© Dallas Stars

TAMPERE, Finland — Jere Lehtinen received a thunderous ovation when he helped drop the ceremonial puck before the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal between the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers at Nokia Arena on Friday.

Lehtinen, who was joined by former NHL player Teppo Numminen for the honors, is a larger-than-life figure in Finland, a mainstay on the country’s national teams from an appearance at the 1991 IIHF World Junior Championship to his fifth appearance in the Olympics in 2010.

Today, he manages the national team and will oversee the selection of Finland’s team that will compete in the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20.

But Lehtinen is also a legend for the Dallas Stars, who were the home team for the first of the two games here. The second game is Saturday (Noon ET; NHLN, SN1, Victory+, SCRIPPS).

“He’s got Dallas Stars tattooed on his heart,” Dallas general manager Jim Nill said.

Lehtinen joined the Stars for the 1995-96 season and never left until he retired after the 2009-10 season. He played in 875 regular-season games with the Stars logo on his chest, with 514 points (243 goals, 271 assists).

He was a member of the 1999 team that won the Stanley Cup, won the Selke Trophy, awarded to the League’s best defensive forward, three times, and had his No. 26 retired by the Stars in 2017.

“As everyone knows, he was a great player for Dallas,” Nill said “I was in Detroit [with the Red Wings] in those days and he was a big, big part of their team.

“People recognize him [here], understand who he is and it really is how he is as a person and how he conducts himself away from the rink. I think that is what makes him special. Everyone knew he was a good player, but it’s how he treats people away from the rink and he’s a good human.”

Lehtinen admits it is special to see the Stars playing here, especially because they feature three Finland-born players, forward Roope Hintz and defensemen Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell, each of whom he knows well. Florida has four Finnish players on its roster, forwards Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, and defenseman Niko Mikkola.

All seven players were in the starting lineups when Lehtinen dropped the puck. Barkov, the Florida captain took the face-off against Hintz, who replaced captain Jamie Benn for the duty. Barkov is from Tampere while Hintz is from Nokia, a nearby suburb.

“[The Global Series] has been awesome,” Lehtinen told NHL.com on Thursday. “The whole [Dallas] organization has been excited to come here. Of course, for me, with them coming here, I can be a little part of that too.”

Lehtinen is not a little part of anything when it comes to the Stars.

Benn was a rookie during Lehtinen’s final season. Their time together was short, the impact for Benn was not.

“He was a big help for me. Such a great person on and off the ice,” Benn said. “I think that’s the biggest thing about Jere is that coming in as a young guy he was the perfect guy to learn from.

“He always seemed like Mr. Perfect. He never made any mistakes. He was always in the right spots on the ice and was a perfect guy to learn from.”

Lehtinen still spends time around the Stars. He most recently was in Dallas during training camp. Nill and Lehtinen converse often, catching up or trading opinions on players based in Finland.

Nobody has been more important in keeping the Finnish flavor of the Stars that became pronounced with Lehtinen’s arrival.

Dallas coach Peter DeBoer was happy to be in Finland for many reasons, including the bonding benefits he believes will benefit his team. But he also knows this trip is a nod to the Finnish heritage that has been a cornerstone of the organization for the past 30 years, a foundation laid in part by Lehtinen.

“There’s a huge Dallas connection to Finland, starting with Jere Lehtinen and his career, but also his involvement still in the organization,” the coach said.

The puck drop capped a great few days for Lehtinen, but as usual he turned to turn the attention away from himself and toward the Global Series and the current Finnish stars.

“This is huge, not just for hockey but for all sports in Finland,” Lehtinen said. The Stanley Cup winner [Panthers] and Dallas has been pretty close to going to the Final. Top teams. All the Finns on both teams play big roles and are leaders on those teams.”