You can be forgiven if you hear the name Otto Leskinen and don’t know that he’s one of the newer defencemen in the Montreal Canadiens organization. The 22-year-old Finn impressed in Wednesday’s scrimmage with his strong positioning and skating, and he will be making his North American professional debut this season.
Leskinen was at last year’s development camp as a tryout before returning to Finland and playing the rest of the season with KalPa in Liiga. Then, when it came time to sign a contract and the Canadiens called, his familiarity with the organization and the city helped.