Islanders make a heartbreaking move that crushes Lehner!

New York Islanders netminder Robin Lehner has made his summer plans quite clear: he doesn’t plan of meeting with other teams to offer his services as a pending unrestricted free agent goalie. 

"I've got no plans to talk to another team at this point," Lehner told Newsday's Andrew Gross. "From my understanding, that's not (general manager) Lou (Lamoriello's) intention either. Hopefully, it works out so we can finish what we have started."

However, plans might have changed on the Islanders’ side… According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Islanders are holding off on talks with Lehner because they are getting ready to take a shot at UFA goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. 

The Islanders are also waiting on captain Anders Lee to see if they could also get UFA Artemi Panarin to come on board. 

That is quite the heartbreaking blow to Lehner, who recently  took home the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for best exemplifying perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to the sport.

In his acceptance speech, he made sure to note that the Islanders think of the human first, but it seems like here they might have to make a hockey move above the rest… 

The 27-year-old inked on a one-year contract last summer with the Isles, which became one of the season's best signings. Lehner posted a 25-13-5 record along with a .930 save percentage to help the Isles return to the playoffs while only counting for $1.5 million against the cap.

Cap Friendly indicates that New York has has over $20 million in projected cap space this summer, which could be sufficient for both Bobrovsky and Panarin. 

Let’s hope something good comes out of this for Lehner, a man who has won the hearts of every fan across the league…