Jere Lehtinen

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FinlandFinland  Jere Lehtinen Ice hockey player
IIHF Hall of Fame , 2018
Jere Lehtinen
Date of birth June 24, 1973
place of birth Espoo , Finland
size 183 cm
Weight 87 kg
position Right wing
number # 26
Shot hand Right
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 1992 , 4th round, 88th position
Minnesota North Stars
Career stations
until 1993 Kiekko-Espoo
1993-1995 TPS Turku
1995-2010 Dallas Stars

Jere Kalervo Lehtinen (born June 24, 1973 in Espoo ) is a former Finnish ice hockey player and current - functional . The right winger completed over 900 games for the Dallas Stars in the National Hockey League between 1995 and 2010 , with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 1999 and where his jersey number 26 is suspended . He was also honored three times with the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the best defensive striker in the NHL. Lehtinen became world champion with the Finnish national team in 1995 and won a silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics .

Career

Jere Lehtinen began his career at the age of 17 with Kiekko-Espoo in the Finnish professional league SM-liiga . Since his hometown club was relegated from the SM-liiga in 1993, he moved to the then top club TPS Turku . At TPS he played together with Saku Koivu in a row and won the main round of the SM-liiga with his team, but failed in the playoff final at Jokerit Helsinki. In the following season TPS achieved with Lehtinen winning the Finnish championship. After this success, he signed a contract with the Dallas Stars , whose franchise - at that time still active as Minnesota North Stars - had selected him in the fourth round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft .

After only one game for the star's farm team, the Michigan K-Wings , the Finn was appointed to the NHL squad and was a permanent part of it from then on. In the following three years he established himself in the team and in the league. At the end of the 1996/97 season , the striker was nominated for the first time for the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the best defensive striker in the league. The following season was even more successful for Lehtinen when he took part in the 48th National Hockey League All-Star Game and was awarded the Selke Trophy at the end of the season. In the summer of 1998, the Stars signed right winger Brett Hull . Since this should play in a row with center Mike Modano and Lehtinen, Lehtinen changed sides and played on the left attacking wing in the following years. The 1998/99 season was very successful for his team, as it moved into the playoff final for the Stanley Cup . There it met the Buffalo Sabers , who were defeated 4-2 after six games. Lehtinen contributed a goal and an assist in the last game, he also set new personal records and won the Selke Trophy again. At this point, it was only the third player in NHL history to defend the trophy.

The 1999/2000 season was marked by injuries for the winger. He completed a total of only 17 regular season games because he suffered an elbow fracture that required surgery. Only in the playoffs he was fully operational again and helped the stars through to the playoff finals, in which they were subject to the New Jersey Devils . After the many injuries Lehtinen was able to prove his class again in the following season and contributed 45 scorer points to reaching the playoffs.

The 2001/02 season was successful for the defensively aligned winger, although the stars missed the playoffs. He scored 25 goals and 24 assists, had positive plus / minus statistics of 27, was again invited to the All-Star Game that he had to cancel due to injury, and was awarded both the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy and the Selke- Trophy nominated. Ultimately, he finished seventh in the election for the Bing Trophy and second in the Selke Trophy. He was able to surpass all of these personal successes in the following season. With 31 goals he was the star's top scorer and set a new personal record. His plus / minus statistic of +39 was the best of the stars and the fourth best in the entire NHL, so that he was nominated again for the Selke Trophy. He won this at the end of the season and is only the third NHL player to receive this award three times.

In the following two years he struggled with knee injuries and was able to cure them during the lockout in the 2004/05 NHL season . With healthy knees he was again the leading player of the stars in the 2005/06 season and scored 33 goals. He was again nominated for the Selke Trophy, but only finished third in the vote. The following game year was less successful, as he only reached 26 goals in the regular season, the stars were defeated in the first playoff round and the Finn did not score a point in this. The 2007/08 season began more successfully when he scored six goals and 13 assists in the first 21 games. Then he suffered a groin injury. As a result, he was only able to intervene in the game again in February 2008 and reached the Western Conference final against the eventual champions, the Detroit Red Wings , with his team . In the series over a maximum of seven games, he suffered a leg injury, so that he missed the last four games against Detroit.

The 2008/09 season began as the previous one ended - with an injury - in early October 2009. In total, he missed 34 NHL games and only got 24 scorer points, while the Dallas Stars missed the playoffs. At the end of June 2009 he received a new one-year contract from his franchise and then ended his active career after the 2009/10 season. At this time he finished behind Mike Modano and Sergei Zubov third in the eternal scorer list of the team , while to date only Modano had (in 1142) played more games in the regular season as Lehtinen (875) for the Stars.

On November 24, 2017, the Dallas Stars honored their former player by player's shirt number 26 for further procurement locked . To date, Lehtinen is the only Finnish player to have won both the Stanley Cup and a gold medal at the Ice Hockey World Championship .

