This Day in Hockey History – August 21, 1990 – Stars Crossed Boston
Neither team thought their trade on August 21, 1990 was a big deal. The Minnesota North Stars basically dumped a rookie player on the Boston Bruins in return for the vague “future considerations.” As a result, the Bruins got a Calder Trophy finalist, and the Stars got a draft pick that turned into a Dallas mainstay.
The player in question was 24-year-old right wing Ken Hodge, Jr., son of Ken Hodge, the famous British right wing of the Bruins’ Espo Line. He was born just a couple years before the Chicago Blackhawks traded his father and Phil Esposito to Boston. That meant that he mainly grew up in Massachusetts and then played for the Boston College Eagles. Minnesota drafted Hodge in the third round (46th overall) in 1984, and after graduating in 1987, he spent most of his time playing for their International Hockey League (IHL) affiliate, the Kalamazoo Wings. There, his scoring ranked second in the team. After playing just five games with the North Stars (during the 1988-89 season), they could not come to terms.
Hodge essentially returned to his home town where he had a legacy. There, he had a rookie season good enough to come in third for the Calder Trophy for best rookie. He scored 30 goals in 70 games. However, it was downhill from there. He played 42 games with the Bruins the following season, spending the rest of his time with their AHL affiliate, the Maine Mariners. On September 4, 1992, the Bruins traded Hodge off to the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he played 25 games. That was the end of his NHL career as he played in the AHL and IHL until 1996. Hodge finished his playing career with three seasons in Europe.
Meanwhile, the Stars finally raked in their future considerations by taking Boston’s fourth round pick at the Entry Draft on June 20, 1992. They chose Finnish right wing Jere Lehtinen 88th overall. The Stars brought him along when they relocated to Dallas on June 9, 1993. Unlike Hodge before him, Lehtinen only played one game for Kalamazoo Wings before joining the big team in 1995.
Lehtinen spent his entire 14-year NHL career playing for the Dallas Stars. As a top two-way player, he won the Frank J. Selke Trophy three times (in 1998, 1999, and 2003). He was the third to win two consecutively and the third to win three. Most winners are centers, and only one other right wing has received this award. Lehtinen remains the only Finn to earn the Selke. In addition, he and the Stars won the Stanley Cup in 1999. Nearly seven years after Lehtinen announced his retirement in December 2010, the Stars retired his No. 26 on November 24, 2017.
Additional Sources:
- Mike Commito, Hockey 365: Daily Stories from the Ice(Toronto: Dundurn, 2018), kindle edition.
- Nancy L. Marrapese, “Bruins get Hodge from Minnesota,” Boston Globe, 22 Aug. 1990, p. 88.
- https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/h/hodgeke02.html
- https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/l/lehtije01.html
