Jere Lehtinen

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Jere Lehtinen bigraphy, stories - Ice hockey player

Jere Lehtinen : biography

June 24, 1973 –

Jere Kalervo Lehtinen (born June 24, 1973) is a former Finnish professional ice hockey forward. He played right wing. He was drafted 88th overall in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota North Stars. Lehtinen handled defensive aspects of the game as well as offensive, hence he was a two-way forward for which he won the Frank J. Selke Trophy three times as the league’s best defensive forward.

Playing career

Lehtinen started his career with his hometown team, Kiekko-Espoo. The team was jammed in first division in 1991 but they managed to win the division and gained a spot in the Finnish SM-liiga, from there Lehtinen started his professional career. He spent another year with Kiekko-Espoo but the team was struggling and after one season, Lehtinen received an offer from one of the biggest clubs at that time, TPS. He signed with TPS in the summer of 1993 and once the season started, he soon found his scoring abilities. Lehtinen was immediately paired with another future NHLer Saku Koivu and the two were a big part of TPS’s great season. Although they won the regular season title by a huge margin, they lost to Jokerit in the finals.

The following season, TPS and Lehtinen went all the way again, this time beating Jokerit in the final series 3–2. After the SM-liiga season was over, Lehtinen received an invite to the 1995 World Championships. Team Finland went all the way to the final game and swept Sweden 4–1, winning Finland’s first IIHF World Championship gold medal. He was part of the renowned first line of Finland dubbed by Finnish fans the "Ankkalinnan pojat" ("The boys of Duckburg", a reference to their nicknames "Tupu, Hupu, Lupu"; "Huey, Dewey, Louie") with Saku Koivu and Ville Peltonen, another future NHLer. The three also made up the tournament’s all-star line.

After the big year in 1995, winning SM-Liiga and World Championship gold medals, Lehtinen went over the sea to play in the NHL. He saw only one game in the minors and was part of the Dallas Stars organization instantly. Lehtinen worked his way up in three years to join Mike Modano in the first line and was nominated for the Frank J. Selke Trophy for the first time in 1996–97 season. During 1997–98 season he was voted to the 1998 NHL All-Star Game. It was the first year the NHL introduced a new system, in which European players play against North-American players. Lehtinen’s fellow countrymen Saku Koivu, Teemu Selänne and Jari Kurri were also voted to the game and the four saw a few shifts with each other rotating. The same year Lehtinen was again a nominee for the Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward and eventually won the prestigious award. He was also part of the bronze-winning Team Finland in Nagano Olympic games in 1998.

In 1999 the Stars managed to go all the way to the Stanley Cup finals and beat Buffalo Sabres in six games winning the Stanley Cup, Lehtinen scored the first goal in Game 6 and assisted on Brett Hull’s cup-winning goal in over-time. Lehtinen set new career high stats and captured the Selke Trophy, becoming only the third player to win the award in consecutive seasons.

The 1999–2000 season was a tough time for Lehtinen. He was able to play in only 17 regular season games due to problems with his ankle. He fractured it early in the season and had to be sidelined for 30 games. After he had sustained the injury he returned to the lineup but was again sidelined after playing just 8 games; this time for 35 games. He then returned to help his team in the playoffs. The Stars went again to the Stanley Cup finals but were unable to overcome the New Jersey Devils.

After a troubling season, Lehtinen bounced back to his old form in 2000–01 season, and put up another strong season stats-wise. The Stars, however, didn’t go as deep as they had gone the last couple of years.

In 2001–02, Lehtinen had a stellar season. Although the Stars failed to qualify for the playoffs, Lehtinen managed to score 25 goals, tallied 24 assists and finished first on the team in plus/minus with +27. He was again voted to the NHL All-Star game but was unable to play due to injury. He ranked 7th in Lady Byng Memorial Trophy voting and was again nominated for the Selke Trophy. He came in short and Michael Peca was honored with the award for second time in his career.