Reports came out this week that Flyers defensive prospect Joonas Lehtivuori had been loaned to KalPa of the Finnish hockey league SM-liiga for the remainder of the season. Teemu H of Broad Street Hockey and Tim McManus of the Post Star wrote pieces on why his game went south this season.
Short answer? He was bored playing in Glen Falls, NY.
Lehtivuori was drafted by the Flyers in the 4th round of the 2006 NHL entry draft. He continued playing with Ilves Tampere of the SM-liiga before coming over last year. Based on the aforementioned reports, he apparently didn’t realize the Phantoms had relocated from Philadelphia to Glen Falls, and the change in scenery was not what he had in mind.
In the report from Broad Street Hockey (which itself was a very good translation from the Finnish publication Jatkoaika), Lehtivuori stated, “There was just completely nothing there… I could barely get the internet working. It’s a really small place and the arena is just this old building of bricks.” He also went on to say that he disliked the “straight-forward” style of the AHL versus the “take your time” hockey of Finland.
The young Finn has one year left on his entry level contract, but it’s basically worthless at this point. There’s no way he’s making it to the NHL if he can’t handle the grind of the AHL, and by all indications, he will not be coming back to Glen Falls any time soon.
The best hope for the Flyers is to now trade him at the 2011 NHL entry draft for a 7th round draft pick and hope they find better luck next year.
Still in the fold beyond this year are defensemen Marc Andre Bourdon, Kevin Marshall, and Erik Gustafsson (featured in the main photo because none were available of Joonas). While Gustafsson has had the best offensive production on the Phantoms (4 goals and 23 assists), it is unlikely he is ready to break out in the NHL for another year. Danny Syvret is also on a one-year contract and will likely leave the organization again if there is no chance for him to make the Flyers.
