Kari Lehtonen

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FinlandFinland  Kari Lehtonen Ice hockey player
Kari Lehtonen
Date of birth November 16, 1983
place of birth Helsinki , Finland
size 193 cm
Weight 93 kg
position goalkeeper
number # 32
Catch hand Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 2002 , 1st round, 2nd position
Atlanta Thrashers
Career stations
until 2003 Jokerit Helsinki
2003-2010 Atlanta Thrashers
2010-2018 Dallas Stars

Kari Lehtonen (born November 16, 1983 in Helsinki ) is a Finnish ice hockey goalkeeper who was last under contract with the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League until July 2018 . Previously, he spent seven years with the Atlanta Thrashers , who had selected him in second position in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft .

Career

Lehtonen began his career in the youth teams of Jokerit Helsinki, for which he was mainly used in the C-Junior and B-Junior SM sarja until 1999. During the 1999/2000 season he was part of the Jokerits men's squad in two SM-liiga games, but was only on the reserve bench as a substitute. Otherwise he played for Jokerit's juniors in the A-Junioren-SM-sarja, where he was particularly convincing in the playoffs with an average goal against 1.11 and a catch rate of 95.2 percent. Due to the performances shown in the juniors, Lehtonen was temporarily included in the men's squad in the following season, was part of the squad as a replacement for Pasi Nurminen in 20 games in the first division and made four appearances, of which he was able to win four.

In the 2001/02 season he was initially scheduled as a back-up for Jamie Ram , but fought for his position as the goalkeeper during the season and ultimately played eleven of the twelve playoff games. Jokerit became Finnish champion , also because of Lehtonen's outstanding game . Lehtonen was awarded the Jari Kurri Trophy as Most Valuable Player of the Playoffs and the Urpo Ylönen Trophy as Goalkeeper of the Year and was voted into the league's All-Star Team for his outstanding achievements .

The performances shown in Finland moved the Atlanta Thrashers to select Lehtonen in second place in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft - making Lehtonen the most highly drafted European goalkeeper of all time. Lehtonen stayed at Jokerit for another year and achieved fourth place in the SM-liiga with his team with again excellent goalkeeping performances.

In the summer of 2003, the Finn moved to North America and initially played in the American Hockey League for the Thrashers' farm team , the Chicago Wolves . In the middle of the season he took part in the AHL All-Star Classic . He was also called up several times in the NHL squad of the Thrashers, where he completed a total of four NHL games, all of which his team won. One of these games ended Lehtonen without a goal, so he could celebrate his first shutout in the National Hockey League. With a catch quota of 95.3 percent and an average of 1.25 goals conceded in the four games, he set an example in the fight for the coveted regular places. This fight did not unfold, however, as the 2004/05 NHL season was canceled due to a player strike and lockouts . Lehtonen therefore continued to play in the AHL for the Chicago Wolves. With the Wolves he reached the playoff final of the Calder Cup and completed 57 games for the Wolves, of which 38 were won and again achieved very good statistics with 92.9 percent saved shots and a gentor average of 2.27. Therefore, the Thrashers brought him into the NHL squad in summer 2005 and promoted him to regular goalkeeper.

In the opening game of the 2005/06 season against the Florida Panthers Lehtonen was seriously injured in the groin when the Panthers player Nathan Horton collided with him. Lehtonen had to pause 35 games before returning to play and played 38 games this season. On April 6, 2006, he was injured again in a collision with Chris Dingman of the Tampa Bay Lightning .

Before the start of the 2006/07 season he was operational again and set up a new team record with 167 minutes and 56 seconds without conceding a goal, which was previously held by Michael Garnett . On February 8, 2007 Lehtonen set a new team record with 49 won season games, which was previously held by Pasi Nurminen . In addition, he was able to achieve new personal bests in every statistic category by the end of the season. The Thrashers made it into the play-offs for the first time in their history and Lehtonen finally established himself among the league's regular goalkeepers. In the playoffs, the Thrashers were eliminated in the first round against the New York Rangers . The Rangers dominated the series and Lehtonen did not show the best performance in the first game, so substitute goalkeeper Johan Hedberg played the next game, which was also lost. In the third game, Lehtonen was allowed back in, but could not help either, as the Rangers met him seven times. Coach Bob Hartley put his trust in Johan Hedberg again in the fourth game, but the Thrashers were again defeated and lost the series 0: 4.

The 2007/08 season began for Lehtonen with four defeats, before he was injured again on October 18, 2007 in the game against the New York Rangers and could only play again on December 1, 2007, where he achieved a shutout. Despite good goalkeeping performances by Hedberg and Lehtonen, the Thrashers missed the playoffs. Before the following season , his contract with the Thrashers was extended. In early November 2008, Lehtonen suffered a back injury that forced him to take a break of 21 games. He played a total of only 46 season games, in which he conceded an average of more than three goals. In addition, most of the games were lost, so that the Thrashers missed the playoffs again. In the summer of 2009 his contract was extended again before he underwent a back operation in September and was initially out for an indefinite period. In late January 2010 he was sent to the Chicago Wolves for conditioning, for which he completed four games. On February 9, 2010 he was transferred from the Atlanta Thrashers to the Dallas Stars in exchange for young defender Iwan Wischnewski and a draft pick. There the Finn established himself in the NHL squad.

In December 2017, Lehtonen reached the milestone of 300 wins in the NHL. In the same game he overtook his compatriot Miikka Kiprusoff with a total of 624th NHL game and has since been the Finnish goalkeeper with the most appearances in the highest league in North America.

After the 2017/18 season, his expiring contract in Dallas was not renewed, so he has been looking for a new employer ever since.

