Jere Lehtinen back with the Dallas Stars for one more season
photo credit: pointnshoot
The Dallas Stars signed forward Jere Lehtinen to a 1-year contract yesterday that was reportedly worth $1.5 million and had an additional $1 million in incentive-based bonuses. DMN’s Mike Heika says that this is a “hometown discount” and I think it’d be hard to argue with that.
Jere Lehtinen took the hometown discount.
On the eve of free agency, with a chance to shop himself to any team in the NHL, Lehtinen agreed to a one-year deal with the Stars for a base salary of $1.5 million and incentives that could add $1 million more.
That’s a significant decrease from the $4.1 million he made last season.
“He obviously loves it here, and he’s a great fit for the organization,” said Stars general manager Joe Nieuwendyk. “We’re excited about him coming back.”
I have to give a lot of credit to Joe on this one – getting Lehtinen back in the fold, and still saving some room to sign a top-tier defensman and backup goalie was on the wish list, but not a given. I think Lehts could have very easily scored $3-4 million/year on the open market. It’s pure speculation as to why he would discount his services this much, but maybe he sees a team on the verge of success? Or is it just that he’s happy here in the Dallas area? What do you think?
