Golden Knights Robin Lehner says he will not join Team Sweden for the Olympics
Golden Knights goalkeeper Robin Lehner said he will not participate in the 2022 Olympics.
Lehner, after Sunday’s 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames, said he turned down the opportunity to play for Team Sweden in Beijing in February. These games could be the first Olympics with NHL players since 2014.
“For health reasons, my psychiatrist and I decided with agents that I would not go,” Lehner said. “I wish them all the best.”
Lehner might have been Sweden’s starting shot if he had decided to leave. He is one of the country’s top goalkeepers along with Calgary’s Jacob Markström, whom he beat on Sunday. The other Swedish NHL goalkeepers are Boston’s Linus Ullmark, Colorado’s Jonas Johansson and Ottawa’s Anton Forsberg and Filip Gustavsson.
Lehner has been open about his battle with mental health and substance abuse. He won the NHL’s Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy 2019 for “perseverance, athleticism and dedication to hockey.” He has been an advocate for mental health for years.
The Knights are likely to still have plenty of representatives in Beijing if the NHL finally goes. Coach Pete DeBoer and head of hockey operations Misha Donskov are on Team Canada’s coaching staff and defender Alex Pietrangelo has been named to the list. Captain Mark Stone and defender Shea Theodore are making strong efforts to join them.
Left wing Max Pacioretty may be part of Team USA after playing in the 2014 Olympics. Center William Karlsson will probably be part of Team Sweden.
Other Olympic hopefuls are right-wingers Evgenii Dadonov (Russian Olympic Committee) and Jonas Rondbjerg (Denmark) and left-wingers Jonathan Marchessault (Canada), Mattias Janmark (Sweden) and Sven Baertschi (Switzerland).
Contact Ben Gotz at [email protected]. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.