International

Jere Lehtinen began to represent his home country in international championships early in his career. In 1990 he took part in the U18 European Junior Championship, in which he finished fourth with Finland's U18 selection. A year later he played both at the U18 European Junior Championship and the U20 World Championship. In 1992 he played again for the U20 selection at the World Cup before receiving his first nomination for the men's national team and taking part in the 1992 World Cup . There, at the age of 19, he won the silver medal with the national team.

This was followed by further participation in World Championships, Winter Olympics and World Cup of Hockey tournaments. One of the greatest successes of his career was winning the gold medal at the 1995 World Cup , where he played with Saku Koivu and Ville Peltonen in an attacking formation that was completely elected to the tournament's all-star team. Other great successes were the three Olympic medals he won in 1994 (bronze), 1998 (bronze) and 2006 (silver).

As a functionary

Since 2014, Lehtinen has been the general manager of the Finnish national team at major tournaments, such as world championships. In December 2017 it was announced that Lehtinen was one of the six new inductees into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2018.

Style of play

He is particularly characterized by his defensive strength, for which he received the Frank J. Selke Trophy three times as the best defensive attacker in the NHL. His game is physical, but extremely fair. In addition to his excellent defensive behavior, he also developed very good offensive qualities over the years, so that he was the top goalscorer of the stars several times.

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

Regular season Play-offs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1992/93 Kiekko-Espoo SM-liiga 45 13 14th 27 6th - - - - -
1993/94 TPS Turku SM-liiga 42 19th 20th 39 6th 11 11 2 13 2
1994/95 TPS Turku SM-liiga 39 19th 23 42 33 13 8th 6th 14th 4th
1995/96 Michigan K-Wings IHL 1 1 0 1 0 - - - - -
1995/96 Dallas Stars NHL 57 6th 22nd 28 16 - - - - -
1996/97 Dallas Stars NHL 63 16 27 43 2 7th 2 2 4th 0
1997/98 Dallas Stars NHL 72 23 19th 42 20th 12 3 5 8th 2
1998/99 Dallas Stars NHL 74 20th 32 52 18th 23 10 3 13 2
1999/00 Dallas Stars NHL 17th 3 5 8th 0 13 1 5 6th 2
2000/01 Dallas Stars NHL 74 20th 25th 45 24 10 1 0 1 2
2001/02 Dallas Stars NHL 73 25th 24 49 14th - - - - -
2002/03 Dallas Stars NHL 80 31 17th 48 20th 12 3 2 5 0
2003/04 Dallas Stars NHL 58 13 13 26th 20th 5 0 0 0 0
2004/05 Dallas Stars NHL not played because of lockout
2005/06 Dallas Stars NHL 80 33 19th 52 30th 5 3 1 4th 0
2006/07 Dallas Stars NHL 73 26th 17th 43 16 7th 0 0 0 2
2007/08 Dallas Stars NHL 48 15th 22nd 37 14th 14th 4th 4th 8th 2
2008/09 Dallas Stars NHL 48 8th 16 24 8th - - - - -
2009/10 Dallas Stars NHL 58 4th 13 17th 8th - - - - -
SM-liiga total 126 51 57 108 45 24 19th 8th 27 6th
NHL overall 875 243 271 514 210 108 27 22nd 49 12

International

Represented Finland at:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
1990 Finland U18 World Cup 4th Place 6th 4th 2 6th 0
1991 Finland U20 World Cup 5th place 4th 2 0 2 0
1991 Finland U18 World Cup 3rd place, bronze 6th 5 4th 9 6th
1992 Finland U20 World Cup 4th Place 7th 0 2 2 2
1992 Finland WM 2nd place, silver 7th 1 1 2 0
1993 Finland U20 World Cup 5th place 7th 6th 8th 14th 10
1994 Finland Olympia 3rd place, bronze 8th 3 0 3 0
1994 Finland WM 2nd place, silver 8th 3 5 8th 4th
1995 Finland WM 1st place, gold 8th 2 5 7th 4th
1996 Finland World cup 5th place 4th 2 2 4th 0
1998 Finland Olympia 3rd place, bronze 6th 4th 2 6th 2
2002 Finland Olympia 6th place 4th 1 2 3 2
2004 Finland World cup 2nd place 6th 1 3 4th 2
2006 Finland Olympia 2nd place, silver 8th 3 5 8th 0
2007 Finland WM 2nd place, silver 7th 2 2 4th 0
2010 Finland Olympia 3rd place, bronze 6th 0 0 0 0
Juniors overall 30th 17th 16 33 18th
Men overall 72 22nd 27 49 14th

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; 1  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

Commons : Jere Lehtinen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Lehtinen, Jere
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lehtinen, Jere Kalervo (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Espoo , Finland