Lehner to miss season, what are the Knights options?

[yave1964]

Ugh. Vegas.

 

  Robin Lehner is to miss the entire season following hip surgery with his career in jeopardy. With the goalie musical chairs over, what options do the Knights have in net?  Backup Laurent Brossoit also had offseason syrgery and will miss a chunk of the season. So what now? Here are IMHO the options as i see them.....

 

LOGAN THOMPSON was an undrafted free agent signed to be AHL cannon fodder but has surprised by playing well at every level including a brief run with the Knights last season. Truth is I dont believe that he is the answer in net long term but they may be forced to play him and sign or pickup someone off waivers before the season as his backup. I have little if any faith in this move. A vet like Khubodin could be added as a very shaky 1B but it could get ugly quick. 

 

VARLAMOV the Islanders are trying to move salary to make room for the Kadri signing so this makes oh so much sense. Varly has one year left on his deal, he is a proven commodity and would come very, very cheap as far as assets go. 

 

JAKE ALLEN the Habs would love to find a taker for Allen who has a year left on his deal, like Varly he would come cheap

 

JOHN GIBSON Listed here because Vegas is Vegas, they love the shiny toys. The Ducks have some nice pieces and are getting better but Gibson could be moved to allow Dostal to play in net. I consider this the least likely but, it is Vegas, baby.

 

  So IMHO if I were a betting man, I think Varlamov is such a perfect fit for both teams that this deal should be done like five minutes after the surgery was announced. He would cost little as the Isles need the cap space and he has lost his job to Sorokin on the Island, he would be a typical Knight addition, someone who used to be a name who they hope can still play.

[Math]

Offer sheet to Öttinger !

[OccamsRazor]

43 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

So IMHO if I were a betting man, I think Varlamov is such a perfect fit for both teams

 

 

 This.

[OccamsRazor]

36 minutes ago, Math said:

Offer sheet to Öttinger !

 

They don't have the cap space to do so. Ducks, WIngs, Black Hawks, Yotes, Isles and Sabres could though.

 

[Math]

Just now, OccamsRazor said:

 

They don't have the cap space to do so. Ducks, WIngs, Black Hawks, Yotes, Isles and Sabres could though.

 

 

And they don't have the picks to give either, due to the Eichel trade 

[Brewin Flames]

Time to pull rabbit from hat....

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

18 minutes ago, Brewin Flames said:

Time to pull rabbit from hat....

 

Or in Vegas' case, with options being so slim, more like 'thorny rose out of arse' 

[yave1964]

22 minutes ago, Brewin Flames said:

Time to pull rabbit from hat....

Reimer is emerging as a hot rumor, the Sharks added goalie of the future Kahkonen to go with Adin Hill so frankly I am surprised they still have three good goalies on their roster. Reimer isnt all that but if it is him he should come cheap....

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Wow.
Ever since Vegas parted with MAF, it's been one fail after another in net.
In baseball, the Red Sox had The Curse of the Bambino, referring to trading away Mighty Babe Ruth to the Yankees which then was followed by failure after failure for Boston for a good 86 years!

Vegas COULD have acquired The Curse of the Flower     after trading away the veteran netminder who, according to reports DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE  

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

@yave1964

I agree Semyon Varlamov makes lots of sense for the Knights....but are the Islanders REALLY comfortable going all in with Sorokin and whatever other body they can get as a backup instead of the solid Sorokin/Varlamov combo?

John Gibson is a big, big gamble (no pun intended) if Vegas were to go that route. I mean, they are up chit creek without a paddle due to injury to their number one. I don't need to remind anyone of Gibson's injury prone ways....

Those other guys you mentioned...meh, I dunno...Logan Thompson MAY NOT be a bad short term solution, but I'd stay far away from Jake Allen if I were the Knights.

 

Might be time for Vegas to perhaps give shots to some guys who are waiting around in the minors with other clubs, completely unproven, or take a low cost chance with some experienced, but flawed, NHL'ers who are in the scrap heap at the moment (Connor Ingram, NSH... Alex Lyon, FLA...Jonathan Bernier (if he is able to play), NJ).

Also, Pittsburgh has Jarry, DeSmith, and Tokarski who looks set to start in their AHL club. Perhaps the birds can be persuaded to part with either DeSmith or Tokarski, depending on what Vegas can pay... DeSmith being the more expensive of the two.

