Kari Lehtonen

[flamesfan]

Anybody know how serious his \"groin issue\" that dobber listed today is?

[Stephane Richer]

Nothing to serious check the info at:
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sp...onen_0921.html

[flamesfan]

Thanks!

[typo88]

I wouldnt be too worried, hes skating and working out still, so it cant be anything more then your run of the mill groin pull.

[tiantonio]

To be honest, Kari is starting to worry me a bit. I am still very much in the Lehtonen corner but the signs all around are troubling.

1. Missed the first 35 games two seasons ago with groin issues.

2. Faltered BADLY in the playoffs, but he is still very young and every goalie is not ready right away.

3. Hedberg is pretty good, or at least decent enough that I think Atlanta will baby Kari along if the groin issue is recurrent.

4. I just dont get the impression that the coach is in love with the guy that the \"franchise\" netminder. Sure, I am talking out my butt, but I just get that feeling is all.

Post edited by: tiantonio, at: 2007/09/24 00:13

[typo88]

IMO he has all but fixed his SERIOUS groin problem (the one that forced him to miss 35 games), anything from now on i believe will just be minor groin pulls, like any pro athlete suffers.

He DID falter in the playoffs... badly... but then again, so did MA fluery in pitty. Both are EXTREMELY young, playing in their FIRST playoffs series. I dont think that his playoff falter is anything serious, just another bit of experience.

Now, the thing that troubles ME the most (Also a lehtonen owner), is Bob Hartley. This guy spent so much time coaching Pat Roy that i dont think he will ever be content with another goalie not named Luongo or Broduer. He seems to go to Hedberg WAY more then he should. Hedberg was 9-4-2 last year, but he had a GAA VERY close to 3.00, and a SV% below .900. Lehtonen on the other hand, had a closer win/loss ratio with 34-24-9, but his GAA was 2.79 (still pretty high but he is in the eastern conference), but hes SV% was .912. Very respectable for a young goalie in his situation. Despite the better stats though, hartley still went back to hedberg.

Imo, this is jsut a bad situation, you have a coach who is accustomed to winning, who never had to think about the back end. Now he is on a much weaker defensive team, and a up and coming STUD goalie, who is still developing. I know this was long winded, but i just wanted to get across that i think hartley is not a good coach for lehtonen, and until hartley realizes that lehtonen is straight up BETTER then hedberg, there will always be a threat of hartley pulling some wack move (hedberg in the playoffs) and messing with Kari.

Vancouver vs AtL in FInals lol

[Lucca Brazzi]

The other article on Lehtonen from the Constitution

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/spor...cxntlid=inform

Basically, Hartley said that he would go with who was playing well. He sure went out of his way to praise Hedberg. And he mentioned \"At the same time,\" Hartley points out, \"we have Pavelec.\" So he doesn\'t seem as set on Kari as I\'d like, actually mentioning the rook. I have to make a decision tonight with going with him as one of my 3 keepers or not keep any netminder. So I am really worried that he could go into tandem mode.

[Screaming Jawa]

Didn\'t Dobber state somewhere that one shouldn\'t put a lot of stock into what a coach says in the pre-season; the intent of most of it is to be motivational.

[The Comish]

Hi Screaming J, in my last article I talked about not buying into what the coaches say to the media. I clearly think in this case, Hartley is trying to light a fire under Lehtonen\'s ass.