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Robin Lehner could be the Big Fish at the Deadline.

November 7, 2019, 11:05 AM ET [65 Comments]
Eklund
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The Hawks have struggled and if you only watch the highlights you probably are feeling like Robin Lehner isn't having a good season...There's a reason for that...The Hawks are just terrible defensively and Robin Lehner has always been the kind of goalie whose style can make him look less than elegant when allowing goals.

Many probably are saying Lehner, who was a Vezina finalist last year, has been a disappointment in Chicago....the reality is he hasn't been. At all.

Lehner has played in 9 games and is 3-3-2, but his save percentage is .935, putting him at 5th in the NHL and his GAA is 2.33...making him 12th among the 50 NHL goalies who have played the 65 goalies who have played so far in the 19-20 season.

Comparing Lehner to Corey Crawford is even more eye-opening....Crawford is 1-4-0 with a 3.74GAA and .883 save percentage.

One thing regarding goalies that I always find interesting and yet goes largely overlooked is something I call, "The Goalie Trust Factor." This is essentialy, "How much do players trust their goalie?" This is hard to quantify via stats, but one number you can look at is the percentage if power-play goals a team allows with that keeper in net. This works on two levels.

#1 The goalie is your biggest PK player. Killing off a power play gives a team confidence.

#2. How many goals a keeper gives up on the PK tells you alot about how often a team takes penalties with that keeper in net. The theory here is a team with confidence in their goalie won't feel the need to pulldown, clutch or grab a player who has beaten them...also a confident team is more likely on the attack where they will likely draw more penalties than take them.


So far, Lehner has given up a total of 19 goals with only 2 of them coming down a man. Crawford has given up a total of 22 goals but SEVEN of them have come a man down. Crawford has only played in 6 games. Lehner has played in 9.

And the Hawks are not looking like a playoff team at this point, which makes Lehner perhaps the best option in the NHL for a team with Cup aspirations.

Who needs a goalie?

We will get into that soon and on the Rumor Chart...slated to launch in the next 24 hours.



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