Mikko Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen will be on the same line again
Feb 11, 2025, 4:24 PM
Former Colorado Avalanche teammates Mikko Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen are back on the same line.
That’s according to multiple reports coming from the 4 Nations Face-Off, where Team Finland had its first practice together on Tuesday. Rantanen and Lehkonen are both first-line wingers for their home country, and centered by Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov.
Lehkonen-Barkov-Rantanen
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Kakko pic.twitter.com/9s3aew2qFA— Ville Touru (@VTouru) February 11, 2025
Rantanen and Lehkonen played hockey together in Colorado during the last three years, with the duo winning a Stanley Cup in 2022. Lehkonen was acquired in March of that year from the Montreal Canadiens and scored the game-winning goals in both the Western Conference Final and Cup Final.
Of course, Rantanen played his whole career with the Avalanche until a stunning trade last month. He was moved to the Carolina Hurricanes for Martin Necas and Jack Drury. Rantanen said he was surprised by the move, thinking he and Colorado still had more time to work out a contract extension. The NHL trade deadline isn’t until March 7.
But with Finland looking to upset Team Canada and Team United States, they’ll need Rantanen and Lehkonen to quickly regain the chemistry they had with the Avs. The two will be relied upon to score plenty of goals if Finland wants to be a surprising winner of the tournament.
Their first game is on Thursday night against Team U.S.A., slated for a 6:00 p.m. MT puck drop on ESPN.
You can bet plenty of Avalanche fans will be rooting for Mikko Rantanen, and it’ll be nice to see him, at least temporarily, reunited with Artturi Lehkonen.
