“Robin Lehner” by NHL is licensed under CC BY 3.0

In their first season as an NHL expansion franchise in 2017-18, the Vegas Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup final before succumbing to the eventual champion Washington Capitals. 

As this spring’s playoffs draw nearer, Vegas is once more a top contender to win the Stanley Cup again in 2021. Currently, the Golden Knights are listed by the best sports betting sites as the co-second choice in the Stanley Cup odds at +700.

However, Vegas goalie Robin Lehner isn’t going out of his way to win any favors from the NHL brass. Lehner blasted the league recently over its response to players being vaccinated against COVID-19. He insists that the NHL hasn’t kept promises about relaxing some COVID-19 protocols for players once they were fully vaccinated.

Claims Word Wasn’t Kept

Lehner stated that players were shown the NBA’s plan for relaxing protocols once players were vaccinated. “[When] X amount of players leaders in this team or leaders around the league takes this vaccine, a new set of rules are going to come out,” Lehner told the CBC. He indicated that players were led to believe that this would be the case once vaccines were administered.

“They told me . . . they’re surveying all the teams to see who has taken the vaccine and who has not taken the vaccines and they’re not going to change the rules for us as players until all the teams have a fair, have the vaccines at the same time, so it’s not a competitive edge,” Lehner continued. “They’re talking about competitive edge instead of human lives. Competitive edge, human lives. We’re humans, too.”

Lehner, who suffers from bi-polar disorder, described the current restrictive situation for himself as totally unacceptable. 

“Look at the NBA, NFL and the other leagues,” Lehner said. “They’ve already implemented these things. And now we are, we are vaccinated and we’re still going to be trapped in a prison.”

The NHL was quick to counter Lehner’s complaints. “Nobody from the league has communicated to any player or club that any of our COVID protocols would be ‘relaxed’ for any player once he is vaccinated,” a league spokesperson said.

MLB Relaxes Protocols

Major League Baseball recently instituted new COVID-19 protocols that take effect once a team has a minimum of 85 percent of its personnel vaccinated. Teams that have met this requirement may gather without masks in hotel rooms, carpool together, play cards on airplanes, eat at restaurants, meet outdoors while on the road with anyone of their choosing and stay at personal residences when traveling.

They are no longer required to wear masks while exercising, in the dugout or in the bullpen. There’s no need for them to inform a team compliance officer when leaving the hotel and they have the option of decreasing their COVID-19 testing to twice per week. As long as they remain asymptomatic, players who come in close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19 won’t be required to quarantine. 

Clubhouse amenities such as pool tables, card tables, saunas, steam rooms and video game systems can once again be utilized by fully vaccinated players.

 “MLB empty stadium” by Ezra Shaw/Getty  is licensed under CC BY 3.0 

Canadian Vaccination Scenario A Problem For NHL

While vaccinations are being well distributed in the United States, that’s simply not been the case in Canada. This is creating a unique problem for the NHL. It’s the only one of the four major North American sports leagues with teams currently situated in Canada. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Winnipeg Jets, Ottawa Senators, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks all play in the Canadian-only North Division.

The two other Canadian major pro franchises – the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays – are both playing their entire schedules in U.S. locations.

“It all comes down to the government guidelines, and it’s out of our control,” U.S.-born Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck told Sportsnet. “You definitely see the States getting out the vaccinations well and it’s very good, very nice, and it’d be nice to see that in Canada, but I don’t know the logistics of it all.”

Only 2.71 percent of Canadians are fully vaccinated, compared to 29 percent of Americans. 

“There’s two different countries, different roles, different situations,” Swedish-born Flames forward Mikael Backlund said. “Nothing we can do about it, really. So, we just have to wait for our turn.