Lehtinen played in the 1987 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a youth team from Espoo.\n', '

Lehtinen started his professional career with his hometown team, Kiekko-Espoo. The team was jammed in first division in 1991 but they managed to win the division and gained a spot in the Finnish SM-liiga, from there Lehtinen started his professional career. He spent another year with Kiekko-Espoo, but the team struggled, and after one season, Lehtinen received an offer from one of the biggest clubs in Finland at the time, TPS in Turku. He signed with TPS in the summer of 1993 and once the season started, he soon blossomed offensively. Lehtinen was immediately paired with another future NHLer, Saku Koivu, and the two formed an integral part of TPS\'s great season. Although they won the regular season title by a large margin, they lost to Jokerit in the finals.[citation needed]\n', '

The following season, TPS and Lehtinen went all the way again, this time defeating Jokerit in the final series, 3–2. After the SM-liiga season was over, Lehtinen received an invite to the 1995 World Championships. Finland progressed to the final, defeating Sweden 4–1, winning Finland\'s first IIHF World Championship gold medal. Lehtinen was part of the renowned Finnish top line, dubbed by Finnish fans as the "Ankkalinnan pojat" ("The boys of Duckburg," a reference to their nicknames "Tupu, Hupu, Lupu"; "Huey, Dewey, Louie") with Saku Koivu and Ville Peltonen, another future NHLer. The three also made up the tournament\'s all-star line.[citation needed]\n', '

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