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NY Post
New York Post
12 Dec 2023


NextImg:Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen fires back at teammate’s dad for ‘talking s–t’ about him

Colorado Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen hopes his teammate’s dad was paying attention to his big night.

The 27-year-old Finn, who snapped a nine-game goalless streak and added two assists in a 6-5 win over the Flames Monday night, called out Ismo Lehkonen, the father of Avalanche teammate and compatriot Artturi Lehkonen, after Ismo was critical of Rantanen in an interview.

“It feels good. There’s actually one thing where I got a lot of extra energy. One of our Finnish NHL players’ dad was talking s–t about me in media, that I didn’t train last summer like I used to do,” Rantanen said after the game. “He was just making things up. I think that was for him. If you talk s–t, it’s going to come back at you.”

Ismo Lehkonen took shots at Rantanen in an interview with YLE, Finland’s national broadcasting company, and questioned if the All-Star, who had a career-high 105 points (55 goals, 50 assists) last season, had hit a wall.

“He didn’t have a very good summer,” Lehkonen said, as translated by Ville Touru of Ilta-Sanomat for The Athletic. “There was a lot happening, many events of all kinds. He had to visit Helsinki and everything like that. … Perhaps he consciously took the summer a little more calmly after the hard years. And maybe he didn’t practice as much as in previous summers.”

Avalanche wing Mikko Rantanen (96) with the puck during a game against the Flames on Dec. 11, 2023. AP

The win improved the Avalanche, who won the Stanley Cup two seasons ago, to 17-9-2, and their 36 points leads the Central Division.

Rantanen now has 34 points (13 goals, 21 assists) in 28 games this year.

The No. 10 overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, Rantanen made his NHL debut in 2015 and played his first full season in 2016-17, notching 38 points.

Artturi Lehkonen

Artturi Lehkonen. NHLI via Getty Images

He exploded the following year with 84 points and followed that up with an 87-point campaign in 2018-19.

The winger is in the penultimate year of a contract that has an annual cap hit of $9.25 million.

Arturri Lehkonen, 28, has been out for the last month with a neck injury that was expected to keep him out 10 to 12 weeks.