Goaltender For Golden Knights, Robin Lehner, Out For The Season

With the new NHL season rapidly approaching, excitement is building to see how different teams come out and start their campaign. However, fans of the Golden Knights have recently been dealt a blow, with goaltender Robin Lehner being out for the season with a hip injury. This sad news was recently announced through a tweet, which also mentions that no timeline for his recovery has been determined as of yet. 

The reaction from fans is, as expected, one of despair. However, frustration has also started to kick in for the Golden Knights faithful, as Lehner appears to be prone to injury. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Lehner has been out with a hip injury. His season ended early in 2017-2018 when he played for the Buffalo Sabres.  

He missed out for the last part of the 2021-2022 season too, but still played a total of 44 games throughout the Golden Knights' busy schedule. After missing the last three games of the previous season, he had surgery on his shoulder, which reportedly went incredibly well.  

Lehner was a solid backbone for the Golden Knights in the 2021-2022 NHL season. During that time, his record sat at 23-17-2. He also had a .907 save percentage, with 1 shutout. 

In October of 2020, he signed a new contract valued at $25 million, keeping him at the club until 2025. With an average annual value of $5, it’s clear that Lehner is an integral part of the Vegas Golden Knights team. 

Over the course of his career, Robin has played a total of 364 games. He has an impressive record, sitting at 152-141-49 with 17 shutouts. Lehner has also won the William M. Jennings Trophy twice, alongside the Bill Masterton Trophy, which he picked up in 2019. 

As of yet, it’s difficult to say exactly when Robin Lehner will be back in action for The Knights. It will depend mainly on his operation and recovery, of which everyone wishes him the very best. Golden Knights have confirmed, in the tweet mentioned earlier, that he will be unavailable throughout the upcoming season. Once the surgery has been performed, the Golden Knights will likely share a timeline for Lehner's return. 

Obviously, moving forward, missing their main goaltender serves as a huge disappointment to the team and fans alike. There has also been a pretty significant change in their betting position since this announcement was made. Previously, they were sixth favourites to lift the Stanley Cup, with odds of 12/1. These odds have now shifted to 14/1. However, they do remain in the sixth spot for now. 

The firm favourites for the 2022-2023 Stanley Cup are last year's winners, the Colorado Avalanche, who you can get at 17/4 at the time of publication. In order, the next favourites are the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Florida Panthers, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Carolina Hurricanes.