Golden Knights roster review: Robin Lehner

Background

Robin Lehner took two different trips to Las Vegas in the past year.

The first came in June for the NHL Awards. Lehner, after a career season with the New York Islanders, finished third in the Vezina Trophy voting. He also won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance after revealing in a first-person essay to The Athletic that he sought treatment for mental health and substance abuse issues the previous summer.

“I’m not ashamed to say I’m mentally ill,” Lehner said in a moving acceptance speech. “But that doesn’t mean I’m mentally weak.”

The second trip came in February after he was traded from the Chicago Blackhawks to the Golden Knights. That one was probably inconceivable to the Lehner who walked across the Mandalay Bay Events Center stage eight months prior. And it makes his future as uncertain now as it was back then.

Performance

Lehner simply has been fabulous since seeking help in the summer of 2018.

His .925 save percentage in the past two seasons ranks sixth among goaltenders with more than five starts. His goals-against average (2.47) is 10th. His 38.94 goals saved above average are third.

By any conceivable metric, the big-framed Lehner — he outweighs the more balletic Marc-Andre Fleury by 55 pounds — has been a top-10 goaltender in that span. He’s succeeded in three organizations despite getting various levels of defensive help.

That probably makes his contract situation all the more frustrating.

Lehner, an unrestricted free agent last summer, wanted to stay with the Islanders after his award-winning season. But the team instead signed veteran Semyon Varlamov less than two weeks after the NHL Awards.

Lehner settled for a one-year, $5 million deal with the Blackhawks, hoping to prove he was worthy of a long-term commitment. He played well. He discussed an extension. He got traded instead.

The Lehner who arrived in Las Vegas in February was beaten down by the business of the game.

“At the end of the day, we’re players playing for our lives and playing for contracts,” Lehner said three days after the trade. “I felt for two years I’ve played really well and I still can’t get something done, and I’m playing well and I can’t play. It hits your motivation part a little bit, and I’ve got to do a better job of letting that kind of go away.

“I thought there was a future (in Chicago), and I did everything to get a future there, and I still couldn’t get a future there. In the end, the last couple weeks were tough mentally to kind of find a motivation needed.”

Future

Despite his bitterness, Lehner has performed brilliantly with the Knights.

He has won all three of his starts and saved 78 of 83 shots. He finally gave the team a competent partner for Fleury and formed half of arguably the NHL’s best goaltending tandem.

The duo might not last long together. Lehner, 28, will be an unrestricted free agent again this offseason. He’ll want security and a chance to play regularly. The Knights might not be able to give him that chance.

The team, which has $8.125 million in projected salary cap space but also two unsigned restricted free agents, probably won’t be able to afford Lehner without moving an NHL contract.

The Knights might not want to pay him, either. Signing Lehner would give them two expensive contracts at the position — Fleury’s $7 million cap hit is tied for the second-highest on the team.

And Lehner might not be interested in returning. He played sidekick to another franchise goaltender — two-time Stanley Cup winner Corey Crawford — in Chicago and thought he didn’t get a fair chance.

Instead, he could look elsewhere for richer pastures (Calgary? Vancouver? Ottawa? Detroit?). Either way, it will be an interesting offseason for him.

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.