[Math]

Now that they have the cap space, we can also send them Khudobin.

[yave1964]

18 minutes ago, Math said:

Now that they have the cap space, we can also send them Khudobin.

Actually they have a cap problem, before the season you can only go over a certain pct. and they are already over by a lot. When the season starts they can long term Weber and Brossoit and Lehner but they are up against the max already. Arizona may be willing to take Weber for a pick because.....Arizona. 

  In short, Vegas has really, really screwed up with the philosophy of adding the latest greatest shiny free agent or trade candidate. Eventually the bill comes due.

[JR Ewing]

58 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

Actually they have a cap problem, before the season you can only go over a certain pct. and they are already over by a lot. When the season starts they can long term Weber and Brossoit and Lehner but they are up against the max already. Arizona may be willing to take Weber for a pick because.....Arizona. 

  In short, Vegas has really, really screwed up with the philosophy of adding the latest greatest shiny free agent or trade candidate. Eventually the bill comes due.

 

Books may very well be written about their asset mismanagement.

 

[yave1964]

2 hours ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

@yave1964

 

Might be time for Vegas to perhaps give shots to some guys who are waiting around in the minors with other clubs, completely unproven, or take a low cost chance with some experienced, but flawed, NHL'ers who are in the scrap heap at the moment (Connor Ingram, NSH... Alex Lyon, FLA...Jonathan Bernier (if he is able to play), NJ).

 

Actually Bernier was given a two year deal at 4.2 million per by the devils lol because they are the Devils very little chance that anyone takes him off their hands lol. 

  I agree with your premise though lots of teams are gonna try to sneak players through waivers to the minors they may be able to steal a woll or a Tarasov if they get lucky. Anything is better than Michael Hutchinson who is listed as their backup right now. Ugh.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

1 hour ago, yave1964 said:

Actually Bernier was given a two year deal at 4.2 million per by the devils lol because they are the Devils very little chance that anyone takes him off their hands lol. 

  I agree with your premise though lots of teams are gonna try to sneak players through waivers to the minors they may be able to steal a woll or a Tarasov if they get lucky. Anything is better than Michael Hutchinson who is listed as their backup right now. Ugh.

 

Yea, I was hesitant to put Bernier on that list of "scrap heaps" because when he is healthy, he is actually a pretty decent netminder as you well know, having played on your Wings the last three seasons before ending up in NJ.
And with Detroit's lackluster defense when he was there, shows he could handle lots of chances against.
I just figured, not only is he injured, but NJ now has Blackwood and Vanecek and Bernier would have been the odd man out, but like you said, the Devils...go figure.

Then, of course, there is Braden Holtby still floating around the ether...  

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by TropicalFruitGirl26

[radoran]

2 hours ago, yave1964 said:

In short, Vegas has really, really screwed up with the philosophy of adding the latest greatest shiny free agent or trade candidate. Eventually the bill comes due.

 

I mean, it's all good if you win a Cup right?

 

Right?

 

Oh. Wait...

 

[radoran]

1 hour ago, JR Ewing said:

 

Books may very well be written about their asset mismanagement.

 

 

Volume 1: pre-expansion asset management

Volume 2: post-expansion asset management

 

Two wildly different tomes...

[Math]

2 hours ago, yave1964 said:

Actually they have a cap problem, before the season you can only go over a certain pct. and they are already over by a lot. When the season starts they can long term Weber and Brossoit and Lehner but they are up against the max already. Arizona may be willing to take Weber for a pick because.....Arizona. 

  In short, Vegas has really, really screwed up with the philosophy of adding the latest greatest shiny free agent or trade candidate. Eventually the bill comes due.

 

Damn correct, I think you have to be cap compliant at day 1 of the season start if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, that would be funny to have the last two teams of Shea Weber being Vegas and Arizona in the records and without playing a single game for both.

 

 

[yave1964]

6 hours ago, FireDillabaugh said:

Pretty sure they are planning on Logan Thompson being Brossoit's competition with Hutchinson in Henderson.

Brossoit had offseason hip surgery in June and the Knights are playing it close to the vest but many reports are speculating that he will be nowhere near ready at the start of the season. 

 

  Two goalies with offseason hip surgery. I know you have a thing against Dillabaugh, lol but WTF is going on in Vegas???

[OccamsRazor]

14 hours ago, yave1964 said:

Actually Bernier was given a two year deal at 4.2 million per by the devils lol because they are the Devils very little chance that anyone takes him off their hands lol. 

