A lot of fans, media, and Vegas followers have opinions on the DeBoer’s handling of the goalie “situation.” Most of the crowd is divided into two camps, either Lehner is the better goalie and should be the goalie, or Marc-Andre Fleury got shafted and his position was taken away from him.
Personally, I have come around to be all-in on DeBoer’s method. To this point between the round-robin games, Chicago, and Vancouver I don’t believe the Golden Knights record would be any different if either goalie played every game. Each game has been decided by the skaters.
However, looking ahead to playing most likely Dallas in the next round who has been a scoring machine we will need our best man in net.
There has been a lot of confusion about DeBoer’s method of choosing who is in goal, but I don’t think it is all that confusing anymore. Robin Lehner is “the guy.” He will play the majority of the games, and any game that really matters until he proves he shouldn’t be.
Marc-Andre Fleury, a legend of the game and arguably the key fixture of the Golden Knights short history, is now second fiddle. It’s not any fault of his own, but it has become clear that Lehner is DeBoer guy, and I agree Lehner gives the team the best chance to win.
In the back-to-back scenarios, even if Robin Lehner doesn’t need rest, I don’t believe their is anything wrong with giving it to him. Keep Fleury sharp and giving him the chance to get ice time against a team like the Canucks that Vegas is clearly better than is an effective strategy.
DeBoer’s intentions are clear. Lehner is the goalie, Fleury will play games on back-to-back days unless its a win that they desperately need. A situation the team has not seen yet, but could in the conference finals or Stanley Cup.
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