Jori Lehterä

Lehterä in 2016
Born	(1987-12-23) 23 December 1987 (age 37) Lempäälä, Finland
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight	212 lb (96 kg; 15 st 2 lb)
Position	Centre
Shoots	Left
Liiga team Former teams	HIFK Tappara Jokerit Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Sibir Novosibirsk St. Louis Blues Philadelphia Flyers SKA Saint Petersburg Spartak Moscow
National team	Finland
NHL draft	65th overall, 2008 St. Louis Blues
Playing career	2006–present

Medal record
Ice hockey
Representing  Finland
Winter Olympics
	2014 Sochi
World Championships
	2014 Belarus

Jori Jonatan Lehterä^[1] (born 23 December 1987) is a Finnish professional ice hockey player currently playing for HIFK of the Liiga. A centreman, he was selected by the St. Louis Blues in the third round, 65th overall, of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. He won a bronze medal with Finland at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Playing career

Lehterä dominated the Jokerit junior team in scoring, and earned himself a place on the team's SM-liiga roster in the fall of 2006. He was selected to represent Finland at the 2006 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships 2006 World Under-20's Championships in Sweden,^[2] but could not play due to an injury. In April 2007, he signed a three-year contract with Tappara.^[3]

Lehterä was drafted by the St. Louis Blues at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft in the third round, 65th overall. He made the move to North America for the 2008–09 season to play for the Peoria Rivermen, the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Blues. However, he played just seven games for Peoria, recording just one assist, before returning to Tappara in Finland to close out the season, where he was ultimately named the SM-liiga's Most Valuable Player (MVP) after scoring 19 goals and 50 assists for 69 points.^[4][5]

After playing one season with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Lehterä moved to KHL rivals Sibir Novosibirsk from 2011–12 to 2013–14, the latter of which he scored 12 goals and 32 assists to lead the team in points, with 44.^[6] After yearly consistent performances for Novosibirsk, he played for Finland at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, where he scored one goal and three assists in four games for the bronze medal-winning Finns.^[7]

On 1 July 2014, Lehterä signed a two-year, $5.5 million contract with the St. Louis Blues, the organization still retaining his NHL rights after initially drafting him in 2008.^[8] He was named the NHL's First Star of the Week for 10–17 November after posting four goals and two assists in three games for St. Louis.^[9]

He was traded by the Blues along with a first-round pick (27th overall) and conditional first-round pick in 2018 to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Brayden Schenn, at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft on June 23, 2017.^[10]

He signed a one-year contract with the KHL's SKA Saint Petersburg on 6 June 2019.^[11] In the 2019–20 season, Lehterä posted 15 goals and 30 points in his return to the KHL before the season was abruptly ended due to COVID-19.

As a free agent at the conclusion of his contract, Lehterä opted to continue in the KHL, agreeing to a one-year deal with Spartak Moscow on 12 May 2020.^[12]

On 16 June 2022, Lehterä returned to play in Finnish Liiga for the first time in 12 years, agreeing to a one-year contract with former club and reigning champions, Tappara.^[13]

Personal

Lehterä's uncle, Tero Lehterä, was a member of Finland's 1995 Ice Hockey World Championships gold medal team.

