Avalanche Mailbag 4.0: Lehkonen Extension Thoughts; Who Could Replace Him If He’s Gone?

Sep 10, 2026, 7:55 AM ET|Comments (0)

from Colorado Hockey Now,

An Artturi Lehkonen extension sounds great at the right terms. If not, who do you see as the in-house heir? Gavin Brindley? T.J. Hughes? Someone else?

I don’t usually feel this way about a contract negotiation and a player’s future, but I genuinely don’t know how this Lehkonen thing is going to play out. On one hand, the Avalanche love the player — they value him a lot. But will they value him enough to pay what his market value might be in this new cap era? Especially given that he’ll be 32 years old when the new deal begins and has struggled with injuries over the past handful of years?

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