I really do worry about how the threat of losing every single night is going to affect the mindset of Robin Lehner as he continues to progress within the Senators organization. I know that people are going to be excited to see him play every single night and there’s no doubt in my mind that he should be given the start tonight against Detroit, but I just wonder how much damage is going to occur as the losses pile up for the team and are credited on the young man’s record. What’s the old saying again? Winning cures all? Well, it may not necessarily cure all, but it certainly cures a lot and can sometimes even mask deficiencies that a team or player may truly have.
For example, in Lehner’s first start, the 19-year-old looked nervous and shaky as he went the full 60 minutes against the Islanders. He gave 4 goals in that game and had a save percentage of .833, but he won, so all was right in the world. The rook had made it through his opening start. Fast forward to last night where Lehner looked spectacular at times as the Sens were badly out-shot in a 2-1 defeat to the deserving Devils. Lehner was great in only his second start, but the shine from that performance goes away because the team wasn’t able to win.
If he’s to go into the cage tonight against the Red Wings and the Sens put up another stinker in which they have 4 shots at the halfway point of the game and 6 shots after two periods, Robin Lehner will be giving up more than two goals, I promise. To me, this is where the danger really comes into play. How does a 19-year-old handle the idea of being pulled out of a hockey game despite the fact that he’s doing all he can to keep his team in the game?
What happens if this scenario plays out multiple times over the course of the final 31 games? If the losing continues, what you could end up having is a goaltender that is mentally unstable because his confidence is shot and he believes that he has to be superman to win a game on any given night. Or, you have a confident goaltender (despite the losing) who realizes that this team may not be the best for his career and could want out of a losing situation and be put into a winning one.
I understand that I could be getting way ahead of myself and that Lehner could end up in an opposite position by being the catalyst to a great Senators rebuild with some stellar play, but with the way this season has turned into a complete disaster for the Senators, it would be foolish to overlook the possibility of how things could go even worse for this team in the long-run. After all, anything that could go wrong has gone wrong for the Sens this season.