DENVER – Team Finland announced today the full roster for 2026 Winter Olympic Games set for Feb. 6-22, 2026 in Milan and Cortina, Italy. Avalanche forwards Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Kiviranta were named to the roster. The Avalanche have not had a player compete for Team Finland in the Olympics since 2006 when Antti Laaksonen and Ossi Vaananen went, although Vaananen did not play due to injury.
Lehkonen, 30, has appeared in all 39 games for the Avalanche and has tallied 32 points (14g/18a) this season. He ranks fourth on Colorado in goals, points and multi-point games (7), while his assists and shots (96) sit fifth and third, respectively. Among Finnish-born NHLers, Lehkonen’s 2025-26 ranks see him check in third in goals, fourth in points and leading that cohort in both even-strength tallies (13). Lehkonen’s 600th career game came on Oct. 26, 2025 and he chipped in an assist. Later that week he recorded his 300th career point with a helper on Nov. 1 at San Jose.
A native of Piikkio, Finland, Lehkonen recorded 45 points (27g/18a) for the Avalanche last season, with the 27 tallies marking a career-high. Both the 45 points and 0.39 goals per game ranked fourth on the club, and his +36 rating ranked tied for fourth in the League. On Dec. 27, 2024, Lehkonen registered his first career hat trick which was the third Finnish player to record one for the Avalanche, marking the first time in NHL history three different Finnish skaters on the same team deposited a hat trick in one season.
The 5-foot-11, 179-pound left wing has collected 320 points (158g/162a) in 629 career regular-season games and has added 47 points (26g/21a) over 78 Stanley Cup Playoff games with Colorado and the Montreal Canadiens. Lehkonen was a member of the 2022 Stanley Cup championship team where he led the NHL with four game-winning goals during that postseason and was credited with the series-clinching goal in both the Stanley Cup Final and the Western Conference Final. He also tallied the series-clinching goal in the 2021 Stanley Cup semifinals with the Habs.
Since being acquired by the Avalanche in a trade on March 21, 2022, Lehkonen’s 84 goals rank fourth among his Finnish peers, while his 171 points rank eighth and his 0.73 points per game share the sixth-highest (min. 50 GP) among his countrymen in that span. Additionally, Lehkonen’s 20 postseason goals since 2021-22 rank tied for third among Finnish-born players and tied for 15th among all NHL skaters.
Lehkonen represented his country at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off and registered one point (0g/1a) in three games. He also competed at the World Junior Championship in 2013, 2014 and 2015, capturing gold in the 2014 showcase.
Kiviranta, 29, has recorded four points (1g/3a) in 21 games for the Avalanche in 2025-26, his third season with the organization. All of his points have come at even-strength and all of them occurred at Ball Arena. Colorado is 4-0-0 in the games Kiviranta has found the scoresheet. The winger appeared in his 300th career game on Oct. 9 vs. Utah.
Previous international experience for Kiviranta includes capturing a gold medal representing Finland at the 2019 World Championship and a bronze medal at the 2013 U-18 World Championship where he was teammates with Lehkonen.
The 5-foot-11, 185-pound forward suited up in 79 regular-season games in 2024-25 and set personal-bests in goals (16), points (23) and notched his first two career game-winning goals. Kiviranta also registered his first three career multi-goal performances, two of which took place in the month of December. Among them was his first career regular-season hat trick on Dec. 22 vs. Seattle.
A native of Vantaa, Finland, Kiviranta played in his 100th contest with the Avalanche on Jan. 11, 2025. In 156 games with Colorado, he has collected 36 points (20g/16a) as well as his two career-high showings of three points. Kiviranta also posted a career-high four-game goal streak from March 6-11, which began with his second career shorthanded marker on March 6.
In his NHL career, Kiviranta has played in 319 regular-season games and has registered 64 points (36g/28a) with the Avalanche and Dallas Stars from 2019-26. He’s played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of the last four seasons as well as five of his six as a professional in North America, tallying 14 points (7g/7a) in 51 postseason contests. Kiviranta made a Stanley Cup Final appearance with the Stars in 2020 and helped them earn a Western Conference Final berth in 2023. In his first campaign in North America, Kiviranta was added to Dallas’ 2020 postseason roster and chipped in a career-high six points (5g/1a) over 14 games, including a hat trick in Game 7 of the Second Round against Colorado.
Kiviranta signed with Dallas as an undrafted free agent on May 31, 2019 after playing parts of six seasons for the SM-Liiga’s Jokerit (2013-14) and Vaasan Sport (2014-19) programs. He tallied 114 points (60g/54a) in 261 games in his Liiga career.
