Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen and defenseman Devon Toews were selected to play at the 4 Nations Face-Off on Team Finland and Team Canada, respectively. Lehkonen joins fellow Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen on Team Finland and Toews joins Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar on Team Canada.
Artturi Lehkonen
Lehkonen missed the first 12 games of the 2024-25 regular season following offseason shoulder surgery but has suited up in all 14 games since his Nov. 5 debut and has recorded 10 points (5g/5a) to rank sixth on Colorado in scoring. He registered his first game-winning goal of the season on Dec. 3. The winger also chipped in a goal and an assist in his season debut on Nov. 5 and collected three multi-point games within his first five showings. On home ice, Lehkonen has contributed seven points (3g/4a) in seven contests at Ball Arena. He posted his 250th career point on Nov. 23 at Florida with an assist.
The 5-foot-11, 179-pound left wing enters tomorrow with 253 points (122g/131a) in 535 career regular-season games and has added 43 points (23g/20a) over 71 Stanley Cup Playoff games with Colorado and the Montreal Canadiens. In 139 contests with the Avalanche, Lehkonen has compiled 104 points (48g/56a) which includes a career-high 21 goals and 30 assists during his first full season with the club in 2022-23. The Piikkio, Finland, native was a member of the 2022 Stanley Cup championship team where he led the NHL with four game-winning goals during that postseason and was credited with the series-clinching goal in both the Stanley Cup Final and the Western Conference Final. Lehkonen also tallied the series-clinching goal in the 2021 Stanley Cup semifinals with the Habs.
Since being acquired by the Avalanche in a trade on March 21, 2022, Lehkonen’s 48 goals rank sixth among his Finnish peers, while his 104 points rank 10th and his 0.75 points per game are the eighth-highest (min. 50 GP) among his countrymen in that span. Additionally, Lehkonen’s 17 postseason goals since 2021-22 lead Finnish-born players and rank 12th among all NHL skaters.
Lehkonen represented his country at the World Junior Championship in 2013, 2014 and 2015, capturing gold in the 2014 showcase. He captained the 2015 squad and was teammates with Rantanen.
Devon Toews
Toews has appeared in 22 games for the Avalanche this season and has registered eight points (1g/7a) along with averaging 23:21 of ice time per game to rank third on the club. Since his Avalanche debut, the team won their 200th game with him in the lineup last time out on Dec. 3 (200-80-23). He also appeared in his 400th career NHL game on Oct. 22
A native of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Toews skated in all 82 games for the Avalanche in 2023-24 and inked his third straight 50-point season (12g/38a) to join Makar (2019-24) and Sandis Ozolinsh (1995-98) as the only defensemen in Avalanche/Nordiques history to achieve the feat. Originally acquired in a trade with the Islanders on Oct. 12, 2020, Toews has recorded 196 points (42g/154a) in 303 games to go along with averaging 24:31 of ice time per game and a plus-144 rating in that span. He ranks fifth in points among Canadian defensemen since the start of 2020-21 and his +/- since joining the Avs ranks second in the entire NHL behind only Florida’s Gustav Forsling (+147).
In his career, Toews enters tomorrow with 242 points (53g/189a) in 419 regular-season games with the Avalanche and Islanders. He rang up a career-best 13 goals and 44 assists during the 2021-22 regular season and added 15 points (5g/10a) in 20 postseason contests to help the Avalanche capture the Stanley Cup. The blueliner has received Norris Trophy votes in three of his four full seasons in Colorado, finishing as high as eighth in 2021-22. During the 2021-22 campaign, Toews was named the NHL’s Third Star of the Week for Dec. 12.
The 2025 4 Nations Face-Off will be Toews’ first international experience.
