Robin Lehner throws medical staff of the Buffalo Sabres under the zamboni

The former Sabres goaltender had some harsh allegations against how his old team handled his injuries.

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HockeyFeed
Published 2 years ago
Robin Lehner throws medical staff of the Buffalo Sabres under the zamboni
Sabres Noise

Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner has become a champion for the important cause of mental health in recent years after detailing his own struggles over the course of his life, and working to overcome them. 

But it was during his tenure with the Buffalo Sabres that his life was arguably in the darkest of spots, and in addition to his mental struggles, Lehner explains that the team did him no favors from a physical injury standpoint, either. 

"The Buffalo people are great," Lehner told former NHLer Cam Janssen and St. Louis Blues rinkside reporter Andy Strickland on their "The Cam and Strick Podcast. "I made a lot of Buffalo friends, I really did. The problem was, I came to Buffalo through a difficult trade with me going through a very complicated concussion from Ottawa the year before, when the Hamburglar (Andrew Hammond) went in and went 20-0-1 and kicked me out of there *chuckle* I had a crazy summer and got traded from Ottawa to Buffalo, they handled that concussion terribly."

"I came there, and I tear everything in my foot the first game on a slew-foot. It was the 2nd period of a game against Ottawa, of all teams. I tore everything in a high ankle sprain, tore everything in my foot. There were a bunch of problems, they hired like 12 or 13 new people that had never been around hockey. All the medical guys, they took them in from all over the world who had never seen a puck in their lives, and it ended up getting worse and I had surgery at the and of the season because they kept screwing it up."

Dr. Oliver Finlay, the Sabres director of sports performance at the time, was fired less than a year after inking a five year contract with the Sabres in 2015 after several instances of reported pushback from the players. Lehner went on to describe that after his high ankle sprain, the team soon had him undergoing rigorous workouts rather than a more conservative approach. 

“The (stuff) they did to some of the players when I was there and especially to me regarding my ankle sprain, it was crazy, man," Lehner explained. "I had a high ankle sprain. They had me on a bike one week after I had fully torn everything, worst-grade ankle sprain. One week after (the injury), they put me on a bike with a special boot. I should have been walking on it maybe six-to-eight weeks after I got it. They had me doing leg presses with like 300 pounds three weeks into it, and I re-sprained everything and ended up having surgery.”

The Sabres continue to be in the NHL's basement, having not made the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2011 and earning the unfortunate distinction of being the worst regular season team in this most recent campaign. With stories like this from Lehner, it's not very surprising to figure out why. Thankfully, he's been able to escape the doldrums of Buffalo and resurrect his career. 

Source: Bardown