Team Finland leaning on Lehtonen's experience of winning Olympic gold

MILAN -- All but one player for Team Finland at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 is on an NHL roster.

That one player has something all the other ones covet, an Olympic gold medal.

Defenseman Mikko Lehtonen played 26 NHL games during the 2020-21 season, nine for the Toronto Maple Leafs and 17 with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, which didn't feature NHL players, he helped Finland win its first and only gold medal in men's hockey.

"It was obviously an amazing thing," Lehtonen said Monday. "It was COVID times and it was tough with all that stuff and the masks. But at the end of the day, I remember pretty good memories from tournament and winning that gold medal is a huge thing."

Lehtonen plays for the ZSC Lions in National League, the top professional league in Switzerland. With NHL players in the Olympics for the first time since the 2014 Sochi Games, and Finland's roster loaded with some of the best players in the League, he's hoping his experience from four years ago can be a big boost.

"Every player can bring something to the table," Lehtonen said. "And we have lots of players who won a lot of different leagues, different things with the national team, so they know how to do it and what needs to be done."

Lehtonen is not the only player on Team Finland with Olympic experience. Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen was playing for HIFK in Liiga, Finland's top hockey league, and Seattle Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen with Jokerit of the Kontinental Hockey League, when they were Lehtonen's teammates at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.

"I was 18 at the time, but it's good memories, for sure," Heiskanen said. "It was cool. Of course, you always dreamed about the Olympics when you were younger and to get to play there at 18 years old, it was a pretty cool moment and something for sure I remember the rest of my life.

"It probably helps a little bit to know how all the things work here and know a little bit what to expect."

Lehtonen also is not the only member with a winning pedigree. Seven players on Finland's Olympic roster have won the Stanley Cup, with four winning multiple Cup titles.

Chicago Blackhawks center Teuvo Teravainen won the Cup with them in 2015; Utah Mammoth defenseman Olli Maatta is a two-time champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins, in 2016 and 2017; forwards Artturi Lehkonen and Mikko Rantanen (now with the Dallas Stars), won it with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022; forwards Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, and defenseman Niko Mikkola, have won the past two seasons with the Florida Panthers.

Every little bit of the winning helps, Mikkola said, especially when the 12 teams here begin the single-elimination part of the tournament after the preliminary round.

"For sure, it's a one-game series kind of every game," Mikkola said. "And we've been in the situation where we are in Game 7 where everything is on the line, so for sure that helps. But you just need to find a way to find your best at game time."

That will come when Finland plays the first game of the tournament against Team Slovakia at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on Wednesday (10:40 a.m. ET; Peacock, USA, CBC Gem, TSN, CBC).

"It's a different tournament," Heiskanen said. "All the best players are here, so it's different for sure. The level is higher because of that, but at the same time it's the Olympics and it works here the same way."