Gagnon clears waivers, Lehtonen misses practice

The Stars' five players cleared waivers today at 11 a.m., including Aaron Gagnon.

Gagnon, Maxime Fortunas and Francis Wathier will stay with the team, while Brad Lukowich and Travis Morin have been assigned to the Texas today and get the Stars roster down to 30 (Scott Glennie is practicing this morning but will go back to Brandon tonight).

These five players now are exempt from waivers for 10 NHL games or 30 days on an NHL roster. That means Gagnon can be sent down just before the start of the season and will not have to clear waivers at a time when NHL teams are closer to determining their final rosters. So the gamble paid off.

The bigger news is that Kari Lehtonen, who left practice with tenderness on Sunday, is not on the ice this morning.

We'll find out afterward what the situation is. Lehtonen was supposed to play two of the final three pre-season games, but we'll see if this changes anything.