"Kari Lehtonen's year off the NHL ice has been a real blessing.The injury-prone goalie has been able to undergo two back surgeries to take care of disk and nerve problems and has been able to fully rest his chronicallysore groins."It feels like the lockout year for me," Lehtonen said of not playing an NHL game since April. "The mind is fresh and the body feels really, really good."But the flip side of that coin is Lehtonen, who was acquired from Atlanta in a trade Tuesday, will jump into the thick of a Western Conference playoff race after only five games of minor league play on a recent conditioning assignment.While the Stars are excited about what they have in the 26-year-old who was taken second overall in the 2002 NHL Draft, even Lehtonen knows the process of getting back will be incremental."It's not only for me that you have to get ready to play one game, it's that you have to get ready to play every night," Lehtonen said. "That's the thing for me right now, and that's what I have to be working on."Lehtonen flew to Phoenix on Friday and was part of a team dinner with his new teammates. He worked out Saturday morning with Stars goalie coach Mike Valley, and said he will use the Olympic break to get ready for his Stars debut.The league will shut down two weeks for the Olympics, and rules mandate players cannot work out in team facilities until Feb. 24. All three Stars goalies are expected to report to Frisco that day and start working out in preparation for the March 2 game against the Los Angeles Kings. Because of the compressed schedule caused by the Olympic break, the Stars will finish the season with 21 games in 40 days."It's going to be a tough schedule, so we'll need everyone ready," Stars coach Marc Crawford said. "That minicamp is going to be really important.""