According to Arthur Staple, the New York Islanders and Robin Lehner are still far apart on contract talks. It feels like he won’t be back in blue and orange.
Yesterday, we got some pretty rattling news from Arthur Staple. Staple reported that the New York Islanders and Robin Lehner are still far apart on contract talks and with time ticking away to July 1, it feels like Lehner is heading elsewhere.
According to the report, Lamoriello wants a shorter term deal for under $5 million while Lehner’s camp wants over $5 million and longer term. Does this mean the Islanders are really going heavy after Sergei Bobrovsky?
Now, replacing Lehner for Bobrovsky straight up is a pretty poor decision. In all likelihood, they will give you similar production but Lehner will be millions of dollars cheaper on the cap than Bobrovsky while also being three years younger.
The difference is if the Islanders are looking to get the tandem of Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky that changes things a little bit. It’s been rumored that Panarin and Bob are a package deal if that’s the case the Isles have to suck it up and take the goalie as well.
Ideally, you keep Lehner for $5 million and just sign Panarin but if you have to give up $20 million in cap space to bring both of these guys in I think you have to do it, just because of how badly the Islanders need Panarin.
Now, if Panarin and Bobrovsky choose Florida and both Lehner and Anders Lee leave the Islanders are royally screwed and you can absolutely begin to question Lou Lamoriello because that would be an utter disaster for the second July 1 in a row.
We are now three days away from July 1 and it’s officially getting uncomfortable.
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