| 11 January 2010
3 Selke Trophies.
1 Stanley Cup.
2 NHL All-Star Appearances. 1 SM-liiga All-Star Appearance.
1 Raimo Kilpio Trophy.
2 Bronze Medals. 4 Silver Medals. 1 Gold Medal.
Jere Lehtinen isn't a stranger to being recognized for his outstanding two-way hockey, but these awards don't even begin to describe everything he brings to the ice.
When you talk about Jere Lehtinen, you immediately think of the Selke Trophies and his reputation as one of the greatest defensive forwards of all-time. What gets lost in his sterling defensive game is the offensive statistics that he's put up at the same time. For most of his career, he was Mike Modano's right-hand man on the top line of the Dallas Stars, which acted not only as their primary scoring line, but also their premier checking line. During his dedicated defensive duties, he's found away to amass 507 career points. Good for 9th in franchise history.
Jere Lehtinen has been as much a fixture for the Finnish national team as the Dallas Stars. Between the Olympics, the World Championships, and the World Cup of Hockey, Jere Lehtinen has worn the Suomi sweater in 10 tournaments already. The Vancouver Olympics, his fifth, will make it 11. Simply put, Jere Lehtinen is pure metal.
Jere Lehtinen excels at doing the little things that help teams win. In recent years, he's had struggles staying healthy enough to contribute to the Stars over the course of the season, but when he's in the lineup, he's rarely caught out of position and always puts forth his best effort. I can also count on one hand the number of bad penalties he's taken. How he hasn't won a Byng is beyond me.
The nation of Finland knows exactly what they're getting when they name Jere Lehtinen to their Olympic roster. He's got the history and the hardware to back up his pedigree, and they're expecting #26 to bring them their 4th medal in their past 5 Olympics berths.
Cole Jones covers the Dallas Stars at The Other 6 Seconds in addition to his work on Bloguin's Olympic Hockey Blog.
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