Stars Sign Kari Lehtonen to 3-Year $10,650,000 Extension- Goalie Cheers From Hospital Bed

The Dallas Stars (aka, the future employer of my retarded and inbred children) signed 26-year old goalie Kari Lehtonen to a three year ten million dollar extension. Apparently, someone in the organization thought that the hockey community was starting to doubt their level of sheer stupidity, way to prove em wrong guys! Lehtonen has been injury-free in his career for as long as I have been sober. Even my wife tells me how stupid a move it is, before I mercielssly chain her to the radiator and break out my belt.

Lehtonen was traded to the Stars earlier this season from the Atlanta Thrashers. He was a first round pick in the 2002 draft, and has been perennially injured since then, suffering from serious back problems that have caused him to get surgery twice. As much as I love the fact that the Stars are ditching Turco and finding their franchise goalie of the future, I don't know if I'd pick Kari Lehtonen as that franchise goalie. But who knows, maybe he'll be the next Marian Gaborik and leave his injury woes back with Atlanta. It will be interesting to see where Turco ends up. My guess is he'll go somewhere in need of a goalie that can quickly compete for the cup with him there, somewhere like Washington or Philadelphia (not that I think they can immediately compete, it's just that the Flyers think they can immediately compete).

I'd be terribly skeptical of this decision by the Dallas Stars, almost as skeptical as I am of modern medicine and federal government. It would be one thing if they were paying the guy cheap, but he's getting serious money in this extension. Though it's not six or seven million a year like a Lundqvist or a Luongo, the amount that he's being paid per year could be a serious detriment to the Stars if he's injured the whole time. My solution for the Stars would be cloning Jordan Staal (see previous post entitled "Staal Returns to Ice Five Days After Surgery") and turning him into a goaltender. The guy's athletic, he could do it. Plus, he heals like the fucking Terminator, but that's just my take on the issue.