For the next three years, Juha Lehtola will coach the goaltenders of the Washington Capitals organization.
Juha Lehtola already had a contract with the Jokers, but it expired for known reasons. After that, the man had a deal with Augsburg, but the Germans let the man go to the Capitals without a fuss. TIMO KUNNARI
- There are three Finnish goalie coaches in the NHL.
- Juha Lehtola is the man in the Capitals organization.
Another Finnish goaltending coach qualified for the NHL world, when the Washington Capitals announced a 2+1-year contract on Thursday Juha Lehtolan with.
– The agreement came in connection with the World Cup project, it’s been quite busy here. Maybe it hasn’t materialized for you yet. It will probably crash after the Games, Lehtola tells Iltalehte in the coffee shop of an Edmonton hotel.
A long road
Leevi Meriläinen has played both of Finland’s matches in the under-20 World Championships. AOP
NHL doors often open through relationships. Lehtola has been creating a path to bright halls for years.
It all started far away in the hinterlands of Ontario, in the city of Sudbury in 2011. Lehtola went to the Sudbury Wolves team in the OHL league through the Vierumäki coaching school.
The internship turned into a job.
– Canadian Scott Murray was Wolves’ goalkeeping coach, I was his second in 2011–13. At some point, a plan was made with Scott that both would put the cv in such condition that we would work together again sometime. And in the NHL.
– Or it was more like a dream, the 37-year-old man from Hämeenlinna says.
2017 close
Already in 2017, Lehtola had a job interview for the same post office that she received now.
– I was second then. We were taken to the place Alex Westlund, who now continues his career elsewhere. I will replace him in the Capitals organization, Lehtola says.
Murray is now the boss of the Capitals’ goaltending coaches, and Lehtola will be his partner.
So the setup is the same as about 10 years earlier in the junior league in Sudbury.
– I will live and mainly work for the AHL team in Hershey. The contract also includes that I will be in the ECHL team in South Carolina for one week in the Stingrays team, Lehtola specifies.
North Americans
Zach Fucale will be able to enjoy Finnish goalkeeper coaching next season. AOP
In Hershey, Lehtola will likely develop mainly the Canadian Zach Fucale and the American by Hunter Shepard skills.
– In Jokipoj, I had 2013–14 to coach Daniel Spence. Sudbury only had North American goalkeepers. I don’t see a difference between the goalkeepers’ nationalities when the work is done.
– Goalkeeper and hockey vocabulary is actually simpler in English, Lehtola thinks.
Finns are fine
There are currently three Finnish goalie coaches in NHL organizations. of Colorado Jussi Parkkila is a recent Stanley Cup winner. Marko Torenius will start in the fall in the Vancouver Canucks organization.
And sure Niklas Backström developing goaltenders for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
– It’s definitely great that the Finnish know-how is suitable there. You have to open your head by knowing someone there. Someone in the NHL organization needs to know who you are and how you work.
Tuomo Ruutu is part of the Florida Panthers coaching staff.
Great people
He doesn’t talk about money.
– The girlfriend is coming along. He is leaving his day job for the time being. The financial side also had to be considered as a whole when the contract was negotiated. The negotiations went pretty far towards the end of July.
Lehtola has been able to work with tough names in the national teams.
– I have been able to participate in management groups where people have been able to move forward. Through work, I have gotten to know, among other things Antti PennanenMikko Koivun, Tuomo Ruutun, Antti Miettinen and Niko Kapanen.
– The association’s coaching pipeline has been useful, says Lehtola, who will be moving to the United States in the second week of September.