Danny Webster: It’s looking like the Vegas Golden Knights will have another goalie controversy this offseason. Last year it was the Marc-Andre Fleury situation, and now it may be Robin Lehner‘s turn.
Lehner has not spoken to the media since April 9th. He had shoulder surgery over a week ago, and hadn’t played since April 20th. It is Lehner’s second shoulder surgery since 2020, and he is expected to be ready for training camp.
It’s not believed that Lehner has requested a trade because of how his injury situation was handled.
Backup goaltender Laurent Brossoit also underwent surgery and missed their final 20 games. He’s under contract for one more year at $2.325 million.
If the Golden feel that Logan Thompson is ready to an NHL backup next season, they could look to move Brossoit.
Danny Webster of the Vegas Sun:Â 31-year-old pending UFA forward Reilly Smith put up 38 points through 56 games before an injury ended his season.
The Golden Knights aren’t going to have a lot of salary cap space to play with this offseason. There is a mutual interest between the Golden Knights and Smith and they did hold some talks after the All-Star break.
GM Kelly McCrimmon at his end of season press conference.
“I like Reilly a lot. Everyone likes Reilly a lot. We’ve got all kinds of time to go over those things.â€
Currently the Golden Knights are a half million over the cap with the 18 players under contract. If Smith were to stay, it would have to be on lower, team-friendly deal.
Teams that might be interested in Smith if he hits the open market are the Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, New Jersey Devils and Ottawa Senators.
Danny Webster: The Vegas Golden Knights had over 500 man games lost this season and it will be an offseason of healing for them.
“The potential of the group sits as a pit in your stomach because at the beginning of the year, we all recognized what could have been,†DeBoer said (over a week ago). “When you’re watching playoff hockey last night, you know with a healthy group, we should be right there.â€
Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Alec Martinez and Robin Lehner missed good chunks of the season.
Reilly Smith is a pending UFA and he missed the last month of the season with an undisclosed injury. If they had made the playoffs, he would have been ready.
Coach Pete DeBoer said injuries weren’t the main reason/excuse for not making the playoffs, but added.
“The injuries bled into everything,†DeBoer said. “The injuries bled into our leadership because of who wasn’t in the dressing room. It bled into our special teams. It bled into being able to be a four-line team and play the way we want to play, take over in games with pressure and do those things, play the type of hockey Vegas is used to playing.
“I think there’s always things there, but I think everything bled from that.â€
