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Home > Jeff Schultz > Archives > 2008 > October > 09
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Lehtonen ready to prove he’s grown up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If acceptance is the first step to recovery, maybe it also can be the first step toward prominence.
Kari Lehtonen came into the NHL as a talented goalie more than three years ago. He is still a talented goalie, just not a great one. Granted, there are issues associated with being the Thrashers’ starting goalie. Psychotic episodes, for example. But there have been questions about Lehtonen’s work ethic, mental toughness and a seeming tendency to assume that talent alone would carry him to success.
There’s no reason to guess any more. Lehtonen acknowledges everybody else was right. He needed to grow up.
“I got here with just talent,” he said with remarkable candidness the other day. “It feels great, you know, when it’s like you don’t have to do that much to get here. But that doesn’t last long. You have to work hard. Sometimes I think it’s easier for the players who have to go the other route — when you have to work harder and you’re a late bloomer. You already know it’s not going to be a walk in the park. I know that now.”
The Thrashers open the season Friday. It will be Lehtonen’s fourth full season. He is playing on only a one-year contract. They call that a crossroads.
Even Lehtonen acknowledges, “I wasn’t in a position to go in there and say, ‘I want 10 years. I want this and that.’ I know that I have to have a solid year.”
Even with an improved defensive corps, expectations for the Thrashers are generally low. The team is young and thin at forward, with little to support the talents of Ilya Kovalchuk. They have one of the league’s lowest payrolls.
The team’s best hope? That Lehtonen makes up for the roster’s deficiencies, which means becoming the difference-maker he was expected to be when he was drafted in 2002.
Goalies always have been the X-factor in hockey. It’s just more pronounced on some teams than others. Lehtonen was drafted second overall. He had size, skill and potential, connected qualities that had eluded his Atlanta predecessors. He was projected as a star, and former Thrashers coach Bob Hartley still says, “He has the potential to be one of the top five goalies in the league.”
But he isn’t. His career numbers (2.82 goals-against average, .913 saves percentage) are solid, especially given he plays behind one of the league’s most porous defenses. But extended absences with groin strains have led to questions about his strength and conditioning, and general goofiness — even dying his hair blue on the eve of the Thrashers’ first playoff series two years ago — illustrated what already had been suspected by teammates and Hartley: Lehtonen needed to grow up.
Hartley was tough on the goalie. Lehtonen didn’t always take it well. Funny how hindsight can be educational. Lehtonen now acknowledges Hartley was right all along.
“When I got here, I thought it would be a little easier,” he said. “Here was this guy [Hartley] who was — not yelling at me, but talking to me about everything. I was like, ‘What’s going on here?’ It was hard. For the first time in my life, somebody was tough on me, pushing me every day. That took awhile to get used to. But now I realize that’s what I really needed.”
Asked if he held any grudges against Hartley, Lehtonen laughed and said, “Not at all. I don’t think I would’ve gotten better if he didn’t do that.”
Hartley believes the pressure of coming into the NHL so young was difficult on Lehtonen, adding: “It’s not as hard for a young forward to be a stud. But it’s hard for a young goalie because there’s so much pressure.
“I would have Patrick Roy talk to Kari two or three times a year about things like how to bounce back from a loss. I told Kari many times, ‘You have the same tools as Patrick Roy. What you need to work on is your mental strength.’ “
We learn in life that words don’t carry the same weight as actions. But Lehtonen is saying all the right things.
“It hasn’t gone the way I wanted,” he said. “But I still have many years left and hopefully I can take my game to the next level. I think I grew a lot.
“Skill-wise, I think there’s 100 goalies who can play here. But the top guys, whether they come to the rink after a loss or a win, they have the same mind-set. They’re not thinking about the past, they’re thinking about the next game. So much of it is mental.”
Reality hits at the age of 24.
