Finland’s Milano Cortina 2026 men’s roster is an NHL roster in practice, with one deliberate exception. Mikko Lehtonen, the ZSC Lions defenseman in Switzerland’s National League, is the only player on the 25-man list who is not currently in the NHL. The Olympic roster rollout for 2026 has him as Finland’s lone Europe-based skater, with the rest of the group tied to NHL clubs.
For North American fans, Lehtonen can feel like a name out of left field, mostly because his NHL time was brief. He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets in 2020-21, then returned to Europe. The more useful lens is that Finland has kept him close for a long time, and when the Olympics swung back to NHL participation, the staff still reserved one slot for a defender they trust to run a specific set of touches.
Why Finland Needed a Europe-Based Defenseman
Finland’s top-end talent is not the issue. Its roster can hang with anyone at forward and has a true No. 1 defenseman in Miro Heiskanen. The squeeze shows up deeper on the blue line, especially in the “big minutes” context. Finland’s NHL.com Finnish-language roster coverage included head coach Antti Pennanen’s note that the number of Finnish defensemen playing heavy NHL minutes this season has been relatively small, and that Lehtonen’s national team experience mattered in the selection.
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Yle’s reporting tightened the point further by framing Lehtonen’s inclusion as a direct choice over Urho Vaakanainen, an NHL defenseman who has not played much this season. That is the roster logic in one line: Finland is weighing readiness and role clarity over “NHL address” for its last defense slot.
What Lehtonen Brings in Zurich and in Tournament Hockey
Lehtonen’s club situation is part of the appeal. ZSC has been a heavy-pressure environment, and the results have been loud. The IIHF’s Europe-based Olympic primer notes Lehtonen has won back-to-back Swiss NL titles with ZSC (2024, 2025) and added the Champions Hockey League title in 2025, with the final played in Zürich (Nov. 24, 2025). The Champions Hockey League (CHL) match report shows ZSC beat Färjestad BK 2-1 in the final.
His international production is the cleaner translation marker for North American readers. In the 2022 IIHF World Championship, Lehtonen finished with 12 points in 10 games (two goals, 10 assists) and a plus-7, leading all tournament defensemen in points on the IIHF scoring leaderboard. The IIHF game story from Finland’s semifinal run that year referenced him as the tournament’s leading-scoring defenseman at the time, with 10 points before the final weekend.
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The same IIHF 2025 Olympics primer puts recent national team context on top of the older peak, noting he wore the “C” for Finland at the 2025 Men’s Worlds and recorded eight points (three goals, five assists).
Why Lehtonen Over Liiga or SHL Options
Finland could have filled the “plays in Europe” box in other ways, including from Liiga or the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). The roster decision reads less like league preference and more like usage preference.
Lehtonen’s offensive contribution is not built on freelancing. He plays as a point distributor who wins time with early scanning and quick puck movement. In a short Olympic event, that matters because national teams do not get much practice time, and power-play timing has to show up fast.
Pennanen, speaking through NHL.com/fi, framed Lehtonen as bringing needed experience and referenced the limited pool of Finnish defensemen playing big NHL minutes this season, which pushes Finland to consider alternatives it has already vetted inside the program.
That is also where Lehtonen’s “only returning Olympic champion” angle lands. Olympics.com notes he is the sole returning Olympic champion from Finland’s 2022 gold medal team on this 2026 roster. The staff is not asking him to learn Finland’s tournament habits. They are asking him to execute them.
Concrete Translation Risks Against NHL Speed
Lehtonen’s deployment will likely be narrow, and the risk profile explains why. Best-on-best opponents punish two things quickly: slow retrieval decisions and predictable exits. Switzerland’s NL is structured and fast, but it does not replicate the sheer close speed of Canada and the United States on the forecheck.
His NHL sample provides a reminder that the fit is not automatic. NHL.com’s player page and Finland roster coverage both point to his short 2020-21 stint, which ended without him sticking as an NHL regular. That does not disqualify him in an Olympic role, but it does narrow the lane.
Finland will get value if his first touch stays clean, his point decisions stay quick, and his minutes are managed, so he is not living in repeated defensive-zone retrievals against the fastest top six in the tournament.
Lehtonen is on this roster because Finland trusts him to deliver clean puck decisions in a role it already understands. In a best-on-best event, that kind of certainty is worth it.
