NHL.com blurb, 3 more cut

NHL.com's Mike Morreale put together a blurb on "one player to watch from each Southeast Division club who could become an influential component in a postseason run." Obviously Kari was the one from the Thrash. The write up he received was surprisingly positive.

Kari Lehtonen, Atlanta Thrashers -- Thrashers General Manager Don Waddell felt the revamping of his team's defense wouldn't have been complete without the assurance his record-breaking goalie was back in the mix, and signed him to a one-year deal in July.

The 24-year-old Lehtonen, the second pick in the 2002 Entry Draft, is the Thrashers' all-time leader in games played (158), wins (75), shutouts (11) and save percentage (.913). Lehtonen completed his third full season in 2007-08 with a 17-22-5 record, a career-high four shutouts, a 2.90 goals-against average and franchise-record .916 save percentage.

"It was my goal all summer to get a deal done and it was great to finally reach an agreement, so this way everything is in order from the start of training camp," Lehtonen told NHL.com. "I'm looking forward to playing for John Anderson since he was my coach for two years in Chicago (in the American Hockey League). We had great success there and I'm very excited that he's been given a chance to prove his ability on this level."

Lehtonen's new contract came after Waddell signed free agent defenseman Ron Hainsey to a five-year deal and drafted Zach Bogosian third at the 2008 Entry Draft, all in an attempt to retool a defense that yielded a League-high 3.24 goals a game last season.

Nothing we didn't know, but still nice. Also there's a video! So check that out.

FORWARDS
#20 Colby Armstrong
#36 Eric Boulton
#9 Erik Christensen
#42 Joey Crabb
#45 Matt Hoffman
#17 Ilya Kovalchuk
#13 Slava Kozlov
#50 Jordan LaVallee
#38 Junior Lessard
#10 Bryan Little
#41 Joe Motzko
#11 Eric Perrin
#19 Marty Reasoner
#23 Jim Slater
#21 Brett Sterling
#40 Grant Stevenson
#49 Colin Stuart
#27 Chris Thorburn
#12 Todd White
#14 Jason Williams

DEFENSEMEN
#4 Zach Bogosian
#39 Tobias Enstrom
#2 XLB
#6 Ron Hainsey
#28 Nic Havelid
#62 Arturs Kulda
#51 Scott Lehman
#47 Nathan Oystrick
#25 Jamie Rivers
#48 Boris Valabik
#?? Mathieu Schneider

GOALTENDERS
#1 Johan Hedberg
#32 Kari Lehtonen
#33 Ondrej Pavelec