Jere Lehtinen

Jere Kalervo Lehtinen (born on June 24, 1973 in Espoo) is a former Finnish professional ice hockey left winger. 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 has won the Frank J. Selke Trophy three times as the league's best defensive forward. He is currently the GM of the Finnish National Team.

In the 2011-12 season, he was introduced into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame as the 207th Jääkiekkoleijona. In the 2017-18 season, he was introduced into the IIHF Hall of Fame.

Club career
Lehtinen played junior hockey with the Kiekko-Espoo organisation. Lehtinen made his senior debut with his the Kiekko-Espoo of the I-divisioona in the 1990-91 season. In this season, he played there 32 games. He also played 3 games with the Kiekko-Espoo under-20 team and 11 games with the Kiekko-Espoo under-18 team.

In the 1991-92 season, they managed to win the I-divisioona and gained a spot in the SM-liiga for the 1992-93 season. In this season, Lehtinen played 43 regular season games and 5 qualification games with the Kiekko-Espoo of the I-divisioona and 8 games with the Kiekko-Espoo under-20 team.

He played another 4 games with the Kiekko-Espoo under-20 team and 45 games with the Kiekko-Espoo of the SM-liiga in the 1992-93 season but the team was struggling and before the 1993-94 season, Lehtinen received an offer from one of the biggest clubs at that time, the TPS of the SM-liiga. 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 NHL er 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 the Jokerit in the finals. In the 1993-94 season, he also became the European Cup champion.

The following season, TPS and Lehtinen went all the way again, this time beating the Jokerit in the final series 3–2. Lehtinen was named the league's gentleman of the year and was also selected to the all-star team.

After the big year in 1995, Lehtinen went over the sea to play in the NHL. He played only one game with the Michigan K-Wings of the IHL and was part of the Dallas Stars of the NHL instantly. He finished there the season with 57 games played. In his first NHL season, he was named the NHL Rookie of the Month in February 1996.

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.

In 1999 the Dallas Stars managed to go all the way to the Stanley Cup finals and beat the 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 overtime. Lehtinen set new career high stats and captured the Selke Trophy, being only the third player to win the award in two consecutive seasons.

Season 1999-00 was a tough break 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 just after playing 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 having a troubled last season, Lehtinen bounced back to his old form in the 2000-01 season, and put up another good season stats-wise. The Stars, however, didn't go as deep as they had gone the last couple of years.

In the 2001-02 season, 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.

After having a great season in the 2001-02 season, Lehtinen continued where he left off in the 2002-03 season. He was the leading Stars player in goals, setting a new career high 31 goals in a season, led the team in plus/minus (+39) and was also ranked fourth in the league. Recorded his second career hat-trick against Los Angeles Kings in that season too. To top it off, Lehtinen became only the third player to win the Selke Trophy three times, tying Guy Carbonneau for three and one behind Bob Gainey who has won it four times. In this season, he also became the Finnish Player of the Year.

The 2003-04 season was a disappointment to Lehtinen as he only played in 58 games and scored 26 points. During the season he had problems with his knee. The Stars were knocked out by the Colorado Avalanche in the first play-off round.

Lehtinen underwent a surgery to get his knee fixed and rehabilitated it during the lockout 2004-05 season. It showed in his game in 2005-06 season as he tied for his career high points, 52, and set a new career high in goals, 33. Dallas won the Pacific Division title, making it the 7th in last 10 seasons. However, they were once again eliminated in the first playoff round, by the Colorado Avalanche. Lehtinen was again a nominee for the Selke Trophy but finished third in voting.

In the 2006-07 season, Lehtinen scored 26 goals and led the team in goals for second consecutive season. The Stars failed to progress from the first round for the third season in a row. Despite the series stretched to seven games, Lehtinen failed to contribute a single point in play-offs for his team.

Lehtinen started out the 2007-08 season very efficiently by posting 6–13–19 stats in 21 games before suffering a sports hernia. He returned on February 1, 2008 in a game against the Edmonton Oilers, ceasing his 33-game absence. He recorded an assist to Jussi Jokinen's goal in that game.

In the 2008-09 season, Lehtinen played 48 games and scored 24 points and in his last season played 58 games and scored his last 17 points of his career.

Awards

 * Played in SM-liiga All-Star Game - 1995
 * Raimo Kilpiö Trophy - 1995
 * Ice Hockey World Championships Tournament All-Star - 1995
 * NHL Rookie of the Month - February, 1996
 * Stars Rookie of the Year - 1996
 * Voted to the NHL All-Star Game - 1998, 2002 (didn't play due to injury)
 * Frank J. Selke Trophy - 1998, 1999, 2003
 * Stanley Cup - 1999

International career
Lehtinen played for Finland as a junior at the 1990 World U17 Hockey Challenge, 1990 and 1991 European U18 Championship s (winning bronze in 1991), 1991, 1992 and 1993 World Junior Championship s. He also played at the 1992 World Championship gaining the silver medal. Lehtinen participated at the 1994 Olympics where Finland won the bronze medal and at the 1994 World Championship winning the silver medal again.

Lehtinen received an invite to the 1995 World Championships. Finland went all the way to the final game and swept Sweden 4-1, winning Finland's first 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 NHLers. The three also made up the tournament's all-star line.

After entering the NHL, Lehtinen participated at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. He also won another bronze olympic medal at the 1998 Olympics. His next big international tournament were the 2002 Olympics, but Finland did not win any medal on this tournament.

Before the NHL lockout for 2004–05 season, the 2004 World Cup of Hockey was played. Lehtinen was once again representing Finland and the Finns met Canada in the final. The Finns gained the silver medal after losing 2-3 in the final.

Lehtinen again participated at the 2006 Olympics. Finland was close to the gold medal losing 2-3 against Sweden in the final game.

In 2007, Lehtinen played at the 2007 World Championship. Lehtinen gained silver medal at this championship.

Lehtinen's last international tournament were the 2010 Olympics. Finland won the bronze medal at this tournament.

As a team staff member, Lehtinen represented Finland at the 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 World Championship s (winning silver in 2014 and 2016 and gold in 2019), 2014 and 2018 Olympics and at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

International statistics