Robin Lehner - How long before he gets his first NHL start?

If I was asked this question before the season started I might have said that he gets a start late in the season just as a reward for playing well in Bingo but, now? I personally wouldn't be surprised to see him get a start before the month ends and perhaps as soon as Saturday vs. the Habs depending on how the team plays vs. the Sabres.

Thoughts?

I guess I'll start us off. I'm going to say Lehner starts the game on Saturday vs. the Habs.

I will go on to say he pulls a Mike Brodeur and rattles off a couple wins and takes over until Leclaire's return.

I think it will all depend on how Friday goes. Clouston hasn't shied away from playing Elliott back-to-back before when Leclaire was out last year.

Lehner has certainly played well enough to earn a start, but I still think Elliott gets the start Friday and, most likely, Saturday. I know it's back-to-back games, and Clouston has that as a built-in excuse; I just don't think he's in a "gimme an excuse" mode with Elliott.

The rest of the team, though, is a different matter. They play better when Lehner gets put in because they are embarrassed, not because they have more confidence. There are other ways to embarrass them that should be tried before throwing a 19-year-old kid (league leading stats or not) to the wolves.

Looking at the schedule, though, the Sabres may be the easiest opponent for a while. If Lehner doesn't get the start Friday I think he's not getting a start in this call-up.

I'm with shabbs. A lot will depend on how Elliott plays.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I guess I'll start us off. I'm going to say Lehner starts the game on Saturday vs. the Habs.

I will go on to say he pulls a Mike Brodeur and rattles off a couple wins and takes over until Leclaire's return.

I'd say Brodeur is called up when his concussion symptoms clear. Lehner goes back to Bingo and takes the #1 role for a while.

wprager wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I guess I'll start us off. I'm going to say Lehner starts the game on Saturday vs. the Habs.

I will go on to say he pulls a Mike Brodeur and rattles off a couple wins and takes over until Leclaire's return.

I'd say Brodeur is called up when his concussion symptoms clear. Lehner goes back to Bingo and takes the #1 role for a while.

I could definitely see that happening but, when will Brodeur be cleared to play? Does anyone have an update on him? I get the feeling it could be a very long term thing.

He was injured in the game against Adirondack, which was 12 days ago. He should be close.

I see Bingo signed a goalie to a professional try out (PTO) contract on October 9 (the day after Brodeur got zonked) and this goalie was subsequently released on the 13th. By this point Lehner had been recalled to Ottawa, and I didn't see any other goalie signing. So I can only assume that, as of the 13th, Brodeur was back in action.

I have a feeling he'll play Saturday, depending on how Friday goes of course. I believe 100% no matter what's happening, that he will play at least 1 game before being sent back to Bingo.

Something needs to happen now to right this ship. We have to win now! Enough is enough already.

The thing I've noticed in the past 2 games that Lehner has been put into, is that the team really protects him, their play changes completely when he's in there. They don't want to see their rookie get shelled. It is not an excuse, they have to play well in front of whichever goalie is in nets, but they haven't been. Lehner is the only one that they've shown respect to in protecting him and actually playing defence. The game against Pittsburgh, they shut it down, I think he only faced 8 shots for the remainder of the game.

I say put him in, send the message to everyone (Elliott included, whether you agree with me or not) that it is time to get their Dung together and start playing with passion and heart and win some games. Show a little pride for Dung sake. I blame the whole team for this funk, coach, gm, players, goalies, everyone. It's unacceptable to start the season like this. We're becoming the joke of the league again.

Murray has this year left on his contract and that's it. He is fighting for his job along with many other players. If we go 1-10-1, there will be Dung hitting the fan and he will not be signed as our GM again. I'm sure Melnyk has had just about enough of the mediocrity.

On the plus side, we have a great farm system and some big players coming up. They won't be ready for a while, but at least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I realize we're only 6 games in and there are plenty of games to go to get us back on track, but this is getting ridiculous to watch.

I hope Murray isn't blowing smoke when he says that he's looking to make a trade. Something needs to be done. We can't wait anymore.

It is a very scary prospect to have a desperate GM on the last year of his contract trying to save his job through trades. It could get very ugly and it could set the franchise back a few years.

Personally I'd like to see Melnyk find a replacement for Murray very soon and move Murray into a front office scouting role.

SG11, I don't think it's respect or protecting their goalie as much as it is embarrassment. At least that's my opinion, and also my reason for thinking that putting Lehner in for a full game at this point would be a mistake. Oh, he may very well succeed and get a shutout win, score the winner in OT and then save a baby falling from the upper level, but what then? What happens to Elliott? What happens when we find out that a 19-year-old rookie cannot carry the load for a full schedule? And the much more likely outcome is that he'll lose more than he wins. Until the team is playing better I don't think it's fair (or wise) to bring in Lehner. In fact, now that Brodeur looks like he's ready, bring him up and send Robin back to Bingo to get some starts.

Just a reminder that I will be doing another Q&A with Lehner, so if you have any questions you'd like to ask, submit them here: http://www.gmhockey.com/ottawa-senators-f31/robin-lehner-interview-t4178-40.htm#200932

wprager wrote:SG11, I don't think it's respect or protecting their goalie as much as it is embarrassment. At least that's my opinion, and also my reason for thinking that putting Lehner in for a full game at this point would be a mistake. Oh, he may very well succeed and get a shutout win, score the winner in OT and then save a baby falling from the upper level, but what then? What happens to Elliott? What happens when we find out that a 19-year-old rookie cannot carry the load for a full schedule? And the much more likely outcome is that he'll lose more than he wins. Until the team is playing better I don't think it's fair (or wise) to bring in Lehner. In fact, now that Brodeur looks like he's ready, bring him up and send Robin back to Bingo to get some starts.

I don't want him to play a full season yet or even half a season or even 10 games. I just want to see him once this weekend if we can't win against Buffalo tomorrow, it's just a shakeup thing. Murray is trying to send them a message saying that he's going to trade some players, but it seems to me that it's only talk to scare the players into playing well. I don't know why he'd be throwing a GM's name out there...it doesn't make sense.

The official story on Murray dropping Fletcher's name:

According to Russo - the best Wild beat writer - he talked to Murray about it and Murray said that he and Fletcher go way, way back and they were chatting for quite some time about the importance of a fast start. Murray said, tongue-in-cheek, that Fletcher gave him advice.

Russo thinks it'll come down to this weekend's games for both Minny and Ottawa, but says that Murray appears to be after a 'rugged D-man' and that potentially, Greg Zanon fits that bill.