Goalie controversy between Fleury and Lehner gets worse in Vegas!

The goalie controversy in Vegas has been at the front and centre of the Golden Knights’s playoff run ever since head coach Peter DeBoer always seemed to favour Robin Lehner over Marc-Andre Fleury. 

On Thursday, the bench boss didn’t back down and does not regret anything, standing by his decision to play Lehner instead of Flower as his team’s starting goaltender in the postseason.

“We made that tough decision and I don’t regret that,” DeBoer told NHL.com’s Danny Webster .

There is no doubt that Lehner was great throughout the playoffs, and also Fleury performed admirably in his limited opportunities. However, there seemed to have some chance when Flower could have taken over, but wasn’t given the chance. Lehner wasn’t at his best during the Western Conference final against the Dallas Stars: after recording a 24-save shutout in Game 2, Lehner posted an .884 save percentage in Games 3, 4, and 5.

“Robin played at an elite level, and Flower played at a very good level,” DeBoer added. 

DoBoer was called out by Fleury’s agent Allan Walsh when he posted an image that implied DeBoer stabbed Fleury in the back on his personal Twitter account. Jesse Granger for The Athletic suggested that Flower’s defense of his agent has given the impression the veteran goalie didn’t disagree with Walsh’s provocative post criticizing his client’s lack of playing time… This has prompted many insiders and pundits, including Granger, to wonder if Fleury is looking to move from Vegas, wanting to be traded once the postseason comes to an end.

On Tuesday, Granger revealed in The Athletic that Fleury is expected to have submitted his revised list of teams that he cannot be traded to as part of the modified no-trade clause in his contract. The deadline was yesterday and Granger can only imagine that Flower did so as a precaution, seeing that the Golden Knights intend to sign Robin Lehner to a long-term contract.

We all know Flower is a team guy, but he may want more than what he is getting with the Golden Knights. Fleury has two years left on his contract while Lehner will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end. If the Knights choose to keep and re-sign Lehner to a large contract, Granger believes they could face having between $12 – $14 million invested just in between the pipes and they would have to move on from Fleury.

And it sounds like if we ask DoBoer’s pick, his choice has been made since the very start of the postseason…