Tonight, the Dallas Stars will retire #26 to the rafters of the American Airlines Center where he will be permanently on Mike Modano’s wing.
It’s a symbolism that perfectly embodies Lehtinen’s career in Dallas. He was the yin to Modano’s yang, and it’d be an easy argument to make that Lehtinen did all of the little things that allowed Modano to see such successin Dallas.
He had unparalleled work ethic on and off the ice. When coaches talk about playing the game the “right way” they basically could show players any shift Lehtinen had on the ice as an example.