Kari Lehtonen has bounced between good, quality seasons and severely underwhelming ones throughout his tenure with the Dallas Stars, which has made him quite the polarizing figure across the fanbase. So it’s perhaps fitting that, in what might have been Lehtonen’s final year in Dallas, the veteran goalie gave the team two very different performances during the season.
The first Lehtonen was a former 1A/1B starter that transitioned seamlessly into his new role of backup goaltender behind Ben Bishop. He had played in just 22 games by March, had started in 17 of them, but was putting up excellent numbers during that time.