Jokerit and Lehtonen terminate contract, will be heading to Toronto
Jokerit Helsinki: Defenseman Mikko Lehtonen and Jokerit agree to mutually terminate his contract for this season. He’ll be heading to Toronto.
TSN: The 26-year old Lehtonen had signed a one-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this year. The left-handed defenseman scored eight goals and added nine assists in 17 games this season for Jokerit. He scored 17 goals with 32 assists in 60 games last season.
“I know the players they have signed and who they have, but I think it’s good to have good competition with the guys and it keeps it pretty honest,” Lehtonen said earlier this week. “I’m pretty confident. I feel pretty good. I’m in good shape and I trust myself, so I feel pretty confident.”
Agent Walsh on the NHL asking for more player Salary deferrals
Sportsnet: Agent Allan Walsh on NHL asking the players to defer more salary again.
“From the players’ point of view, this has been negotiated. It’s over. Why are we talking about this again? And why are we talking about this with the footsteps to training camp approaching, when we should be talking about the logistics of getting the players in, starting camp and having a season, versus having a proverbial gun pointed to the players’ heads over a return to play right now.”
Walsh adds that NHL and NHLPA already negotiated worst case scenarios when they were negotiating the new CBA back in July, and there is not reason they should make changes already.
“There was a worst-case scenario, a moderate-case scenario and a best-case scenario contemplated between the parties when they negotiated the deal, so to come back four months later, when we might be looking at the worst-case scenario of no fans in the buildings or most of the regular season, and possibly playoffs, to then say, ‘Hey, you know that worst-case scenario we talked about during the negotiation? Yeah, we’d like a do-over on that and we’d like you guys to defer another 16 per cent and we’d like you guys in years four, five and six of the deal to take another three per cent a year of escrow. For the pleasure of giving this all back to us, we’ll let you play the 2020-21 season,” Walsh said.