Chicago Blackhawks: Robin Lehner beats his old team
The Chicago Blackhawks were eliminated from the postseason by their old netminder, Robin Lehner.
The Chicago Blackhawks were eliminated by the Vegas Golden Knights in five games of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The only reason they were invited to the playoffs was because of COVID-19 giving them an opportunity to play in the play-in series. They defeated the Edmonton Oilers in four games to make the playoffs where they had a chance against Vegas. Well, Vegas is a far superior team and the Hawks had no chance. Robin Lehner was given the opportunity to play and he beat the team that traded him this season.
It was the right move to trade Robin Lehner. We can rip Stan Bowman for a lot of things but moving Lehner isn’t one of those things. They were not going to the playoffs if it was a normal season and he made it pretty clear that he wasn’t signing a long term deal with them. The pause and return to play gave the Hawks a second chance but nobody saw that coming. Lehner is playing well with Vegas and deserved to win this series.
Robin Lehner deserves all of the success he is having. He is one of the best goalies in the world and will be paid like one once the offseason begins. In 36 games played split between Chicago and Vegas, he went 19-10-5. He had one shutout with a .920 save percentage and 2.89 goals-against average. He was traded to Vegas at the deadline because they wanted a guy to be there with Marc-Andre Fleury in their run to the Stanley Cup. They are deep enough to do it and with Lehner there you know that they have the goaltending to do it.
The Hawks probably have no shot at signing Lehner back in the offseason but they can be proud of the fact that they got to have him, even for a short time. Even though the Hawks didn’t seem like they wanted to bring him back, that is probably going to be a mistake. Corey Crawford is also on an expiring contract and they don’t have a true goalie prospect in their system yet.
Hot. The Chicago Blackhawks need to make some changes. light
Regardless of how the Hawks do the rest of the season, fans have every right to root on Lehner. The Knights defeated them in a respectful series and have the horses needed to win the whole thing. They are almost like the 2010 Hawks in terms of how they come at you in waves. They run four good lines and three good defense pairs in front of their goalies and know how to win all sorts of games. Good luck to Lehner and his teammates.