The Oilers will soon be announcing the addition of Quinn Hutson and they’ve made another addition to their prospect pool today. The team announced that they’ve signed defenseman Atro Leppanen to a one-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms of the deal, which begins next season, were not disclosed by the team but PuckPedia reports that it will carry a $975K cap hit.
The 26-year-old is the definition of a late bloomer. Just two seasons ago, Leppanen was playing in Finland’s second-tier Mestis but that year, he had a dominant showing with Kiekko-Espoo that saw him put up 23 goals and 35 assists in 51 games, finishing fourth in the league in scoring, tops among defensemen. That earned him a tryout agreement with Sport at the Liiga level, one that he was able to convert to a full-season contract.
Last season, Leppanen did well in his first season with Sport, tallying 12 goals and 16 assists in 55 games, good numbers for a first-year defenseman. But this year, he found an entire new gear. Leppanen set a new league record for points by a blueliner (breaking a record shared by former NHLers Brian Rafalski and Pekka Rautakallio) while leading the entire league in scoring, collecting 21 goals and 42 assists in 60 games while averaging more than 23 minutes a night of playing time.
That performance had Leppanen on the radar heading into free agency. It’s believed he had an SHL contract on the table but he was able to beat that with this deal. It will be interesting to see if the Oilers envision Leppanen pushing for a spot at the end of the NHL roster to provide some secondary offense from the back end or if their intention is to start him with AHL Bakersfield. As things stand, Edmonton has five of their regular blueliners under contract for 2025-26 with Evan Bouchard and Ty Emberson needing new deals as restricted free agents.