Robin Lehner to Miss Entire 2022-23 Season for Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights got some incredibly troubling news on Thursday as goaltender Robin Lehner is going to be out of action for the entire 2022-23 NHL season and the team no longer has a starter. The organization wrote on social media, “Robin Lehner is expected to miss the entire 2022-23 NHL season after it was determined that he will require hip surgery. An exact timeline of his recovery is to be determined.”

NEWS: Robin Lehner is expected to miss the entire 2022-23 NHL season after it was determined that he will require hip surgery. An exact timeline of his recovery is to be determined. #VegasBorn

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) August 11, 2022

There was a point during the 2021-22 season where rumors swirled that Lehner needed surgery and would miss the rest of the season. The Golden Knights denied the rumors and Lehner took the bench in a backup role or played through injury. This news clears up that picture in a major way.

With Lehner now out, Laurent Brossoit becomes their starter if the team does nothing to address the hole Lehner leaves behind. The issue there is that he’s on the injury reserve list. The oldest and most experienced goaltender in the Vegas Golden Knights organization now under an NHL contract that isn’t injured is now Michael Hutchinson. This was the case prior to the Lehner announcement, but the assumption was that he would be back during the season. Without him, the team is really lacking in the position.

There will now be $5 million in cap space the team can spend to find another goaltender if Lehner goes on LTIR, but that won’t be easy to do. There aren’t a lot of viable options out there at that price tag or lower and the Golden Knights aren’t exactly swimming in cap space. The one option out there might be Semyon Varlamov, but the Islanders will force the Golden Knights to overpay in a major way to acquire him.

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