Jere Lehtinen Placed on Injured Reserve

Yesterday it was announced that Jere Lehtinen had been placed on injured reserve with his 'upper body injury'. The Stars have once again recalled Warren Peters to provide depth for the Stars, especially with Brenden Morrow still iffy.

Seeing Lehtinen go back on injured reserve, and with just 33 games remaining this season, you start to realize that the old Stars team and franchise we have known for so long is almost completely faded away. We'll have more on this later in the season, but try and imagine a Dallas Stars team without Mike Modano or Lehtinen on the roster.

We are about four months away from this being a sad reality.

Lehtinen has been the quiet, stalwart backbone of this franchise for a very long time. Drafted by Minnesota in 1992, he made his debut with Dallas in 1995 and he's been there ever since. He's not flashy, he doesn't say much but he's always been one hell of a hockey player. He's a three-time Selke award winner and he's set the example for nearly 15 years for how a Dallas Stars player should approach the game of hockey.

Unfortunately, injuries have derailed his seasons the past few years and I fear that will hurt his legacy with this team.

This isn't meant as a farewell to Lehtinen, because he'll be back on the ice soon. As with every game Modano plays, we must savor seeing these two Greats in a Stars jersey. For the entire time we've been fans of this team these players have been there for us. Let's not take that for granted.

Full press release after the jump:

Frisco, Tex. -- The Dallas Stars announced today that the club has placed right wing Jere Lehtinen on injured reserve, retroactive to January 16. He suffered an upper body injury on January 16 vs. Detroit. The club also announced that it has recalled center Warren Peters from the Texas Stars, Dallas' primary development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL).

Lehtinen, 36, has appeared in 32 games for Dallas this season, scoring three goals and eight assists for 11 points. He has appeared in 849 career games for the Stars (third-most in franchise history), scoring 242 goals and 266 assists for 508 points. Lehtinen was the team's fourth round pick (88th overall) in 1992.

Peters, 27, will be making his third call-up to Dallas this season. He has appeared in four total games for Dallas in 2009-10, collecting one goal. Peters has played 33 games for Texas so far this season, recording 19 points (13g, 6a) and 21 penalty minutes. The 6-0, 198-pound center signed with Dallas as a free agent on July 6, 2009.

Dallas will travel to Vancouver to take on the Canucks this Thursday at 9:00 pm CT (FOX Sports Southwest, SportsRadio 1310 The Ticket).