In September 2018, police in Finland announced that they had conducted a raid on his home, resulting in several arrests and the seizure of cocaine. Lehterä was not home at the time, but police believed that he was involved in a distribution ring with about 20 other people.^[14] On 1 January 2019, it was reported that Lehterä was not involved in the distribution part of the ring; just purchasing and possessing.^[15]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2003–04	Jokerit	FIN U18		19	0	6	6	2		5	3	1	4	0
2004–05	Jokerit	FIN U18		30	13	37	50	24		7	6	5	11	2
2005–06	Jokerit	FIN U20		39	14	33	47	16		4	1	4	5	0
2006–07	Jokerit	FIN U20		24	18	48	66	20		5	1	7	8	2
2006–07	Jokerit	SM-l		28	6	6	12	14		—	—	—	—	—
2007–08	Tappara	SM-l		54	13	29	42	32		11	4	2	6	8
2008–09	Tappara	SM-l		58	9	38	47	34		—	—	—	—	—
2008–09	Peoria Rivermen	AHL		7	0	1	1	2		7	1	1	2	10
2009–10	Tappara	SM-l		57	19	50	69	58		9	1	9	10	8
2010–11	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	KHL		53	16	21	37	38		18	0	3	3	14
2011–12	Sibir Novosibirsk	KHL		25	10	16	26	10		—	—	—	—	—
2012–13	Sibir Novosibirsk	KHL		52	17	29	46	46		3	0	2	2	0
2013–14	Sibir Novosibirsk	KHL		48	12	32	44	22		10	0	6	6	2
2014–15	St. Louis Blues	NHL		75	14	30	44	48		5	0	2	2	0
2015–16	St. Louis Blues	NHL		79	9	25	34	38		20	3	6	9	10
2016–17	St. Louis Blues	NHL		64	7	15	22	34		8	1	3	4	4
2017–18	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		62	3	5	8	14		6	0	2	2	0
2018–19	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		27	1	2	3	33		—	—	—	—	—
2018–19	Lehigh Valley Phantoms	AHL		5	1	2	3	4		—	—	—	—	—
2019–20	SKA Saint Petersburg	KHL		51	15	15	30	26		—	—	—	—	—
2020–21	Spartak Moscow	KHL		41	9	35	44	17		4	0	2	2	6
2021–22	Spartak Moscow	KHL		45	10	29	39	21		5	1	1	2	0
2022–23	Tappara	Liiga		57	11	46	57	45		13	5	11	16	6
Liiga totals				254	58	169	227	183		36	14	27	41	26
KHL totals				315	89	177	266	180		40	1	14	15	22
NHL totals				307	34	77	111	167		39	4	13	17	14

International

Year	Team	Event	Result		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2010	Finland	WC	6th		5	0	0	0	0
2014	Finland	OG			6	1	3	4	0
2014	Finland	WC			10	3	9	12	10
2016	Finland	WCH	8th		3	0	0	0	2
Senior totals					24	4	12	16	12

Awards and honours

Award	Year
Champions Hockey League
Champion	2022–23
Liiga
Champion Kanada-malja	2022-23
Runners-up	2006-07
Third place	2007-08
Golden Helmet	2010
Lasse Oksanen Award	2010
Veli-Pekka Ketola Award	2010
KHL
All-Star Game	2013, 2014

References

1. "Urheilukoulun Tuki". Archived from the original on 10 March 2016.
2. Suomen nuorten MM-leiriryhmä nimetty – uutiset – Maajoukkue – www.jatkoaika.com
3. Lehterä ja Salmela Tapparaan – uutiset – SM-liiga – www.jatkoaika.com
4. Jori Lehterä lainasopimuksella rapakon taakse | Jääkiekko | Iltalehti.fi
5. "Tapparan Jori Lehterä runkosarjan paras pelaaja" (in Finnish). Liiga. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original on 25 March 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
6. "Blues sign forward Lehtera to two-year contract". NHL.com. 1 July 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
7. Mahiban, Dhiren (24 August 2014). "Looking to make the leap: Jori Lehtera". NBC Sports. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
8. "Blues sign Lehtera to 2-year contract". St. Louis Blues. 1 July 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
9. The Canadian Press (17 November 2014). "Lehtera, Price, Forsberg named NHL's three stars of the week". CBC. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
10. "Blues acquire Schenn from Flyers". St. Louis Blues. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
11. "Йори Лехтеря – в СКА!" (in Russian). SKA St. Petersburg. 6 June 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
12. "Jori Lehtera moves to Spartak" (in Russian). Spartak Moscow. 12 May 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
13. "Jori Lehtera returns to Finland after 12 seasons" (in Finnish). Tappara. 16 June 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
14. "Report: Former Blues Forward Implicated in Finnish Cocaine Ring". KMOX-AM. 26 September 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
15. "Flyers' Jori Lehtera accused of buying cocaine". ESPN. 1 January 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2019.

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Eurohockey.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database
• Jatkoaika.com player profile (in Finnish)