Robin Lehner’s tale of redemption comes full circle

As mentioned many times on many different forms of media, Robin Lehner has overcome a lot over the past year. He is for the first time in his professional career sober, and after four straight victories is in top of the world.

The tale of redemption for Lehner is special because of how open he’s been about the whole situation. He was struggling with alcohol and painkillers for years while with Buffalo and Ottawa. He recently beat both teams with stellar performances, and has been able to keep those demons at bay.

It’s one of the best modern day success stories, a story of a young kid who fell into a bad cycle and was able to work himself out of it to become successful. If the NHL had a Comeback Player of the Year award, Lehner should win it hands down.

Lehner is 7-4-2 with a .926 save % and a 2.26 GAA in his last seven starts. He has been stellar even in some of those losses, mostly due to lack of goal support. Lehner is tops in the league in SV % & GAA and if he keeps this up will be in the conversation for the Vezina Trophy.

Will Lehner be able to hold this pace? Probably not. Have we jumped the gun on calling him a bonafide star goaltender? Absolutely but talent has never been Lehner’s issue.

If Lehner can stay healthy, keep a clean head, and continue to play the way he’s played, the Islanders may have a spoil of riches in net. Between he, Thomas Greiss, Ilya Sorokin and Jakub Skarek, the future is bright in net. If anything, Lehner was the least likely one out of those to succeed. Now let’s see if he can keep it up.