Once Robin Lehner went down with hip surgery which forced him to miss the entirety of the 2022-23 season, there were questions in the goal leading up to the season as to whether the Golden Knights might trade for a true #1 starter or have Logan Thompson step up and take that spot.
Through training camp, Thompson has emerged as the #1 goalie for Vegas as he is trying to prove to fans why we should consider him a true #1 goalie in the league. Many people playing fantasy would have drafted Logan Thompson if they were smart.
Thompson has it all in front of him. It’s his net to lose. This season, he is poised to emerge as the #1 starter for Vegas.
With a team that has Jack Eichel under for a full 82 game season, and they are much healthier than last season – there should be no reason they miss the playoffs. People might be skeptical about the Golden Knights due to the question mark in net. No one truly knows how good Thompson is and how far he can take this team.
In 19 games last season, he finished with a record of 10-5-3, posting a .914SV% and a 2.68GAA. He went through all the ranks to get to where he is today. From USPORTS playing with Brock University to being called up and sent down when he was in the ECHL. He played a few seasons in the AHL, and now he is the starting goalie for a team with playoff aspirations after failing to qualify for the first time in franchise history.
Once Logan Thompson proves himself as the true #1 starter, that leaves Robin Lehner as a potential trade chip. Lehner is currently making $5M for the next two seasons. On the surface, it doesn’t make sense to trade Lehner because he signed an extension with the team in 2020, but the Knights, like other teams, are so cap-strapped that they may have to trade Lehner due to how tight money is.
Another wrinkle if you were to trade Lehner is that he has a modified no-trade clause and has to submit a list with five teams he does not want to get traded to.
Thompson’s and Lehner’s contracts end in 2025-26, which is something to note for two reasons. One is because you don’t want to have that cloud of “Who is going to get extended” going into the 2024-25 season. Another reason is that the cap situation across the league could look vastly different, with teams getting more cap relief as the cap increases. Furthermore, as part of the front office, you probably don’t want Lehner to walk for nothing, so you have to make up your mind during the 2024-25 season.
Also noteworthy of Thompson’s performance last season is he started in 15 of the final 20 games, and his record during that stretch was 9-3-3, on a team decimated with injuries. All three regulation losses were due to the opposing team’s goaltender getting a shutout, and all three OTL’s were shootout losses in which the VGK shooters were stonewalled.