Reading over Emily Kaplan’s piece for ESPN about every NHL team’s best contract I was surprised to read that Robin Lehner got the nod for the New York Islanders.
It’s not that Lehner’s deal isn’t any good. It’s great. A $1.5 million AAV for a single year to a player that can be a good starter in the league is great.
Keep in mind that a .920 SV% starting goalie can carry an AAV from $3.5 million (Andrei Vasilevskiy) to $7 million (Tuukka Rask). Lehner wasn’t a .920 last season, but in 2016-17 he was.