Stars retire Jere Lehtinen's No. 26

[MrHeiskanen]

All the haters should read this, could learn something called respect.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Some people must have lost their minds when Borques number was retired

With the Avs yeah, I remember there being some debate.
Lehtinen deserves this though. Guy was stone cold solid on ever shift. Quick, relentless, with ability as ell.
Rich man's Mark Stone with better speed and escape.

 

[SenzZen]

He’s a good hockey guy.

 

[sirwilliam]

Lehtinen was always in your team's face, always shutting you down. Frustratingly good. Three Selkes and a cup, he definitely deserves this.

 

[RageQuit77]

Lehtinen was always in your team's face, always shutting you down. Frustratingly good. Three Selkes and a cup, he definitely deserves this.

It's sad that there are no good simple measures to determine how many goals against was prevented by an individual player. It's easier to count offense; goals and assists, shots on goals... Countable, impactful things in defense are not that easy to ennumerate. Maybe D-zone blocks, takeovers, and maybe defensive hits.

Jere's destiny to be eternally, and harshly underrated will be always related to the fact that statistical analysis was still in it's pre-corsi cradle when he played. It's probable that we would hear now comments about "broken models" etc. from stats-jockeys if he would be skating out there like he was during his prime.

Awesome +/- is poor condolence stats-wise. Better are the collective recognition of his peers, and then-opponents, which is also reason why it's so hard to understand pure s*** poured upon him here in these boards, allegedly composed from people with above-average hockey knowledge and insight.

One of those Mr. Deadpucks, if not The Mr. Deadpuck of the modern era of hockey.

 

[BrettHullsToe]

The IIHF thinks he's pretty good too:

 

[MrGold]

All the haters should read this, could learn something called respect.

Classy guy. Great player. Glad to see his number retired by the Stars.

Haters never learn anything, I try to ignore them.

 

[VP]

I remember when stars won the cup and Jere took the cup to Länsiauto areena in Espoo. I went there even i am not a stars fan, out of respect.

 

[Alwalys]

A winger version of Matthews, with a little better defense, little worse offense. That's just one quick answer.

Gimme a f***ing break, Lehtinen and Matthews do not belong in the same sentence.

 

[LightningStorm]

Glad to see his jersey retired. Consistent 20 goal winger playing on Modano's line and an absolute shutdown forward. On the shutdown Stars teams of the dead puck era, people remember Belfour, Modano, Hatcher and Zubov the most, but Lehtinen was as important as anyone in us being a shutdown defensive team.