Vegas Golden Knights: Mapping out how Lehner could remain in Sin City
The Bonkers Scenario
There is an outside-of-the-box idea the Vegas Golden Knights could pursue if they didn’t want to give up one of their top-six forwards.
It will be controversial, however.
We discussed this subject in a piece we did earlier today, but some of the shine appears to have disappeared from Marc-Andre Fleury’s crown in recent weeks.
Some Golden Knights fans have taken a real liking to Robin Lehner and feel he should be the undisputed starter for this franchise going forward.
They do have a point given that Lehner is a whole seven years younger than Fleury, while he’s right at the peak of his powers.
After tearing it up for the New York Islanders in 2018-19, Lehner was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy and he’s also had a superior Save Percentage than Fleury in each of the past two seasons.
So, with that in mind, if Vegas General Manager Kelly McCrimmon felt Lehner was the goalie for the Knights both in the present day and in the future, then severing ties with Fleury is the extreme way to go.
Related Story. Discussing the Fleury-sized elephant in the room. light
By either trading Fleury or buying out the future Hall of Famer the Golden Knights would free up the cap space needed to re-sign Lehner to a long-term deal without giving up a key piece of their forward core.
It wouldn’t be that straightforward, however, given that the Knights would likely have to retain some salary in order to persuade a team to trade for Fleury.
And if the Golden Knights opted to buyout Fleury, they would suffer a total cap hit of $9833,332 over the course of the next four years, according to the Buyout Calculator on CapFriendly.
There is also the emotional aspect in regards to the importance Fleury has to this franchise, and removing him from the organization wouldn’t sit well with a lot of fans and a lot of the players.
It is an incredibly tough and potentially franchise-altering decision, and one General Manager Kelly McCrimmon and President of Hockey Operations George McPhee will have to think long and hard about.
Next. Projecting William Carrier's role in 2020-21. dark
In truth, it is likely that Robin Lehner will be the odd man out and will be allowed to hit the open market with face of the franchise Marc-Andre Fleury retiring with the Vegas Golden Knights, but we thought it would be fun to explore the options available if Lehner were to remain in Sin City beyond 2019-20.