Born	November 16, 1983 (1983-11-16) (age 26), Helsinki, FIN
Height Weight	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg; 14 st 9 lb)
Position	Goaltender
Catches	Left
NHL team F. teams	Atlanta Thrashers SM-liiga Jokerit
Ntl. team	Finland
NHL Draft	2nd overall, 2002 Atlanta Thrashers
Pro career	1999 – present

Kari Lehtonen (born November 16, 1983 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender for the Atlanta Thrashers of the National Hockey League. He was selected 2nd overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Thrashers, becoming the highest-drafted European goaltender as well as the highest Finnish player ever in NHL history.

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Awards 3 Records 4 Mask history 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Playing career

Kari Lehtonen was drafted second overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Atlanta Thrashers after an outstanding 01/02 season in the Finnish SM-Liiga. Lehtonen was the backup goalie for Jokerit but captured the starting position and won the Urpo Ylönen trophy, given to the best goalie of the season, and the league's playoff MVP award, Jari Kurri trophy. Lehtonen stayed with Jokerit for one more season before crossing the sea.

The 2003–04 NHL season Lehtonen mostly spent with the Chicago Wolves, Thrashers' AHL affiliate, but he was called up for a number of occasions and played four games for the Thrashers, winning all four of them and posting one shutout. After posting a .953 save percentage and 1.25 GAA, Lehtonen spent the majority of the year in the AHL.

Lehtonen spent the 2004–05 NHL lockout season with the Wolves, adjusting to the North-American playing style. After he playing 57 games for the Wolves, of which he won 38, posting .929 save pct and 2.27 GAA, the Thrashers called him up and Lehtonen started the 2005–06 season as the starting goalie for Atlanta. On opening night of the 2005–2006 season, Lehtonen suffered a serious groin injury when Florida Panthers center Nathan Horton collided with Lehtonen. The injury sidelined him for 35 games. Lehtonen was once again injured on April 6, 2006 when Tampa Bay Lightning forward Chris Dingman collided with him. Lehtonen tried to get to his feet but sprained his ankle in the process.

Shortly into the 2006–07 NHL season Kari Lehtonen broke the Atlanta Thrashers shutout streak record previously held by Michael Garnett. He also set his career highs in every category.

AirTran Airways, a low-cost airline with an Atlanta hub with more than 250 departures per day, signed Kari Lehtonen as an endorser for the 2006–2007 season.

On February 8, 2007, Lehtonen became the Thrashers franchise leader for wins by a goaltender with 49, surpassing Pasi Nurminen's record of 48.

On April 12th, 2007, Lehtonen was the starting goaltender for the Thrashers in their first NHL playoff game.

After a rough start to the 2007 season, Lehtonen suffered another groin injury on October 18, 2007. He would miss sixteen games before returning on December 5, 2007. He finished the season with a respectable save percentage to go along with 4 shutouts but the Thrashers failed to qualify for the playoffs.

[edit] Awards

• Urpo Ylönen trophy for best SM-liiga goaltender - 2002 and 2003
• Jari Kurri trophy for best player during the playoffs - 2002
• 2004 World Cup of Hockey (runner-up)
• Best Goalie in the Ice Hockey World Championships in Moscow 2007
• Silver Medal for Hockey World Championships -2007

[edit] Records

• Atlanta Thrashers franchise leader for games played by a goaltender (110).^[1]
• Atlanta Thrashers franchise leader for victories (58).
• Atlanta Thrashers franchise leader shutouts (7).
• Atlanta Thrashers franchise leader for games played by a goaltender in a single season (68).
• Atlanta Thrashers franchise leader for saves in a single season (1,892).
• Atlanta Thrashers franchise leader for shutouts in a single season (4).
• Atlanta Thrashers franchise leader for starts in a single season (66).
• Atlanta Thrashers franchise leader for minutes played in a single season (3,934).

[edit] Mask history

• While playing for the AHL's Chicago Wolves, the Hamburglar was featured on his skullcap, an homage to the nickname he received shortly after arriving from Finland, and becoming enamoured with McDonald's hamburgers.^[2]
• He had a depiction of Lil Jon, who is an avid Thrashers fan, on his skullcap. ^[3]
• In the past, Lehtonen has worn helmets featuring characters Yuna and Rikku from the video game Final Fantasy X-2, as well as Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu's characters from Kill Bill. Lehtonen, however, is not a video game fanatic; 'I've never played it. But I saw a couple of commercials about the game and just thought it looked awesome.'" ^[4]
• He also had a mask made featuring Optimus Prime from The Transformers Movie, which was never worn in a game, only in pre-game warm ups.
• Current mask shows a depiction of Heath Ledger's The Joker, with a stylized ATL featured on the other side.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Kari Lehtonen's NHL player profile
• Kari Lehtonen's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Kari Lehtonen on nhlfinns.com
• Kari Lehtonen an unofficial website

Preceded by Jussi Markkanen	Winner of the Urpo Ylönen trophy 2001–02 & 2002–03	Succeeded by Niklas Bäckström
Preceded by Jussi Tarvainen	Winner of the Jari Kurri trophy 2001–02	Succeeded by Esa Pirnes
Preceded by Timo Jutila	Winner of the Kalen Kannu 2001–02	Succeeded by Esa Pirnes
Preceded by Ilya Kovalchuk	Atlanta Thrashers first round draft pick 2002	Succeeded by Jim Slater