  I agree with your premise though lots of teams are gonna try to sneak players through waivers to the minors they may be able to steal a woll or a Tarasov if they get lucky. Anything is better than Michael Hutchinson who is listed as their backup right now. Ugh.

 

Maybe now would be the best time with cap issues to make a offer for Blackwood instead.

 

Not going to say what that looks like just kicking around an idea...

 

...go for a guy for the next 4 or 5 years or just go for a stop gap type guy.

 

Hard decision to make.

 

[OccamsRazor]

One thing is for sure they will at least claim a goalie off of waivers.

 

And hold onto him till another option presents itself.

 

I hope Chuckles does try and waive Sandstrom and lose him sneaking thru...

 

....i noticed capfriendly has Fedotov in the backup spot.

 

Do they know something we don't about him???

 

I would take a claim on Khudobin if he becomes available.

 

A few teams are going to try and hide a solid goalie in the AHL. 

 

 

 

[pilldoc]

28 minutes ago, FireDillabaugh said:

Not sure what or where you're reading this, but every report I've seen(some from the beginning of this month) has said he's ready for camp and that their plan is to have him as the starter with Thompson as the backup.  I believe, as camp progresses, Thompson will take that starting job from him.

 

Respectfully disagree here about the health Brossoit at the moment ....as an avid FHL GM I use many sources for current status of players when preparing for a FHL draft ... from a highly respected source(s) .... updated just yesterday....

 

"With the news that Lehner is out for the entire season after hip surgery, the cap-strapped Golden Knights will have to
lean on Thompson. They don’t have the wiggle room to bring in any other goaltender above the cap minimum.
Fortunately, Thompson was the best of the three main Vegas goaltenders last season. But this will obviously be the true
test. With Brossoit also out for the first few weeks of the campaign, look for veteran third (or fourth?) stringer
Hutchinson to slide in as the backup to start. Because Hutchinson’s play has slipped over the past several years, expect
Thompson to get a heavy workload early on. Unless a trade happens, this is the scenario you are looking at (and stay
tuned here for any updates on that front) --  % confidence that Thompson is the starter: 90% "

 

https://thehockeywriters.com/golden-knights-goaltenders-target-lehner-injury/

"Backup goaltender Laurent Brossoit‘s health status is still up in the air and there’s no certainty he will be ready for training camp or the start of the season. As of right now, the starting duties fall to Logan Thompson and Michael Hutchinson. Thompson has started just 17 career games and appeared in 20, the majority coming last season where he was actually solid. It will be a huge test for him, even if he is expected to split time or be the backup."

 

https://theathletic.com/3498223/2022/08/11/golden-knights-robin-lehner-surgery/

"The announcement leaves Vegas without a clear No. 1 goalie. Laurent Brossoit, who served as Lehner’s backup for the majority of last season, also underwent surgery this summer, and it’s unclear if he’ll be ready for the start of the season. Rookie netminder Logan Thompson, who played well for Vegas down the stretch, is an option after signing a three-year extension in January."

 

Now things can change on any given day ....but as of now, most FHL GM's will probably be preparing for Thompson to be the starter initially.  

 

I DO AGREE with you that Thompson will take the starting job and will be the starter when the season starts .....

Edited August 12, 2022 by pilldoc

[pilldoc]

Some realistic possibilities I have read about all over for the Knights (if Brossoit is not healthy enough and they feel Thompson is not the immediate answer):

 

Semyon Varlamov - The top choice and best goaltender that may be available on the trade market is Semyon Varlamov of the New York Islanders. The team already has Ilya Sorokin locked down as their starter after just two seasons and is under contract for a very nice price of $4 million per year. However, Varlamov is heading into his final season of his deal at $5 million average annual value (AAV). He was one of the top goaltending options to be on the move at last season’s trade deadline, but there was very little movement of the netminders around the league.   However, Vegas would need to move salary to do so as currently they could not fit him under the cap.

