The Dallas Stars announced tonight that they have traded Texas Stars defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy to the Atlanta Thrashers with a 4th round pick for goaltender Kari Lehtonen. Vish was a scratch for tonight's game. I figured he was getting the callup to Dallas with Fistric injured, but it was not so. Vishnevskiy was the top scoring defenseman on the Texas Stars. I had looked forward to watching his game develop in the NHL, but not with Atlanta. This trade helps the Texas Stars not at all, as we lose Vish and get no AHL players in return. With a heavy heart, here's the press release:
Dallas Stars General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk announced this evening that the hockey club has acquired goaltender Kari Lehtonen from the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy and Dallas’ fourth round pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
Vishnevskiy, 21, has spent most of this season with the Texas Stars (AHL), playing in 51 games (8 goals, 16 assists) with 18 penalty minutes. He also appeared in two NHL games with Dallas, and was chosen as a 2010 All-Star for the PlanetUSA All-Stars. Vishnevskiy was Dallas’ first round selection (27th overall) in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He has played in five career NHL games, earning two assists.
Lehtonen, 26, is an NHL veteran goaltender who has played his entire career with Atlanta. He was the second overall pick in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Thrashers. Lehtonen has appeared in 204 career NHL games, earning a 94-83-17 record with a 2.87 goals-against-average (GAA) and 14 shutouts. His career save percentage of 91.2 percent ranks 16th among the 44 active goalies with 100-or-more games played.
And the hell of it is, Vishy doesn't even get more NHL ice time out of it...he just gets assigned to the Wolves. Wonder if they'll make him play this weekend...that would just be downright cruel.
ReplyDeleteI'm not all that surprised to see Vish go (personally I'm not all that disappointed either, I've never been a huge fan of most offensive defensemen). He and Fortunus were always the only 2 defensmen we've had that were good enough to get the call up when needed, and I think Fortunus has proven capable of handling that much more than Vish, but it seems to me that we're at least temporarily going to be seeing an NHL goalie in the CPC (unless I missed some other trade news somewhere), whether it's Auld or Lehtonen, until they find a trading partner for Turco, they've got 3 goalies.
ReplyDeleteFunny, we've already got 3 good goalies... getting awfully crowded in our nets!
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