By Jordan Long
One of the top goaltenders in this years’ free agent class will not be hitting the open market. The Vegas Golden Knights agreed to a 5-year, $25 million contract with Robin Lehner. The deal runs through the 2025 season.
Lehner was traded to the Knights on February 24th, 2020 from the Chicago Blackhawks. For Chicago, he went 16-10 with a goals against average of 3.01 and a save percentage of .918. Vegas was hoping this would improve their goaltending for the rest of the regular season.
Lehner started 3 games for the Knights before play was halted for the COVID19 Pandemic. He proved he could help the Knights win in such a short period of time. Lehner went 3-0 with a goals against average of 1.67 and a save percentage of .914 with one shutout.
As play resumed, Vegas was in the round-robin to determine the top 4 seeds in the Western Conference. Vegas ended up winning all their games to earn the #1 seed in the Western Conference Playoffs. The Knights beat Chicago in the 1st-round in 5 games. In the 2nd-round they barely beat Vancouver in 7 games before being knocked off in the Western Conference Finals by the Dallas Stars in 5 games. Lehner started in 16 playoff games going 9-7 with a goals against average of 1.99 and save percentage of .917 with 4 shut outs.
When the Knights season was over, their top priority was to keep Lehner. This deal ensures he will be in Vegas for the next 5 years unless he is traded during that time.
According to ESPN, Knights’ General Manager Kelly McCrimmon said, “I think he proved himself. I think he played extremely well for our team. That’s what we need. It’s his age, it’s where he’s at in his career, it’s the length of the contract, it’s the fact that it solidifies that position for our organization. It’s the most important position on the team.”
With this deal in place for Lehner, the Knights now must trade or release Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury has two years left on his current contract. The total amount is $12.5 million. The Knights could first try to see what the trade market has on him. Fleury is going to be 36 years old when play starts next year, a high price to pay for a goaltender who is past his prime. It could be better to buy him out and let him test free agency. The market will determine his value as a goaltender, even if it is as a backup for a franchise.
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