Thread Starter
Summary Writer
Joined: Jun. 2022
Posts: 1,296
Likes: 338
Robin Lehner was one of the most promising goalies in the NHL and now his career is practically over. Lehner was drafted 46th overall in the 2009 NHL entry draft by the Ottawa senators. He was a very promising young goalie that could be in the NHL in the next few years. Once he came over from Europe, he excelled in the OHL as he had a 2.80 goals against average and a 918 save percentage with the Greyhounds. The next season he got his first stint in the AHL where he was very ok. The next season in the AHL he was fantastic as he won playoff MVP in the AHL. He also had his first bit of playing time in the NHL but he wasn't good as he had a 888 save percentage and a 3.52 goals against average. The next season he played 40 games in the AHL where he was extremely average and then was called up for 5 games. These five games he excelled as he had a 935 save percentage and a 2.01 goals against average. The next season he was fantastic in the AHL as he had a 938 save percentage and a 2.12 goals against average. This earned him a call up where he played 12 games. These 12 games were fantastic as he had a 2.20 goals against average and a 936 save percentage. He even got to play 2 games in the playoffs. The next season he earned a full time spot on the team as their backup goalie. He played great with Ottawa as their backup as he had a 913 save percentage and a 3.06 goals against average in 36 games. The next season he was still their backup and most of his statistics got worse. He had a 3.02 goals against average and a 905 save percentage in 23 games. The next season is when his career started taking off. Since the Senators had Andrew Hammond coming up as the next star goalie, that means that they had an extra goalie between Anderson, Hammond and Lehner. Lehner was the one that had to go. He got traded to the Buffalo Sabres with David Legwand for a first round pick in 2015. Lehner played his first season with Buffalo as their backup in the 2015-16 season and was great. He had a 2.47 goals against average and a 924 save percentage. The next season he became Buffalo's starter. He played 59 games in 2016-17 and had a 2.68 goals against average and a 920 save percentage. Sadly the Sabres were not good so he had a very bad win to loss ratio. The next season he was still their starter. He played 53 games and was not as good. He had a 3.01 goals against average and a 908 save percentage. You couldn't blame him as the Sabres were the worst team in the league in 2017-18. He ended up getting signed by the New York Islanders where he had his best season by far. In 2018-19, Lehner played 46 games with the Islanders and had a 2.13 goals against average and a 930 save percentage. He won 25 games that season and split his starting time with Thomas Greiss. This goalie tandem was unstoppable and they ended up winning the William M Jennings Trophy and Lehner won the Bill Masterton Trophy. Lehner came 3rd in Vezina voting. The next season the Islanders didn't resign him after they didn't go to far in the playoffs but Lehner was the best Goalie in the playoffs by far. He ended up getting signed by the Chicago Blackhawks where he had another good season. During his time with Chicago, he had a 3.01 goals against average and a 918 save percentage in 33 games. He ended up getting traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs and then was flipped to the Golden Knights in a three team trade. He played 3 games with Vegas and had a 940 save percentage and 1.67 goals against average. Then the season was cut short due to Covid. After the lockdown was finished the teams got to play their playoffs where Lehner played great. He had a 1.99 goals against average and a 917 save percentage. Vegas lost in the conference finals. He came 6th in Vezina Voting. The next season is when you saw Lehner starting to have injury problems. It started off with an upper body injury where he missed a month. Even though he was injured he still had a 913 save percentage and a 2.29 goals against average. He still won the William M Jennings Trophy as Fleury and Lehner were another unstoppable duo with Fleury winning his first Vezina Trophy as well. In the playoffs he got injured and didn't play well at all. He was cleared to play for days after he sustained an injury but was clearly still injured. During the 2021-22 season he battled constant injuries. These injuries ranged from small to big injuries. On October 1st he missed a week due to a undisclosed injury. Then in December he missed two weeks because of a lower body and an undisclosed injury. On February 14th he missed two weeks because of a lower body injury. On March 10th Lehner missed 20 days because of a knee injury. Then in April he had to get shoulder surgery and was expected to miss the start of the next season and the rest of the season he was playing. Then on August 11 of 2022 it was announced he injured his hip. His injury time will be for the rest of the season and he still hasn't played since then. Sadly, in 2023 it was announced he would become bankrupt. That broke the hearts of many hockey fans as he was one of the best goalies in the league to become bankrupt and injured to never play again. That was the story of Robin Lehner injury prone career