Atro Leppänen
| Atro Leppänen | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
14 December 1998 Mänttä, Finland | ||
| Height | 184 cm (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Weight | 83 kg (183 lb; 13 st 1 lb) | ||
| Position | Defenceman | ||
| Shoots | Left | ||
| NHL team (P) Cur. team Former teams |
Edmonton Oilers Bakersfield Condors (AHL) Vaasan Sport | ||
| National team | Finland | ||
| NHL draft | Undrafted | ||
| Playing career | 2019–present | ||
Atro Leppänen (born 14 December 1998) is a Finnish ice hockey defenceman currently playing for the Bakersfield Condors in the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Playing career
In the 2024–25 Liiga season, Leppänen set the all-time Liiga record for points by a defenceman.[1]
On 13 April 2025, Leppänen signed a one-year contract with the Edmonton Oilers.[1]
Years in Mesti
In August 2019, Leppänen transferred to the Mestis team, playing for the KeuPa HT hockey club, for a trial period. A little over a month later an exension contract was received to continue with the team for the rest of the 2019-2020 season. During his rookie season, he also played 25 regular season games. He also played two Finnish Cup games, making one assist. In April 2020, he signed a one-year extension contract with KeuPa. In the 2020–2021 season , Leppänen scored 4+11=15 points in 29 regular season games for Mestis and 1+2=3 points in three playoff games. In July 2021, he signed another one-year extension contract with KeuPa.
Leppänen transferred to Kiekko-Espoos for the 2022–2023 season to continue his Mestis games on a one-year contract . He was being lured to the team by head coach Tomas Westerlund , who is familiar to Leppänen from KeuPasta . He was voted the league's player of the month for January. On February 7, 2023, Leppänen broke the Mestis all-time single-season point record for defensemen with his 47th power point of the season. The record was previously held by Kalle Valtola from the 2017–2018 season . On February 10, 2023, he broke the defensemen's goal record held by Kai Syväsalmi with his 19th goal of the season. During the regular season, Leppänen ultimately scored 23+35=58 power points, with which he won the Kiekko-Espoos internal point exchange. He shared third place in the Mesti points total with Juuso Heikkilä of KeuPa HT . In addition to Leppänen, his teammates Aleksi Matinmikko and Ketterän Jere Vertanen also broke the Valtola defensemen's points record, and IPK's Alex Cotton equaled it. He also shared the series' power play goal record with Kiekko-Vantaa's Emil Oksanen with 13 goals . Leppänen won the Mesti championship at the end of the season. He was voted into the first All-Star team of the series. In the Finnish Cup, Leppänen was Kiekko-Espoo's top scorer and scorer with 5+3=8 power points. The tournament ended with the team's victory.
International play
Leppänen represented the Finnish national team at the 2025 IIHF World Championships.[2]
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 2019–20 | KeuPa HT | Mestis | 36 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2020–21 | KeuPa HT | Mestis | 29 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 2021–22 | KeuPa HT | Mestis | 29 | 7 | 16 | 23 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | ||
| 2022–23 | Kiekko-Espoo | Mestis | 51 | 23 | 35 | 58 | 20 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | ||
| 2023–24 | Vaasan Sport | Liiga | 55 | 12 | 16 | 28 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2024–25 | Vaasan Sport | Liiga | 60 | 21 | 42 | 63 | 30 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Liiga totals | 115 | 33 | 58 | 93 | 48 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | ||||
References
- ^ a b "RELEASE: Oilers sign Finnish defenceman Atro Leppänen | Edmonton Oilers". www.nhl.com. 13 April 2025.
- ^ Toimitus (4 May 2025). "A-maajoukkue valmis MM-kisoihin – Pennanen "Nälkäinen ja kilpailukykyinen joukkue"". Leijonat (in Finnish). Retrieved 5 May 2025.
External links
Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or Eurohockey.com, or The Internet Hockey Database