UPD: Lehner to have season ending surgery

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

It is going to be hilarious to see VGK struggle for a half decade, but I harbour no ill will toward Eichel. He wanted out of Buffalo because he believed his health was being mismanaged. I think he was right to make that decision, and it kind of sucks for him that he ended up where he did on an aging roster in cap hell with no picks or prospects.

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I thought the same way until he returned to Buffalo and talked #### about the fans. What a jerk.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

That is not that point anyone has been making. Rather, it is that the issues with LTIR are greatly exaggerated where there likely only needs to be some minor tweaking. Otherwise, I think this season and Vegas's issues have demonstrated that the rules do actually function as intended.

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Yeah a team should totally be able to add a player that puts them 13M over the cap with no plan on getting under...totally legit and what LTIR was intended for

Forcing a guy to play when he needs surgery is just the intended icing on the cake

Sorry but that organization is a clown show

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by mile

https://twitter.com/user/status/1519024815528550400

Seems pretty clear that either Lehner or DeBoer (or both) are out after this year.

[Tron_fdc]

Looks like they asked Lehner to "take one for the team", dress, and hopefully not have to go in.

Anyone want to speculate what their penalty would have been if they played a game over the cap?

I read game forfeiture, but that seems pretty extreme.

[dino7c]

I'm assuming they would have used an emergency backup... management put everyone in a bad spot

[Reggie Dunlop]

“The announcement speaks for itself. I’m concerned about the guys that are here, battling with us here tonight.”

They've kicked the guy to the curb.

[dino7c]

I'm sure they would be thrilled if Lehner decided to call it a career

[TheSquatch]

Robin Lehner has been an outspoken advocate for players' mental and physical health, and he's no shrinking violet. I really think the Knights are screwing with the wrong guy.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by TheSquatch

Robin Lehner has been an outspoken advocate for players' mental and physical health, and he's no shrinking violet. I really think the Knights are screwing with the wrong guy.

yeah we will get the full story on this one

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by dino7c

yeah we will get the full story on this one

The issue is explained in the Athletic (paywall), including the rationale under the cap:

Entering Sunday, Vegas had $2 million in cap space and was set to activate William Carrier from LTIR. His $1.4 million cap hit left the club with only $600,000 to use.

When Lehner declared his decision to have surgery, the front office faced a potential problem: After activating Carrier, they wouldn’t have enough cap space to call up a second goalie from the AHL. The NHL has a roster emergency exemption recall rule that allows clubs to recall a goalie without it counting against the cap. Under normal circumstances, that’s likely what would have happened Sunday.

But because the Golden Knights are so far over the cap and have been managing their LTIR all season, the timing of this specific transaction could have drawn red flags at the league office.

Simply put, a team with available cap space is not allowed to activate a player with that cap space (essentially creating their own emergency) and then immediately turn around and use an emergency exemption…

The article goes on to say that there is no specific rule in the CBA that forbids this but that league sources said that is most likely what happened here.

As for the messaging from DeBoer, it was a bizarre situation to say the least but it sounds like the injury was something where Lehner could have played with it if he had to (and in fact did play with it).

https://theathletic.com/3272335/2022...olden-knights/