Jori Lehtera is looking for a do-over in 2017-18.
Trading his navy blues for Philadelphia’s black and orange after a draft-day deal saw him and forward Brayden Schenn switch clubs, the former St. Louis Blue is prepping for a redemption tour with his new club.
After a promising first couple seasons in St. Louis, Lehtera’s time in Missouri ended in a lacklustre 2016-17 campaign in which he posted just 22 points through 64 games and was a healthy scratch through three of his club’s first-round playoff tilts.
It’s not clear why exactly his play fell off at the tail end of his Blues tenure, but Lehtera said he’s focusing only on the opportunity for a fresh start with the Flyers.
“I have no idea why (the Blues traded me), but I think it’s better for me that I got traded, so I don’t really care why,” Lehtera told Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Friday. “That’s the business part of hockey. It’s always tough to leave when you know all of the guys and the city. But hockey-wise, it’s going to be good for me.
“I didn’t play well at the end, but I think a new start will be really good for me.”
Some aspects of that lacklustre campaign were influenced by factors out of his control. Suiting up for Team Finland at the World Cup of Hockey, for example, may have thrown a wrench into the 29-year-old’s usual routine.
“It was different than before. It made it a little bit harder,” Lehtera said of the altered summer schedule. “We started to skate so early, so I was kind of out of gas the second half.”
There were also times when Lehtera’s disappointing play was perhaps more a case of him getting in his own way, the forward said. A situation exacerbated by the fact that he played alongside one of the game’s most dominant offensive dynamos in Vladimir Tarasenko.
“It’s tough if you play with a guy who expects you to do some things but then you don’t have the confidence to do those things,” Lehtera said. “You’re in a tough spot. That’s the thing you have to fight through.”
He’ll get a fair shot at fighting through those issues in Philadelphia, as general manager Ron Hextall has said he believes Lehtera can be a “utility guy” the club sends out in a variety of different situations.
Lehtera has two years remaining on the three-year deal he signed in 2015, set to pay him $4.7 million in each of the next two seasons.
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