hand man to legendary Oilers chief scout Barry Fraser.

Fraser drafted five Hall of Fame players in his first two NHL drafts, then added a sixth (Grant Fuhr) the following spring. But it was Vaisanen who first steered the Finnish fireplug Risto Siltanen to the World Hockey Association Oilers in 1979 — a five-foot-nine defenceman who was the original Kimmo Timonen, you might say. Siltanenâ€s slapshot, with that old wooden Koho, is still legendary in these parts, and he was soon joined by Matti Hagman, and a young Finn named Jari Kurri.

Then came Esa Tikkanen, and soon, Reijo Ruotsalainen — the rent-a-Rexi whom GM Glen Sather brought over in March for Stanley Cup runs in 1987 and â€90, before the NHL changed its rules to thwart such a move.

(Note: It was also Sather who pulled off the famous Takko-Bell trade in 1990, acquiring Finnish goalie Kari Takko from the Minnesota North Stars for defenceman Bruce Bell.)

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Which brings us to Atro Leppanen, the latest Finnish training camp sensation in Edmonton, who was somehow guided here through Finnish “intuition.â€

“They reached out in the spring, and there was one other (NHL) team,†Leppanen said this week. “I kind of made an intuition choice — it was pretty easy choice to come here. Nice place, and good players.â€

To understand this 26-year-old defencemanâ€s journey is not only to study his climb through the hockey ranks — from the Finnish beer leagues where he was pumping gas to supplement his income only a few seasons ago, to setting the defenceman scoring record in the top-tier Liiga and playing more international games than any of his countrymen last season.

He comes from tiny Mantta, a failing factory town of less than 10,000 that ironically gave us Siltanen as well. There, in Finlandâ€s Flint, life led to the factories, where both of Leppanenâ€s parents worked.

Theyâ€ve repurposed a couple of moribund factories into museums in Mantta, and as a summer job, “I was watching the paintings,†Leppanen said. “Nobody touches the paintings. That was my job.â€

So Leppanen could stay in security, or find a job at the local paper mill that basically ran the town, and play for the local side in the only indoor arena in Mantta. Or he could try his hand at the second division in a nearby town, on a team coached by Tomas Westerlund.

“Atro called me,†began Wetsterlund, over the phone from Keuruu, Finland. “He was playing some beer league in the next village (Mantta). He asked if he could come for a tryout, and I was thinking, ‘Why not? We donâ€t have any hometown boys on the team. It might bring some people to watch games, a hometown boy coming to play.â€â€

Leppanen arrived at second division KeuPa and played off and on as a winger, before Westerlund installed him full-time on defence. There, he began to rewrite the record books in the Mestis, Finlandâ€s second-best league. Then he did the same in the Liiga.

It is a remarkable ascent for a smaller — six-foot, 182 pounds — defenceman in his mid- to late-20s. He couldnâ€t possibly continue it in North America, with his 27th birthday due on Dec. 14, through Bakersfield and into the National Hockey League?

“He is a really late bloomer,†smiled Westerlund. “Iâ€ve been coaching for many years, and nothing surprises me anymore. He made all the points records in the second league, and in two years he broke all the records in the Finnish top league. Heâ€s been adapting pretty fast to new leagues and new teams.

“In Atroâ€s case, heâ€s been coming in five years from the beer league to the top league (NHL). Itâ€s quite fast. Most players have been in loop, in the best leagues already, but Atro has had a different road. Heâ€s from a small town, and not from a rich family. He has had to work.

“His father passed away when Atro was maybe 15. His jersey hangs in Manttaâ€s roof (rafters).â€

Leppanen has stood out at camp in Edmonton, running the power play in early games when the veterans have not played. He appears as a bit of a Brian Rafalski clone, or maybe Matt Grzelcyk, who has played over 500 NHL games at five-foot-10 and 180 lbs.

He is todayâ€s defenceman: quick, skilled and adept at the zone exit that has become favorable to the ability to defend, in many circles. Here in Edmonton, whoever can furnish the big boys with crisp accurate passes gets a second look.

“That’s what they want,†head coach Kris Knoblauch said of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. “They want to get the puck in stride and not have to chase it down and forecheck, so they can do their thing.â€

Almost certainly, barring injury to a regular, Leppanen will go to AHL Bakersfield, where he will try to conquer another level. There, NHL scouts will convene, and if his game grades out at an NHL level, either the Oilers will sign him or another team will.

Itâ€s been a journey, to be sure. But hey, it beats factory work.

“Playing ice hockey, getting paid for it,†Leppanen smiles. “Itâ€s not so bad.â€

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