 

James Reimer - The San Jose Sharks have signaled the re-tooling process after they traded Brent Burns to the Carolina Hurricanes. One of the areas they must figure out is goaltending.  The Sharks currently have, besides Reimer,  Adin Hill, and Kaapo Kahkonen. All three goaltenders are signed between $2-3 million for next season. None of the three goaltenders are waiver eligible and it would be a mistake to let any of them go right now for nothing. As a team not expected to make the playoffs next season, the Sharks would be wise to run with their 25- and 26-year-old goaltenders in the hopes that at least one will emerge as a starting option for them for the future. That leaves 34-year-old Reimer who posted a .911 SV% and 2.90 GAA on a very beaten-down Sharks team that featured a ton of rookies. He would do much better with a strong team in front of him and is less than half of the price Lehner costs.  Again, the trick will be finding caps space.

 

Jake Allen -   The Habs, Jake Allen is also a good option to fill the Knights’ need as he was a starter not too long ago for a good four years in St. Louis.  He also filled in when Price missed most of last season. Allen also got the crease when he was healthy, starting 35 games. On the last place team, he even managed to finish the season with a .905 SV%. He may not be a sure thing when it comes to a starter, but he’s an option for under $3 million whose contract is up after next season.  

 

Chris Driedger - The Seattle Kraken are sort of in the same boat as the Sharks in that they aren’t expected to compete for a playoff spot, but now have three NHL goaltenders under contract after they brought on Martin Jones in free agency. I really don’t think Gruber is going anywhere. Period not with his contract , not after having a horrible season he had last years and the term left on his deal. Jones was brought in to be the backup at $2 million, so that leaves Chris Driedger as the odd man out in net. For a short term solution, if Vegas could swing it, this might be the best option if Brossoit is not ready to go and Vegas is not ready to hand the reigns over to Thompson quite yet. He may not be the most attractive option for the Golden Knights, but would be the cheapest.

 

Just some food for thought ....... 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by pilldoc

[yave1964]

1 hour ago, pilldoc said:

 

 

Chris Driedger - The Seattle Kraken are sort of in the same boat as the Sharks in that they aren’t expected to compete for a playoff spot, but now have three NHL goaltenders under contract after they brought on Martin Jones in free agency. I really don’t think Gruber is going anywhere. Period not with his contract , not after having a horrible season he had last years and the term left on his deal. Jones was brought in to be the backup at $2 million, so that leaves Chris Driedger as the odd man out in net. For a short term solution, if Vegas could swing it, this might be the best option if Brossoit is not ready to go and Vegas is not ready to hand the reigns over to Thompson quite yet. He may not be the most attractive option for the Golden Knights, but would be the cheapest.

 

 

 

 

Agree with all but Driedger, he had offseason surgery and will miss the first half of the season which is why they signed Martin Jones.....

[yave1964]

2 hours ago, FireDillabaugh said:

Not sure what or where you're reading this, but every report I've seen(some from the beginning of this month) has said he's ready for camp and that their plan is to have him as the starter with Thompson as the backup.  I believe, as camp progresses, Thompson will take that starting job from him.

 

No team is going to claim Hutchinson off waivers from them, so I don't think there's any worry about sending him to Henderson.

Vegas goalie Robin Lehner to miss upcoming season | FOX Sports

 

Basically it says Brosooit is up in the air to start the year. Lots of other articles claim the same. @pilldoc posted a wonderful bit about Brossoit saying he is expected to miss at least the first few weeks.

 

  And lets be honest here, he really has been a non entity most if not all of his career with Vegas, Edmonton and the Peg he is 42-41-8 with a goals against of an unacceptable 2.84. Can you live with that as your backup? Sure, that is what you get from a backup goalie in the NHL. He is not a starter by any stretch and at 29 coming off hip surgery that is not going to change.

 

  As for Thompson I am always weary of 25 year old undrafted rookies who have a bit of a hot streak. Dont get me wrong, he looked damn good in a limited role with the Knights last year and for two seasons at Henderson in the AHL he has been simply lights out, but I just dont trust guys like this. Every now and then you get a Cam Talbot who in his mid twenties comes from nowhere to have a career but more often than not they turn into the Hamburgler, 

 

  As for Hutchinson, meh, heh, ugh. I know a lot of words, some I know two or three definitions and consider myself to be fairly articulate but I dont know enough words to describe how awful he is. He is probably the worst goalie who has appeared in the NHL in the last several years which says something when you consider guys like Hammond and Houser have appeared in net.

 

  So yes, the Knights could try whistling past the graveyard hoping that Thompson is the real deal or that Brossoit at 29 coming off hip surgery and expected to miss the start of the year will suddenly become a viable number one. I just dont see it from either.