Golden Knights playoff hopes take another hit
The Vegas Golden Knights are barely holding onto the final wild card spot in the Western Conference and it remains unclear what the team will do leading up to Monday's trade deadline at 3 p.m. ET.
If the Golden Knights are wanting to make a push for the playoffs, then they'll likely need to add a starting goaltender, which won't come cheap, after today's news that Robin Lehner may miss the remainder fo the regular season.
According to Jesse Granger of The Athletic, Lehner's injury is significant and there's a chance he may miss the rest of the regular season.
I hesitate to put a timeline on it, because of the uncertainty, but it's very possible he misses the rest of the regular season." Granger said.
Frank Seravalli of DailyFaceoff is reporting that his sources tell him that Lehner has a fractured patella (knee cap). Lehner was spotted using crutches while heading home from the team's road trip. Lehner is also reportedly been playing through a torn labrum in his shoulder.
The team is still attempting to determine an exact timeframe for a potential Lehner return, but coupled with the torn labrum in his shoulder that he was already playing through, the fear is Lehner could miss the remainder of the regular season." Seravalli said.
Vegas is already missing a ton of key, impact players in their lineup. On top of Lehner, Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Reilly Smith, Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb are also out.
General manager Kelly McCrimmon will now have to scour the trade market for a goaltender as the team will need to upgrade on the current tandem of Laurent Brossoit and Logan Thompson. A return to Vegas for Marc-Andre Fleury seems unlikely, but could Joonas Korpisalo from Columbus be an option? Or Islanders netminder Semyon Varlamov?
In 38 games this season, Lehner has a record of 21-15-1 with a 2.77 GAA, a .909 save percentage, and one shutout. It won't be easy to find a replacement for him, especially with the deadline with just over 95 hours away.
At this point all signs point to Robin Lehner's latest injury being a significant one.
I hesitate to put a timeline on it, because of the uncertainty, but it's very possible he misses the rest of the regular season.— Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) March 17, 2022
Source: Frank Seravalli - DailyFaceoff.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Taylor Hall | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Brayden Point | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Brock Nelson | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Bryan Rust | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Pavel Zacha | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Quinn Hughes | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Carter Verhaeghe | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Erik Karlsson | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Elias Lindholm | - | 3 | 3 | |
| David Pastrnak | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Tim Stutzle | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Adam Gaudette | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Dylan Holloway | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Brad Marchand | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Aleksander Barkov | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sam Bennett | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sean Couturier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex DeBrincat | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack Drury | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cutter Gauthier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 23 | 18 | 5 | - | 36 | |
Hurricanes | 22 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 33 | |
Wild | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 32 | |
Devils | 25 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 32 | |
Capitals | 22 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 31 | |
Golden Knights | 23 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 31 | |
Maple Leafs | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Flames | 23 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 28 | |
Panthers | 23 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 27 | |
Kings | 23 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 27 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||