In a piece from Vegas Hockey Now, Dan Kingerski raises an interesting question about the future between the pipes for the Vegas Golden Knights next season. Although it would be more financially feasible for the Golden Knights to retain Robin Lehner on LTIR, Kingerski asserts that Vegas may be better off buying out Lehner’s contract this summer.
The main point behind his reasoning is that with netminder Adin Hill eventually hitting the unrestricted free-agent market this offseason, having the cap space this summer to retain Hill may be Lehner’s undoing in Vegas. If the Golden Knights were to buy out the remaining 2-year, $10MM remaining on Lehner’s contract, Vegas would be hit with a $750K cap penalty next season, $2.25MM the following year, and $1.75 the next two years.
Obviously, the injury concerns surrounding Lehner are well known, as he missed the entirety of the 2022-23 regular season, and remains out during the Golden Knight’s playoff run. In his two full seasons in Vegas (subtracting the three regular-season games he played during the 2019-20 season following his trade from the Chicago Blackhawks), Lehner has posted a 36-21-4 record in 63 games played, garnering a .909 SV% and a 2.66 GAA.
Unfortunately, although the win record and GAA have both been positive for Lehner, the SV% has left a lot to be desired. On the other hand, Hill has been well above average since being acquired from the San Jose Sharks in late August of last year. In 27 games played for the Golden Knights this year, Hill posted a 16-7-1 record, accruing a .915 SV% and a 2.45 GAA. As both he, Jonathan Quick, and Laurent Brossoit enter unrestricted free agency this year, the potential Western Conference champions will have difficult choices to make in net this offseason.
Other snapshots:
- In an opinion piece from Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet, a hypothetical question is raised as to whether or not the Carolina Hurricanes and Winnipeg Jets would make an ideal trade fit this offseason. With plenty of buzz surrounding the potential rebuild of the Jets this summer, Wiebe questions whether Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck could be potential acquisitions for the Hurricanes. Both players will be pending unrestricted free agents after next season, and both players fit organizational needs at the moment. Martin Necas being the only true top-six center in the organization, and both Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta becoming UFA’s this summer, the Hurricanes could look to poach the Jets for resources.
- Mark Divver of the NHL reports that both Eric Parker and Ben Wozney from Bowling Green State University have received development camp invites from the Boston Bruins and Seattle Kraken, respectively. Parker appeared in eight games for Bowling Green, scoring one goal and three assists, as Wozney scored two goals and 13 assists over 36 games for the Falcons.
I’m not seeing the difficult decisions in net for Las Vegas, Logan Thompson and Adin Hill, It’s that simple.
.909 “leaves a lot to be desired?” Huh? That’s middle-of-the-pack. If, say, Linus Ullmark had a .909 this past season (instead of one of the best save percentages in history), that’d translate into less than an extra goal per start for him. .909 is where guys like Kochetkov, Jarry, Raanta and Vanecek were, and likely the VGK faithful wouldn’t scream in anguish to have any of those fellows in net.
Now me, I agree that buying out Lehner isn’t a bad idea, but that’s more from him being brittle, not getting any younger and Vegas being in a terrible cap crunch.
bit sure I see how the canes aquire both Helly and mark unless they are willing to move svechnikov. most of their decent players are UFAs after next year except Necas and JK and not sure Peg would do rentals and picks unless they believe they are truly rebuilding
Surely you didn’t say that Marty Necas is the only true top 6 center in the Carolina Hurricanes organization. Because I believe that Sebastian Aho still plays there.
Leher’s career is over. And of course perfect timing to give Vegas another LTIR exploitation
Thing is you have to get Lehner to sign off on that. I bet there’s some clause in the CBA allowing players to be certified healthy, so that teams just don’t get to bury unproductive guys at prohibitive salaries on LTIR at will.
And beyond that, Lehner’s deal expires in two years. Is he himself ready to stop earning at age 33?
Robidias Island
Ken Weibe has no idea what he’s talking about. Necas isn’t a Center. He’s a RW. Also Sebastion Aho is certainly a true Top 6 Center. WTF? Does this dude watch hockey?
Yeah, it’s tough not to acknowledge that Aho isn’t merely a top line center, but one of the elite, consistent pivots in the game. There are a half-dozen centers in the league I’d pick over him, but only about that many.
Trade Lehner for future considerations problem solved.
Robin Lehner come on down to the Arizona Coyotes!!!
Classic VGK goalie stability.