Permalink | Comments (20) | Post your comment | Categories: Thrashers/NHL
Football picks that won’t get you fired, even at Auburn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the fastest anybody at Auburn has moved since reports of grade-fixing two years ago led to the disappearance of files, computers, desks, cellphones, a half-eaten sandwich, secret whistles only linebackers could hear and adjunct professors who suddenly found themselves in Cabo San Lucas answering only to the name “Pablo,” Tommy Tuberville fired his offensive coordinator this week.
Auburn’s offense ranks 104th in the country, just behind Mississippi State and one spot ahead of the 1869 Rutgers team, who are all dead. So there is some explanation of the sky-is-falling panic.
Imagine if Tuberville coached in Knoxville. There wouldn’t be anybody left except for Phil Fulmer, who has 97 lives, largely because he eats all of his vegetables and maybe the table.
Fulmer hasn’t been fired yet. Tennessee is 2-3, but you can’t assume anything until after the Georgia game. The Vols won the past two years 51-33 and 35-14. Eighty-six points in two games? Methinks Fulmer needs to put Willie Martinez in his will.
No talk of jersey color in Athens this week, just limiting penalties to a few simple assaults. That’s a start.
The line is 12 1/2. Seems like a lot. For a bye week does wonders for the ego, and PumpkinHead is running out of good-luck charms. Dogs cover.
GameDaze
• Lunch at Tech: Poor Jackets. They can’t crack the Top 25, and now they’re stuck playing Gardner-Webb because the scheduled opponent, Army, retreated. Maybe next time Tech should pre-schedule a tougher outfit. Like the Salvation Army. Or the Swiss Army. They can put up a good fight, and all they’ve got is a bottle opener and a plastic toothpick. Where was I? No official line. We’ll set it at 27 1/3 and call it a cover. G-W gets $300,000 for medical expenses.
• LSU at Florida: Tim Tebow spent part of spring break last year in the Philippines, helping circumcise impoverished children. Is it just me, or is his coach, Urban Meyer, suddenly calling plays like a nervous Moyel? Gators have lost their bite — and they’re going down at home. Take the seven, but LSU pulls an upset.
• Arkansas at Auburn: Know the biggest difference between Bobby Petrino now and every other year? He already wants another job; he’s just not getting offers anymore. (I’m sure there will come a day when Petrino jokes get old. On second thought, probably not.) Tigers by 19? Hey 19, we can dance together.
• Oklahoma vs. Texas: A Longhorns upset and Alabama probably slides into the top ranking. My ears hurt just thinking about it. And so: Okie covers 6 1/2.
Pros and Ex-Cons
• Bears at Falcons: The Falcons are 3-2, which means if they go 7-4 in the next 11 they’re in the playoffs, which means the next president should be able to balance the budget in his first 17 months, give or take a week, depending on how quickly Sarah Palin realizes a frozen mooseburger tailgate fundraiser on Dupont Circle probably isn’t going to cut into the deficit much, even if she is hotter than Arlen Specter. The Falcons are a nice story. But they’re not there yet. Michael Turner leads the league in rushing. Chicago leads the league in dismembered running backs. You can fantasize, but: Bears cover 2 1/2.
• Cowboys at Cardinals: Adam “Pacman” Jones got into a fight with the security guard whom the Cowboys assigned to babysit him, and it just happened to be in the same hotel where Roger Goodell was staying. Think of: running over a policeman’s foot. Still: Boys cover 5.
• Raiders of the Lost Mind: If everybody bought Al Davis shots on Bourbon Street this weekend and then ditched him in a transvestite strip club in the Quarter, do you think he’d make more sense the next day? Saints cover 7 1/2.
• Packers at Seahawks: Before Seattle turns over the coaching reins to Jim Mora next season, they might want to notice that his secondary has only one interception in four games and the defense ranks 27th. Take the Cheese and two on the road.
You will bow
• Last week: I was so pretty. (8-4 straight up; 7-4-1 against the line.)
• Overall: Kinda treading water. (38-21 straight up; 28-29-2 against the line.)
Permalink | Comments (105) | Post your comment | Categories: Tech/ACC, UGA/SEC
