After an ugly post-draft season, Jonathan Lekkerimäki started his 2023-24 season with a bang.
Jonathan Lekkerimäki’s first season in Sweden after being drafted by the Vancouver Canucks couldn’t have been worse.
The Canucks’ 2022 first-round pick had his season derailed by a series of unfortunate events. It all started with mononucleosis in the offseason, which disrupted his training. This resulted in a slow start to the season in Sweden’s second-tier professional hockey league.
Then he was hit in the head and suffered a concussion that sidelined him for a while. When he returned to the ice to represent Sweden at the 2023 World Junior Championship, he struggled and was benched for long periods as the team failed to win a medal.
Just when things were starting to look up for Leklimaki’s return to hockey around the league, he suffered an unexpected foot injury that ended his regular season.
The only silver lining for Lekkerimäki is that he can return in the playoffs and finally play like a first-round pick, scoring 15 points in 15 games with Djurgårdens IF.
Still, Leklimaki is eager to put this frustrating season behind him. This season, with a new team in a new league, he has the perfect opportunity to do just that.
Lekkerimäki has made an excellent impression with his new team Örebro HK in the SHL preseason and was deployed on the team’s second line for Thursday’s first game against Leksands IF. He has even become the focus of Orebro’s marketing, with the team promoting the 19-year-old winger as a potential star.
This paid off immediately as Leklimaki scored Orebro’s first goal of the season.
Trailing 2-0 in the second period, Orebro won a power play, but their first power-play unit was unable to do anything. That’s when Leklimaki came on with the second unit and completed passes from teammates Robert Leno and Hannes Bjorninen.
Leklimaki’s shooting is the biggest strength of his game, but this goal wasn’t about the big, accurate shot, it was about the speed of his release. Leklimaki wasted no time in taking the puck off his stick with a quick shot, getting down on one knee and extending his stick out in front of his skates to meet the pass, ensuring the puck reached the back of the net as quickly as possible.
Aside from the goals, Leklimaki had a great game on the road. He was solid on his own ice and took smart routes on the front check to put pressure on puck carriers.
On a call in the third period, he anticipated a reversal of the puck behind the opponent’s net and was quick enough to physically attack a Lakers defenseman before controlling the pass. Leklimaki then stole the ball and scored, leading to a long shift in the offensive zone.
It was this positive off-field performance that was the most encouraging aspect of his first SHL game of the season. The further away Leklimaki is from the puck, the more opportunities he has for a big shot.
One of Leklimaki’s mistakes came late in the game when Orebro was leading by one goal. Leklimaki had a great chance to end the game with an empty-net goal, but blew the puck away after it crossed the Lexan blue line.
On the positive side, Leklimaki didn’t complain about his goal-scoring opportunity, but quickly tracked back and broke up a pass in the neutral zone when Lake Saunders tried to counterattack – a nuisance for the youngster Another positive off-ice performance for the winger.
Overall, it was a fantastic first game of the season for Leklimaki, who Canucks fans will be watching with great interest this season.