If you haven't been following the strange situation playing out between Vegas Golden Knights goaltender and Philadelphia Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault... well consider yourself lucky, I guess.
Lehner went on an absolute rant this past weekend, sharing stories to Twitter that allege coach Vigneault was responsible for providing Flyers players with unprescribed medications saying things like:
Is it common for work places to give out benzodiazepines to employees when they travel and ambien ? Should that not be done by doctors or psychiatrist?
Philadelphia Flyers? Dinosaur coach treating people robots not human. Fire these dinosaurs. Fire Vigneault first story. I got proof.. try to shake your way out of this one ….
These allegations prompted fans and media to speculate on what Lehner was getting at, with some alleging that Lehner was speaking on behalf of new Vegas teammate and former Flyers top pick Nolan Patrick. The former 2nd overall pick has, of course, had injury issues in his short career and in fact missed an entire season due to an ongoing migraine issue. Was Lehner speaking out for his young teammate?
In any case, these allegations prompted both Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher and for Vigneault to make public statements.
Fletcher: "The health and well-being of our players is our top priority, and any care provided to them comes from the team’s health care professionals, not the coaching staff. We have no reason to believe any of our players have received improper care."
Vigneault: "I consider myself experienced. A dinosaur? You could say with experience you become a dinosaur maybe. But I do know I've been coaching a few years and I am tough, I am demanding but I care about my players. Through the years probably there are some guys who liked me and probably some a little less, but I've done it with the best intention (and) with respect."
Lehner issued a statement himself saying that he did NOT mean to infer that Vigneault himself distributed pills amongst his players. Still... the "fake news" was out there and when asked about it again Vigneault made a bizarre comparison of Lehner's allegations to allegations of COVID-19 vaccine conspiracies and Presidential election fraud.
"Do you believe COVID is real? A lot of people don't," said Vigneault to Flyers reporter Bill Meltzer. "Do you believe vaccines work? Some people believe it doesn't or alters your DNA. Do you believe Pres Biden won the election? A lot of people don't. .... With this thing, some are going to believe it."
Ain't that the truth, AV? Once a story is out there, it doesn't matter whether it's true or not... the damage is already done.
