Playing career

Early years

Lehtonen was drafted second overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Atlanta Thrashers after an outstanding 2001-02 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, the Jari Kurri trophy. Lehtonen stayed with Jokerit for one more season before moving to North America.

Years in Atlanta

During the 2003-04 season, Lehtonen mostly spent his time with the Chicago Wolves, the Thrashers' American Hockey League (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 goals against average (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 playing 57 games for the Wolves, of which he won 38, posting .929 save percentage and 2.27 GAA, the Thrashers called him up and Lehtonen started the 2005-06 season as the starting goalie for Atlanta. On the opening night of the 2005-06 season, Lehtonen suffered a serious groin injury when Florida Panthers centre Nathan Horton collided with him. 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 season, 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, signed Lehtonen as an endorser for the 2006-07 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 12, 2007, Lehtonen was the starting goaltender for the Thrashers in their first Stanley Cup playoff game.

After a rough start to the 2007-08 season, Lehtonen suffered another groin injury on October 18, 2007. He would miss 16 games before returning on December 5, 2007. He finished the season with a respectable save percentage to go along with four shutouts as the Thrashers failed to qualify for the 2008 playoffs.

Dallas Stars

On February 9, 2010, Lehtonen was traded to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Ivan Vishnevskiy and a fourth-round draft pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft (Ivan Telegin). Prior to the start of the 2010-11 season, the Stars signed Lehtonen to a three-year, $10.65 million extension. In his first full season in Dallas, Lehtonen compiled a 34-24 record with a 2.55 GAA. Lehtonen and the Stars were officially eliminated from contention for a seed in the 2011 playoffs after losing to the Minnesota Wild on the final day of the regular season.

On September 4, 2012, the day before an impending lockout Kari signed a five-year deal worth $29.5 million.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season										Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	W	L	T/OT	MIN	GA	SO	GAA	SV%		GP	W	L	MIN	GA	SO	GAA	SV%
2000-01	Jokerit	SM-l		4	3	1	0	190	6	0	1.90	.937		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2001-02	Jokerit	SM-l		23	13	5	2	1242	37	4	1.79	.941		11	8	2	623	18	3	1.73	.940
2002-03	Jokerit	SM-l		45	23	14	6	2634	87	5	1.98	.928		10	6	4	626	17	2	1.63	.941
2003-04	Chicago Wolves	AHL		39	20	14	2	2192	88	3	2.41	.926		10	6	4	663	23	1	2.08	.942
2003-04	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		4	4	0	0	239	5	1	1.25	.953		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2004-05	Chicago Wolves	AHL		57	38	17	2	3378	128	5	2.27	.929		16	10	6	983	28	2	1.71	.939
2005-06	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		38	20	15	0	2166	106	2	2.94	.906		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2006-07	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		68	34	24	9	3934	183	4	2.79	.912		2	0	2	118	11	0	5.59	.849
2007-08	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		48	17	22	5	2707	131	4	2.90	.916		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2007-08	Chicago Wolves	AHL		2	2	0	0	124	4	0	1.93	.934		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2008-09	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		46	19	22	3	2624	134	3	3.06	.911		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2009-10	Chicago Wolves	AHL		4	1	1	2	247	11	0	2.67	.899		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2009-10	Dallas Stars	NHL		12	6	4	0	663	31	0	2.81	.911		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2010-11	Dallas Stars	NHL		69	34	24	0	4119	175	3	2.55	.914		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2011-12	Dallas Stars	NHL		59	32	22	4	3497	136	4	2.33	.922		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2012-13	Dallas Stars	NHL		36	15	14	3	1986	88	1	2.66	.916		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2013-14	Dallas Stars	NHL		65	33	20	10	3804	153	5	2.41	.919		6	2	4	346	19	1	3.29	.885
2014-15	Dallas Stars	NHL		65	34	17	10	3698	181	5	2.94	.903		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2015-16	Dallas Stars	NHL		43	25	10	2	2280	105	2	2.76	.906		11	6	3	555	26	1	2.81	.899
Liiga totals				72	39	20	8	4065	130	9	1.92	.933		21	14	6	1249	35	5	1.68	.941
NHL totals				553	273	194	57	31,717	1,428	34	2.70	.913		19	8	10	1,019	56	2	3.30	.887

Awards and honours

Lehtonen at the 2007 IIHF World Championship
Medal record
Ice hockey
Representing Finland
Olympic Games
	2014 Sochi
World Championships
	2007 Russia
World Cup
	2004 World Cup of Hockey
World Junior Championships
	2001 Russia
	2002 Czech Republic
	2003 Canada
IIHF World U18 Championship
	2000 Switzerland
	2001 Finland

• Urpo Ylönen trophy for best SM-liiga goaltender — 2002 and 2003
• Jari Kurri trophy for best player during the playoffs — 2002
• SM-liiga champion 2002
• 2004 World Cup of Hockey (runner-up)
• Silver Medal in the 2007 IIHF World Championship
• Best Goaltender in the 2007 IIHF World Championship

Records

• Atlanta Thrashers franchise leader for games played by a goaltender (204).
• Atlanta Thrashers franchise leader for victories (94).
• Atlanta Thrashers franchise leader shutouts (14).
• 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).

Mask history

• While playing for the AHL's Chicago Wolves, the Hamburglar was featured on his mask, an homage to the nickname he received shortly after arriving from Finland, and becoming enamoured with McDonald's hamburgers.
• He had a depiction of rapper Lil Jon, who is an avid Thrashers fan, on his mask.
• 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."
• He also had a mask made featuring Optimus Prime from Transformers, which was never worn in a game, only in pre-game warm ups.
• He also wore a mask that showed a depiction of Heath Ledger's Joker character from The Dark Knight, with a stylized ATL featured on the other side.
• His first mask for the Dallas Stars depicted Clint Eastwood's character from the movie "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly."
• His second mask for the Dallas Stars features Chuck Norris.
• His former mask for the Dallas Stars featured characters and scenes from the movie "Tombstone."

Personal

On July 2, 2011, Kari married longtime girlfriend Abbe Schutter in a private ceremony at the Club at Hammock Beach in Palm Coast, Florida. Kari met Abbe while playing in Atlanta.

Kari's childhood idol was iconic Finnish goaltender Jarmo Myllys.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]