When the Montreal Canadiens traded Finnish forward Artturi Lehkonen to the Colorado Avalanche last year, many assumed he would get along swimmingly with fellow countryman Mikko Rantanen.
That still may be the case, but a family rift has undoubtedly complicated things.
After Monday night’s win against the Calgary Flames, Rantanen, who netted one goal and two assists in the game, sat down for a postgame scrum with reporters.
“It feels good,” he said, referencing his offensive production, before dropping a bombshell. “There’s actually one thing where I got a lot of extra energy…”
Rantanen then called out Lehkonen’s father, Ismo, a hockey analyst who recently made unfavourable comments about the 27-year-old in a Finnish newspaper.
“One of [our] Finnish NHL player’s dad was talking sh*t about me in the media that I didn’t train last summer like I used to do,” Rantanen said. “He was making things up, so I think that was for him. If you talk sh*t, it’s going to come back at you.”
Avalanche reporter Aarif Deen clarified the context in an X post, claiming that Rantanen “came back into the dressing room postgame to ensure that this video went out.”
Mikko Rantanen came back into the dressing room postgame to ensure that this video went out.
He's referencing an interview with Artturi Lehkonen's dad, Ismo, that was published in a Finnish paper this morning. https://t.co/h6o20YRVlV
— Aarif Deen (@runwriteAarif) December 12, 2023
As for what Lehoknen’s father said in the article, he asked if Rantanen, who hadn’t scored for nearly a month, had “hit a wall.” He also claimed that his son’s teammate “didn’t have a very good summer,” among other criticisms.
Meanwhile, the younger Lehkonen has been on LTIR since mid-November. The 28-year-old suffered a head-first crash into the boards during a home game against the Seattle Kraken.
Over the past week, he’s begun partaking in light skates. Hopefully, when Lehkonen returns to the team, his father and teammate will have mended things.
If not, the Avalanche may have to stretch the distance between their stalls.