According to a variety of NHL journalists on Twitter, including the AJC’s Chris Vivlamore, TSN’s Bob McKenzie and USA Today’s Kevin Allen, and this TSN report, Kari Lehtonen is on the verge of being traded to the Dallas Stars in exchange for top prospect Ivan Vishnevskiy and a fourth-round pick in this year’s draft. The Stars are currently in action against the Blackhawks so the deal probably won’t be finalized until the game ends.
The pending move clears the Thrashers goalie logjam and stocks the prospect cupboard at the same time. Vishnevskiy was the Stars’ first-round pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft and the 21-year-old Russian blueliner has a lot of potential. He played three seasons of junior hockey in the QMJHL, piling up almost a point per game – quote a feat for a defenseman. In 2007-08 he scored 17 goals and 45 points in 45 games with the Rouyn-Nouranda Huskies.
He kicked of his AHL career in 2008-09 with six goals and 19 points in 67 games. He also played three games in Dallas last season, picking up a pair of assists. This year he has played two games for the parent club (no points) and 51 for the Texas Stars in the AHL, where his eight goals and 24 points earned him an AHL All-Star berth.
The 6’0″, 193 lb Russian has lot of offensive flair and is more suited to Atlanta’s up-tempo style than the more conservative system that Dallas employs.Vishnevskiy will likely make his way to the Wolves for now where he’ll bolster the Chicago blueline as they try to move p in a very competitive AHL West Division. The Wolves are in fourth, but just three points behind Texas- Vishnevskiy’s now former team.
Kari Lehtonen finishes his tenure in Atlanta as the franchise leader in wins, shutouts, save percentage and games played by a goaltender, but injuries have prevented him from reaching his full potential. With Johan Hedberg on pace to break Lehtonen’s single-season marks for save percentage and Pasi Nurminen’s mark for GAA and Ondrej Pavelec sowing plenty of promise on his own, Lehtonen was the odd-man out.
Having Lehtonen for the remainder of the season (he can become a restricted free agent on July 1) allows Dallas to see if he can bounce back from his injuries. If so they may consider Marty Turco or Alex Auld prior to the March 3 trade deadline.
The NHL Olympic roster freeze begins at 3 pm this Friday (Feb. 12).
I give the scoop to Ben, glad the logjam has been resolved.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Ben, It makes sense to pull the trigger now. The team just got over the huge distraction of the Kovy drama–It does not need another distraction–Kari was always a fan favorite and great with the kids– I hope he does well has many year left to play on the professional level either here in the NHl or back home. DW would do well to look at a few other guys that may offer someone some help down the stretch who we will most likely not be re-signing with us(Kozlov–Kubina )Why not pick up another prospect or dract choice?? Rich
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Oh, number one assist to Viv. But unless Ben reports it, it’s just a runour.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
This team is definately starting to create a different identity and moving on turning the page. Pavelec is still young and maturing into an NHL goalie so he has his bad games but at least he stays healthy and Moose is playing the best goal probably of his career right now. If this trade is legit I personally would rather see us get a good goal scoring forward. It seems we have a bit of logjam on defense including the guys injured and guys like Kulda waiting his shot at the NHL level.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I don’t like this one at all…our defense is jammed up again and our goaltending is beyond questionable. What with postma and kulda waiting in the ahl and who we have on d now i just don’t why we need another defensive rookie. Moose has been great this year but I don’t see many more years ahead of him. I wanted to see him become our goalie coach and work with kari and pavs. unless were using this dman as trade bait I dont like this.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Man i hope the foal is to free up as much money as possible and then try to sign a goalie like Nabokov as a free agent. He will want a ton of money but I think with our strong defense we are building and our change to spreading the scoring, this would make us a strong TEAM.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Here’s who we just traded for: a dman with one career NHL goal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vVTTzTu0lw
ughhhhh
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Stupid is as stupid does. I wish someone who knows hockey would buy the team. Good Luck to Kari and Kovy! Your better off for getting out of hear. The team has gone to hell in a hand basket!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
It is a done deal according to the wolves gm. He told Billy Gardner during the wolves broadcast.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I’m sad to see Kari go, but maybe it’s for the best. Thanks for the good times Kari – you’ll always be my first hockey love. Good luck with Dallas. You’ll be missed.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
as long as dudley likes vishnevskiy then im happy with it. i like the stocking up of prospects. hopefully they turn out well. good luck lehtonen in dallas, hopefully you can stay healthy and build a solid career there.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Well I think Waddell is tired of Kari always being hurt every season. I’m sure us fans are. He hasn’t been a reliable goalie to count on health wise. Perhaps this prospect we got maybe makes the team next year, or maybe just restocks the Wolves while Postma or Kulda make the big club next training camp. I know good dmen are hard to find and this team has always had a problem with defense.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Kari wore out his welcome here. We simply COULD NOT CONTINUE TO WAIT.
