Golden Knights re-sign Lehner to five-year deal
Lennox Lehner is almost six years old and already has five hockey jerseys because his father has bounced around the NHL so much. He won’t have to add another to his collection, and Robin Lehner will get to keep putting on Vegas Golden Knights jerseys.
“It couldn’t be a better fit,” Robin said.
Lehner signed a $25-million US, five-year contract with Vegas on Saturday that gives him some much-desired stability. Committing to Lehner gives the Golden Knights the same at the goaltending position while plunging one-time face of the franchise Marc-Andre Fleury into uncertainty.
After signing a deal that pays him $5 million annually through the 2024-25 season, Lehner soaked up the accomplishment of finding a long-term landing spot. He had played for four teams the past three seasons and is on his fifth organization, while battling addiction and mental health issues that were made more difficult by the constant movement.
Lehner has a modified notrade clause as part of the contract and believes staying in one place will help him personally and make him a better goalie.
“I haven’t had stability and I’ve still been able to manage it with all the people around me,” said Lehner, who has talked openly about his bipolar disorder. “Now I have one of the biggest things for my condition, and that’s stability. And what I can do with that going forward in terms of my performance on the ice and all that stuff, I think it’s just going to make it a lot, lot better.”
Re-signing Lehner, who they acquired at the trade deadline in February and who became the starter, means the Golden Knights will likely soon move on from Fleury, who took them to the Stanley Cup Final in 2018 in their inaugural season.
Fleury, who will be 36 by the time next NHL season starts, has two years left on his contract at a $7-million cap hit with a 10-team no-trade clause. General manager Kelly McCrimmon said one of the options is Vegas going into next season with these two goaltenders, but other comments during his virtual news conference — and the financial realities of the flat salary cap — point to trading or buying out Fleury.
“We have a ton of respect for Marc-Andre Fleury,” McCrimmon said. “We will try to make good decisions here as we move along.”
The Golden Knights decided some time ago Lehner was their man in net. While coach Peter DeBoer, hired to replace Gerard Gallant in January, said leading up to and during the playoffs he’d use both goalies, he started Lehner in 16 of the Golden Knights’ 20 post-season games.