When the Golden Knights kick off training camp next month goaltender Robin Lehner will once again be placed on LTIR for the final year of his contract. While the last few years haven’t gone the way Lehner or the Golden Knights envisioned when the Knights acquired him, the pairing did work out in the beginning.
Heading into the 2019-2020 season the Golden Knights didn’t make any changes in goal; keeping the tandem of Marc-Andre Fleury as the teams starter and Malcom Subban backing him up. With Fleury struggling at times and getting up there in age and a still relatively green Subban as the next option, GM Kelly McCrimmon felt the team needed some more insurance in goal. Typically starting goaltenders come trade deadline time are hard to come by, but that year Robin Lehner was being dangled to teams.
That season Robin Lehner was playing for the Chicago Blackhawks on a one-year deal that was set to expire at the end of the season. With the Blackhawks not being a contender the big 6’4” 250lb goaltender was on the market. On Februray 24th 2020, the Golden Knights got their man, acquiring Lehner in exchange for Malcolm Subban, prospect Stanislav Demin and a 2nd round pick. The Golden Knights now had a goaltending duo of Fleury and Lehner, a tandem capable of leading a team on a long playoff run. Following the trade GM Kelly McCrimmon spoke of the thought process behind acquiring Lehner.
“It came down to us wanting a higher comfort level that we were strong enough at that position,” Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon said of trading for Lehner. “It’s rare a goaltender enjoying one of the best seasons of any goalie in the National Hockey League would be available. Felt this was a way to solidify our team.”
Related: Which Version Of Ilya Samsonov Will The Golden Knights Be Getting As Their Backup Goalie For The 2024-2025 Season?
Unfortuantely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the NHL paused their season just a couple of weeks later in March, limiting Lehner to just 3 games. In those 3 appearances however, Lehner was outstanding. Lehner went 3-0-0 with a stingy 1.67 goals against average and a .940 save percentage. When the NHL resumed play later that summer with an expanded playoff field, Lehner appeared in 16 playoff games for the Golden Knights as they lost to the Montreal Canadiens in the Conference Final. In October of 2020, Lehner signed a 5-year $25M dollar extension to stay in Las Vegas.
In the following 2020-2021 Covid shortened season Lehner started just 19 games going 13-4-2 with a 2.29 GAA and .913 SV%. While Fleury started 17 more games, Lehner’s performance was a big help in combining to win the William M. Jennings trophy, awarded to the goaltenders who have combined to allow the least amount of goals.
The next season in 2021-2022 would turn out to be Lehner’s last. After battling through some injuries in December and January, come March is when things started to unravel. After a 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on March 9th, Lehner was sent back to Las Vegas to receive some testing for a lower-body injury. It was reported to be serious enough that Lehner required crutches and a few days later on March 14th he was placed on IR. Lehner would come out on Twitter shortly after denying reports that he fractured his knee cap.
Lehner would return in early April, appearing in 6 games and posting a subpar .892 save percentage. Then on April 25th of 2022, it was declared that Lehner would miss the rest of season due to needing to undergo shoulder surgery. Lehner underwent successful shoulder surgery on May 3rd. It was later reported in July that his timeline to be ready for the upcoming 2022-2023 season would be tight.
The final nail in the coffin for Lehner’s tenure with the Golden Knights came on August 11th 2022, when the Golden Knights announced that Lehner would need hip surgery and would miss the entirety of the 22-23 season. Lehner was placed on LTIR where he spent the 23-24 season as well.
Lehner will certainly be placed on LTIR for the coming 24-25 season. When the season comes to an end next June, Lehner’s contract will officially expire ending his tenure in Vegas.
Lehner will finish his career in Vegas appearing in 66 games with a record of 39-21-4.
