These have been nerve-racking days for Kari Lehtonen, the outstanding goalie for the Geneva Generals. Lehtonen’s contract is up and his future is the biggest news this week in the EURO League.
The Finn is generally regarded as one of the three top goalies in the league with Pekka Rinne of St. Petersburg and Jonathan Quick of Munich. Rinne and Quick have both won “Best Goalie” trophies in the EURO League, but Lehtonen has won a “Playoffs MVP” honor and the best trophy of all – the EURO Cup – in Season 1.
Quick recently saw his salary go up from $1.8 million to $6.5 million, thanks to negotiations with Fox general manager Paul Faulkner, who signed the goaltending gem to a 3-year deal with a player option. Rinne’s big pay raise from his original $3.5 million-per-year contract is still two seasons away.
But Lehtonen’s raise will come Wednesday morning. That’s when he will go from making Rinne-level money ($3.55 million) to Quick-level money. Lehtonen, 30 and very durable, has put together two regular seasons with identical save percentages of 90.7 percent. His goals against averages were 2.63 and then 2.76 last season. His lifetime playoff numbers are 92.5 save percentage and 2.19 goals against. In his successful Cup run, he put up a save percentage of 93.4 and a goals against of 1.91 in 21 playoff games.
Geneva didn’t offer enough to keep him when the first wave of unrestricted free agent (your team only in WSH) offers were made, but they have a second chance … with plenty of competition. Even teams who already have decent starters will consider acquiring Lehtonen and moving or demoting their current top goalie. The next best free agent goalie available is 36-year-old J-S Giguere, currently of Bern.
There are no other free agents available who are as valuable as Lehtonen, but some will get their share of offers leading up to Wednesday morning. Included among them are Munich forwards Patrik Elias and Chris Higgins; Copenhagen’s Derek Roy and Boyd Gordon; Ryan Clowe of defending Cup champion Paris; Helsinki’s Dainus Zubrus; Mark Streit of Madrid and Andy McDonald of Bern.
Note to GMs: Be aware that players signed in this step have no-trade, no-waive clauses. If you successfully sign a player, he will be on your pro team – and count against the salary cap – for the entire season unless you buy out his contract. You can’t send him to the farm club.
The button will be pushed to advance us a step at about 9 a.m. Wednesday. At about the same time every morning until the season starts, the button will be pushed for regular free signings. Unless I am wrong, waived players can’t be acquired until two days into the season.
