Lehtonen agrees to qualifying offer

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2009/07/15/sp-lehtonen-thrashers.html?ref=rss

Interesting. A former 2nd overall pick, now accepting a qualifying offer. A one-year deal, I guess he's hoping to finally play a full season, and the THrashers ar hoping Pavelec is ready next year.

With his injury history I don't think he had a lot of choice and this is probably his best shot to attempt to cash in on his next contract.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:With his injury history I don't think he had a lot of choice and this is probably his best shot to attempt to cash in on his next contract.

Pretty much. Would not have surprised me if Atlanta had just left him without a QO.

Quite a few goalies still out there as UFA's...

Never been a fan. Maybe it'll work out for them this time, but I don't see why it would.

SpezDispenser wrote:Never been a fan. Maybe it'll work out for them this time, but I don't see why it would.

Well, they've got about $5M invested in three goalies at the moment - Lehtonen, Hedberg and Pavelec with none of them signed beyond this coming season. Lehtonen and Pavelec will be RFA's and Hedberg will be a UFA... so they can try this for one season and then see how it all works out and opt for a wholesale change if needed.

Lehtonen was RFA this time around. Is h still an RFA after this one-year deal?

wprager wrote:Lehtonen was RFA this time around. Is h still an RFA after this one-year deal?

Hmmm... I was going with what nhlnumbers.com had listed as his status for after this coming season.

Good question though.

If a player was an RFA and accepts a 1-year qualifying offer... do they remain an RFA?

Paging Dr. Poo!

shabbs wrote:
Hmmm... I was going with what nhlnumbers.com had listed as his status for after this coming season.

Good question though.

If a player was an RFA and accepts a 1-year qualifying offer... do they remain an RFA?

Paging Dr. Poo!

Lehtonen has 1 more year as an RFA. He's got 5 years of pro experience already; this will be year 6 coming up; 2010 will be year 7. After 7 years of pro experience, a player not under contract becomes a UFA.

A player accepting a qualifying offer or not has, as far as I'm aware, no effect on his status.

ATL is going forward really cautiously with this guy, considering how high they drafted him (2nd overall). That's 2 1-year deals in a row, with only 1 year left on him as an RFA.