Dallas Stars: Why They Might Be Better Off Without Kari Lehtonen

Change is hard, but the Dallas Stars are primed to let go of some players we’ve been through thick and thin with. One of those players is veteran Kari Lehtonen.

When you open your hands to let go, you also open them to receive. Letting go often requires more strength than holding on. Life moves on and so should we.

There are enough platitudes about letting go on the internet to depress even the most optimistic of people. Isn’t that strange- that although letting go is opening the door to a new and better possibility, we can often have such a difficult time seeing and appreciating that newness because of how much we miss what is familiar (even if it wasn’t that great)?

And what a shame that though most of us embrace hockey as an escape from the negatives of real life going on around us, hockey coincides with real life and it’s real happenings an awful lot. I’m predicting that this might be the summer that our hockey escapism and the real-life lesson of letting go with grace collide head-on.

Some of you simply won’t identify with this lament, but some of you probably will: if Kari Lehtonen goes, I️ will most likely cry.

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That has nothing to do with his performance, of course, because that’s made me cry for much different reasons in the past. But this guy has been part of the Dallas Stars for the long haul, and for you like for me, he’s part of the familiarity that can be hard to let go of in anticipation of better things ahead.

Its pretty clear, though, that in all likelihood Lehtonen is already as good as gone. He’s been through several incarnations of different systems and approaches over the seasons, and his performance hasn’t been consistent overall.

Now that the Dallas Stars have a starting goaltender they’re more confident in, Lehtonen’s waffling between the pipes has made him somewhat irrelevant as the Stars are ever-painfully trying to transform their mentality and culture.

While Lehtonen’s stats have been steadily improving from the meltdown of the last two seasons before this one, it’s a classic case of too little, too late. One Stars fans are well versed with by now.

You’ve also got to consider whether or not his improvement appears moreso due to a lower number of games played this season. With Ben Bishop at the wheel, Lehtonen only played in 37 games this season. Only in two other seasons (09-10, his first with Dallas, and 12-13) during his career with the Stars has he played less. Kari has always needed a little extra to keep cool in hot water, and perhaps the time out was his extra this season.

Either way, the Stars seem to have found a serviceable solution outside of Lehtonen, and when one considers that a younger back-up goalie (Mike McKenna, anyone? Fingers crossed) could be signed far cheaper at a crucial point when the Stars are going to need some cushion in the form of cap space to bring back cornerstone players, well, there’s no real decision to make.

Next: Dallas Stars: What This Crazy 2018 Offseason Might Look Like

This is the hockey equivalent of opening our hands to let go and simultaneously receive better. While it’s never set in stone what the Stars are going to do and how the hockey world is going to turn, I’m going to work on letting go gracefully and maybe the universe will give us more Mike McKenna. Hey, like I️ said, you never know.

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