New York Islanders goalie Robin Lehner has received the 2018-19 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. The award goes to “the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey.”
But as is the case this year, it also acknowledges serious struggles the winner faced.
By now those struggles are well known — by choice — and as Lehner himself noted in the above TSN piece, he knows it affects the contract he can command from the New York Islanders as an unrestricted free agent.
As he courageously explained via a public story on the eve of training camp, a year ago he was dealing with alcohol addiction and a diagnosis of bipolar 1 with manic phases.