International

Lehtonen played in the junior division for Finland at the U18 World Championships in 2000 and 2001 and the U20 World Championships in 2002 and 2003 .

In the senior division, he was in the squad for the ice hockey world championships in 2002 and 2004 , but was not used. At the 2007 World Cup , Lehtonen played six games and was named best goalkeeper at the end of the tournament and was voted into the tournament's all-star team. At the 2014 Olympic Games, he won the bronze medal with the Finnish national team.

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2017/18 season

Regular season Play-offs
season team league GP W. L. OTL MIN GA SO ATM SV% GP W. L. MIN GA SO ATM SV%
2000/01 Jokerit Helsinki SM-liiga 4th 3 1 0 190 70 0 1.90 93.7 - - - - - - - -
2001/02 Jokerit Helsinki SM-liiga 23 13 5 2 1242 37 4th 1.79 94.1 11 8th 2 623 18th 3 1.73 94.0
2002/03 Jokerit Helsinki SM-liiga 45 23 14th 6th 2634 87 5 1.98 92.8 10 6th 4th 626 17th 2 1.63 94.1
2003/04 Chicago Wolves AHL 39 20th 14th 2 2192 88 3 2.41 92.6 10 6th 4th 663 23 1 2.08 94.2
2003/04 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 4th 4th 0 0 239 5 1 1.26 95.3 - - - - - - - -
2004/05 Chicago Wolves AHL 57 38 17th 2 3378 128 5 2.27 92.9 16 10 6th 983 28 2 1.71 93.9
2005/06 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 38 20th 15th 0 2166 106 2 2.94 90.6 - - - - - - - -
2006/07 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 68 34 24 9 3934 183 4th 2.79 91.2 2 0 2 118 11 0 5.59 84.9
2007/08 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 48 17th 22nd 5 2707 131 4th 2.90 91.6 - - - - - - - -
2007/08 Chicago Wolves AHL 2 2 0 0 124 4th 0 1.93 93.4 - - - - - - - -
2008/09 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 46 19th 22nd 3 2624 134 3 3.06 91.1 - - - - - - - -
2009/10 Chicago Wolves AHL 4th 1 1 2 247 11 0 2.67 89.9 - - - - - - - -
2009/10 Dallas Stars NHL 12 6th 4th 0 663 31 0 2.81 91.1 - - - - - - - -
2010/11 Dallas Stars NHL 69 34 24 11 4119 175 3 2.55 91.4 - - - - - - - -
2011/12 Dallas Stars NHL 59 32 22nd 4th 3497 136 4th 2.33 92.2 - - - - - - - -
2012/13 Dallas Stars NHL 36 15th 14th 3 1986 88 1 2.66 91.6 - - - - - - - -
2013/14 Dallas Stars NHL 65 33 20th 10 3804 153 5 2.41 91.9 6th 2 4th 346 19th 1 3.29 88.5
2014/15 Dallas Stars NHL 65 34 17th 10 3698 181 5 2.94 90.3 - - - - - - - -
2015/16 Dallas Stars NHL 43 25th 10 2 2279 105 2 2.76 90.6 11 6th 3 555 26th 1 2.81 89.9
2016/17 Dallas Stars NHL 59 22nd 25th 7th 3178 151 3 2.85 90.2 - - - - - - - -
2017/18 Dallas Stars NHL 37 15th 14th 3 1945 83 1 2.56 91.2 - - - - - - - -
SM-liiga total 72 39 20th 8th 4065 130 9 1.92 - 21st 14th 6th 1249 35 5 1.68 -
NHL overall 649 310 233 67 36838 1662 38 2.71 91.2 19th 8th 9 1018 56 2 3.30 88.7

International

year team event   GP W. L. T MIN GA SO ATM SV%   result
2000 Finland U18 World Cup 6th 5 0 1 307 9 1 1.76 96.3 gold gold medal
2001 Finland U18 World Cup 4th 3 1 0 239 7th 2 1.76 93.5 bronze Bronze medal
2001 Finland U20 World Cup 1 1 0 0 60 2 0 2.00 92.0 silver Silver medal
2002 Finland U20 World Cup 6th 4th 2 0 360 7th 1 1.17 94.3 bronze Bronze medal
2002 Finland WM 0 - - - - - - - - 4th Place
2003 Finland U20 World Cup 6th 3 2 1 357 13 2 2.19 92.3 bronze Bronze medal
2003 Finland WM 0 - - - - - - - - 5th place
2004 Finland World cup 0 - - - - - - - - silver Silver medal
2007 Finland WM 6th 4th 2 - 374 12 1 1.93 91.3 silver Silver medal
2012 Finland WM 4th 2 2 - 232 11 1 2.85 89.4 4th Place
2014 Finland Olympia 2 1 1 - 119 3 0 1.51 93.5 bronze Bronze medal

( Legend for the goalkeeper statistics: GP or Sp = total games; W or S = wins; L or N = defeats; T or U or OT = draws or overtime or shootout defeats; min. = Minutes; SOG or SaT = shots on goal; GA or GT = goals conceded; SO = shutouts ; GAA or GTS = goals conceded ; Sv% or SVS% = catch quota ; EN = empty net goal ; 1  play-downs / relegation ; italics : statistics not complete)

Web links

Commons : Kari Lehtonen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Kari Lehtonen # 32 - G. tsn.ca, accessed on March 10, 2010 .
  2. ↑ Thrashers trade goalie Lehtonen to Stars. tsn.ca, accessed February 10, 2010 .
personal data
SURNAME Lehtonen, Kari
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH Helsinki