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(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
For the first time since their inception in 2017, the Vegas Golden Knights and their fans are facing hardship. After missing the playoffs with the NHL equivalent of a superteam last season, and the total botch job that was the Evgenii Dadonov trade, the Knights receive quite possibly the biggest blow out of any team this offseason thus far.
It was announced on Thursday afternoon that Golden Knights' star goaltender, Robin Lehner, would miss the entirety of the 2022-23 season as a result of hip surgery. This kind of breaking news has been a long time coming for Vegas, as Lehner dealt with an injury plagued 2021-22 season, which saw him make only 44 starts. Lehner underwent surgery on his shoulder in April, which put him out of commission for the last few weeks of the regular season. Lehner put up a 23-17-2 record, with a 2.83 GAA and a .907 save percentage.
Vegas must now go to plan-B, which was a platoon between Laurent Brossoit (who also dealt with injury) and Logan Thompson during Lehner's absence last season. Lehner is set to make $6.5 million in 2022-23, with a cap hit of $5 million. With the 31 year old goalie heading to the long term injured reserve (LTIR) this gives Vegas some cap room to pursue another goaltender, either through free-agency or via trade, should they decide that Brossoit or Thompson aren't the solution to this problem. Notable free-agent goalies that are still on the market as of right now are Cory Schneider and Braden Holtby.
Remember when Vegas traded Marc-Andre Fleury for basically nothing? I do.
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