Ondej HAS EARNED THE OPPORTUNITY!! It’s not personal.
The biggest lesson here, in my mind, is NEVER SPEND A FIRST FOR A GOALTENDER!
Traditionally, they take longer to mature, to show results, than any other pos.
AND, you heap on them the added pressure of BEING A FIRST ROUNDER!!!!
Fans, and most media expect instant results. Not going to happen.
As for the “logjam”…. what we have here is “Assets” with “Cap space”.
Quite a masterful job by our GM….. as everyone is striving for the exact same circumstance.
Best of luck to Leht’s…. I wish him well, and success.
He was always a gentlemen, and generous w/ his time.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
funny, i thought we were buyers after the kovy deal. dealin kari for a prospect and a pick hardly is that
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
TheBird,
I don’t think you can really count the Kari deal with the rest of the deals going on … as much as he was liked (or disliked) he was surplus.
You don’t toss one of the two goalies who’ve played for you (and mostly rather well) the whole season for your guy coming off a major injury like this, and with a history of injuries.
Kari was headed elsewhere, and I’m pretty sure everyone in the entire NHL knew it was gonna happen.
Let’s see what else happens, and that’ll tell us if there’s a selling or buying mood going on.
Most pundits are thinking Army’s next … I dunno. He’s been pretty gritty lately.
- litz
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I don`t like that deal at all.
I`m from Germany, and I started watching the Thrashers because of Kovy and Kari.
Letting Kovy go, was the right thing in my opinion, but not even giving Kari the chance to show that he finally can stay healthy, is totally wrong, especially cause we`re getting another D in return.
Kari will still be my favourite hockey goalie, so i wish him the best in Dallas, i hope he`ll get a shootout against Atlanta (don`t blame me:P)!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Who knows… If Kari hadn’t been injured in 05-06 maybe we would have made the playoffs, maybe not been swept, maybe retained Savard and maybe then we’d still have Hossa and Kovy… Too much time has been spent waiting for Lehtonen to heal up and realize his potential. It’s time to move on. Best of luck to Kari in Dallas, at least we won’t see him that much. But if he ever plays a full season without injury I will be amazed. He eats too many hamburgers. Maybe in Dallas’ system he will see less shots and he will do better.. but IMO he is damaged goods and needs a change of scenery. Too many expectations heaped on him here being a high pick and for us to get a prospect and a pick for him to get a second chance on a team in the other conference sounds like a good deal to me. I say stick with Moose and Pavs for now, they have earned their spots.
Let’s just hope that from here until next season starts that DW gets some real talent and not another busload of third-line role players packaged as top-six guys…
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I’m a Stars fan and saw Vishnevskiy play a couple of times. I liked him a lot, couldn’t wait to see him move up to the big team to stay. He’s got an outstanding shot – really blisters it from the point.
I hope that this turns out well for both teams and I wouldn’t even be heartbroken if y’all got the better side of it.
Guess I need to start following the Chicago Wolves now?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0