Players relieved to get through trade deadline

Kari Lehtonen found the ideal cure to trade deadline jitters: nitrous oxide.

The Thrashers goalie said he spent the hours leading to Wednesday afternoon’s deadline in a dentist’s chair having some cavities filled.

“It was perfect,” Lehtonen said. “The hours were moving very slowly. It was good to go there.”

That shows how much players don’t like deadline day, the NHL’s annual swap meet. There was a noticeable sense of relief in the Thrashers’ locker room Thursday as players carried on in the knowledge they would be together through the season finale April 11 and, in many cases, beyond.

Center Marty Reasoner said he would like to play in Atlanta long-term. He hopes to sign a multi-year contract and put down roots in the city he and his wife, Katie, enjoy and where his daughter, Allie, was born last month. The Thrashers could have dealt him, knowing he would become an unrestricted free agent if unsigned by July 1, but general manager Don Waddell chose to keep Reasoner and said he plans to sign him.

Reasoner spent Wednesday afternoon giving Allie a bottle and checking the Internet every once in awhile to monitor the transactions around the league. He said he didn’t expect to see his name.

“I had a feeling [a trade] wasn’t going to happen, but you never know,” Reasoner said. “I’m obviously happy to be here. This team is starting to build in the right direction. I can be part of that. We’d like to produce some more wins. That will come. I don’t feel it’s as far away as it seems at times.

“For me to help this team come back and be a contender, be a team that’s feared, that’s a good thing to shoot for. It’s nice to be part of something from the ground up.”

The Thrashers rank second to last in the NHL but posted a winning record in February, their first winning month since 2007. They’re trying to build through youth.

They traded 39-year-old defenseman Mathieu Schneider last month and 35-year-old defenseman Niclas Havelid this week, and now Reasoner, 32, is one of only six players on the roster who were born in the 1970s. The one player the Thrashers dealt Wednesday, 25-year-old Erik Christensen, was swapped for an 18-year-old, Eric O’Dell.

Colby Armstrong, 26, said he was glad the team kept him.

“I’d like to think I can be a part of our growing process,” said Armstrong, one of the players who had been rumored to be on the trading block.

Lehtonen, 25, knows he could soon face a challenge from Ondrej Pavelec, 21 and perhaps the Thrashers’ top prospect. Not being traded isn’t the same as being guaranteed the No. 1 goaltending job throughout next season.

“I have to go on the ice and prove I can be the guy,” said Lehtonen, the No. 2 pick overall in the 2002 draft.

His save percentage ranks 28th in the league, but because he plays for the Thrashers, he faces a lot of shots and a disproportionately high number of unstoppable ones.

“It’s not always that easy [to play up to No. 2 pick expectations], especially when you’re behind a team that struggles sometimes and doesn’t make the goalies look that good, either,” Lehtonen said. “I have to believe in myself.”

By keeping him, the Thrashers showed they believe in him, at least for now. Lehtonen, who will be a restricted free agent unless signed by July 1, said he didn’t expect to be traded but that deadline day is always unnerving.

“You never can be sure,” he said. “Every player, it wasn’t a normal day.”