The Vegas Golden Knights have announced that goaltender Robin Lehner needs hip surgery and, as a result, will be forced to miss the entire 2022-23 season. The Golden Knights don't have an exact timetable for when Lehner could return to the ice.
Lehner is coming off an injury-riddled season that limited him to just 44 starts. The 31-year-old netminder put together a 23-17-2 record to go along with a 2.83 goals-against-average and a .907 save percentage. On April 25, the Golden Knights announced that Lehner would miss the remainder of the season as he underwent shoulder surgery for an injury he suffered in February.
In July 2021, the Golden Knights traded veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to the Chicago Blackhawks, which made Lehner the full-time starter in net. Lehner was traded from the Chicago Blackhawks to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but then immediately flipped to Vegas for a fifth-round pick.
With Lehner missing significant time last season, the team is a tad more-equipped to deal with his absence than they previously would've been.
When Lehner was out during the 2021-22 campaign, rookie Logan Thompson, 25, saw time in between the pipes. He accumulated a 10-5-3 record with a 2.68 goals-against-average and a .914 save percentage in 19 games. In addition, goaltender Laurent Brossoit also saw time as he went 10-9-3 with a 2.90 goals-against-average and a .895 save percentage in 24 games.
The Golden Knights are fresh off of a season in which they compiled a 43-31-8 (94 points) and missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in their five-year history.
