It was announced today that Vegas Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner will not play at all this season. Lehner will undergo hip surgery and a possible return date will be determined after. This is a massive loss for a team looking to get back to Cup Contender status after missing playoffs last year.
NEWS: Robin Lehner is expected to miss the entire 2022-23 NHL season after it was determined that he will require hip surgery. An exact timeline of his recovery is to be determined. #VegasBorn
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) August 11, 2022
Vegas Golden Knights Goalie Hurt
Lehner spent a lot of last season dealing with injuries too. He played just 44 games which isn’t as many as the Knights were hoping when they traded Marc-Andre Fleury away for cap space. Lehner, now 31, has dealt with injuries off and on his entire career. The announcement today is a huge blow as he was to be a crucial part of their season.
When healthy, Lehner has shown to be one of the better goalies in the league. He revitalized his career after it looked like he may not go anywhere at all. Now with his fifth organization, Lehner looks to extend his career in any way possible. Hip surgery is not an easy thing to come back from, and it will be a long road to rehabbing the injury.
The only potential bright spot for Vegas? This likely fixes their cap problems for this season. Currently, the Knights are almost $5.8 million over the cap. Assuming Lehner goes on LTIR, that will be $5 million less to worry about. Still, it seems likely Vegas would rather have their number one starter and shed cap elsewhere.
What Now?
The big question will be, what does the Vegas Golden Knights goalie position look like now? Currently, Laurent Brossoit is slated to be the starter with one of Logan Thompson or Michael Hutchinson as the backup. All three of those names aren’t ideal options in their role. Brossoit is more of a pure backup, and Hutchinson is probably a third goalie at this point. Thompson does bring some upside and may be the one to steal the crease.
Thomson had a 0.914 save percentage in 19 games with Vegas last year. Look for him to push for more starts now. The other option would be trading for a goalie. However, the lack of cap space may make that tricky. Could a Brossoit for Jake Allen with salary retain trade work? Maybe James Reimer or Adin Hill would be an option. Regardless, this is a tough loss for Vegas. Hopefully, we get to see Lehner back in an NHL net again at some point in the future.
That’s our Panda 🐼 pic.twitter.com/z1fhQlFReD
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) November 10, 2021
