- Jake Leschyshyn signed a one-year deal with HIFK of Finland’s Liiga for 2026-27
- The 27-year-old center played 77 NHL games with Vegas and the Rangers
- Read below for what HIFK’s sporting director said about the signing
Jake Leschyshyn is taking his career to Finland.
HIFK announced Saturday that the 27-year-old center signed a one-year contract for the 2026-27 season. That closes out a seven-year run in North American pro hockey, the last of which he spent with the AHL’s Rochester Americans in the Buffalo organization.
Vegas took Leschyshyn 62nd overall in 2017, making him the fifth player the expansion Golden Knights ever drafted. He got into 41 games with them in 2021-22 and then landed with the Rangers on waivers the next season. His NHL ledger sits at 77 games, two goals and six points.
Sporting director Janne Laukkanen was asked what HIFK wanted down the middle. His comments come from the team’s release, translated from Finnish and published by Jatkoaika:
“We needed reinforcement in the middle. At this point we saw it as the sensible move to bring in a two-way center who can play the power play and the penalty kill. Faceoffs in special-teams situations are one of Leschyshyn’s strengths.”
Laukkanen then turned the tweener label into a selling point.
“Jake has played his whole pro career between the NHL and the AHL, which tells you he is a steadily strong player. Wherever he has been, he has always earned his spot and found a role on the team. Jake is a leader who can make the players around him better.”
In his own line from the release, Leschyshyn set a target for the season.
“I want to bring a positive attitude and a strong work ethic to the team, on the ice and off it. My main goal for the season is to win a championship.”
Rochester got 13 goals and 22 points out of him in 66 games last season. Across 364 career AHL games he has 70 goals and 135 points. Check out one of those Amerks goals against Laval in March:
The bloodlines are heavy here. His father, Curtis Leschyshyn, played 1,033 NHL games on the blue line and won the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 1996. Jake was born in Raleigh in 1999 while his dad was skating for the Hurricanes.
He follows Tomas Nosek, who signed with Czechia’s Dynamo Pardubice on Friday.
Leschyshyn wants a championship in Helsinki. HIFK has not won one since 2011.
