Oilers Place Atro Leppanen On Waivers

After missing the first six weeks of the season, Oilers defenseman Atro Leppanen appears to be ready to return.  The team announced today that they’ve placed the blueliner on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Bakersfield.

It would be fair to call the 27-year-old a late bloomer.  As recently as the 2022-23 season, he had been playing back home in Finland in the second-tier Mestis league and wasn’t even remotely on the NHL radar.  But a strong showing that season that saw him record 58 points in just 51 games gave Leppanen a shot to move up to the Liiga level with Sport.

Leppanen picked up a respectable 28 points in 55 games in 2023-24 with Sport, a solid offensive showing for a first-year defender.  The following year was a whole other story.  Leppanen led the entire Liiga in scoring (not just among defensemen) with 21 goals and 42 assists in 60 games.  That helped earn him a spot on Finland’s roster at the Worlds and a one-year, entry-level deal with Edmonton along the way.

Leppanen spent last season with the Condors and was quite effective offensively, tallying 11 goals and 27 assists in just 53 games.  That earned him a one-year, two-way deal for this season, one that carries a cap hit of $850K in the NHL and an overall guarantee of $400K.  He picked up a goal in two preseason games this fall before being sidelined with a lower-body injury at the end of the preseason.  Now that he has been cleared to return, he’s on waivers.

Given his inexperience in North America, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Leppanen pass through unclaimed by Sunday’s 1 PM CT deadline unless there’s a team looking for a potential offensive boost from a depth spot on their back end.  Assuming he clears, he’ll return to the Condors where another strong showing offensively could give him a shot at making his NHL debut sometime this season.