Robin Lehner Snubbed For All-Rookie Team?

The NHL announced its all-rookie team on Saturday, and most of the picks were no-brainers.  The forwards consisted of the three Calder Trophy nominees – winner Jonathan Huberdeau, Brandon Saad and Brendan Gallagher.  The defensemen were also pretty obvious, with Jonas Brodin and Justin Schultz being honured. I would agree with all of those picks based on the season.

The goaltender pick is where I have a slight issue.  There were 4 goalies with more than 6 games played who had rookie status:  Jakob Markstrom, Jake Allen, Robin Lehner and Richard Bachman.

May 17, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Ottawa Senators goalie Robin Lehner (40) makes a save against Pittsburgh Penguins center Joe Vitale (46) during the second period in game two of the second round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at CONSOL Energy Center. The Pittsburgh Penguins won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The NHL (through the Professional Hockey Writers Association) named Allen the top rookie goaltender with a record of 9-4-0.  While NHL.com had the writeup today it looked like this:

Meanwhile, when you compare Allen’s numbers to those or Robin Lehner, you see that the Ottawa goalie had better SP and GAA than his St. Louis counterpart.

Maybe it is because Allen played 15 games (13 starts) as opposed to Lehner’s 12 games (all of them starts).  Is three games (1 start) for a goaltender in a shortened season significant enough of a difference to snub Lehner.  I am not sure what the cutoff line was in terms of games played, and that could be a factor.   Lehner only allowed 3 goals or more 4 times, while Allen did it 7 times.  There is your 3 extra games.  Allen got more goal support while Lehner didn’t get much at all.

Allen wasn’t a bad pick, I just think voters were enamoured with Allen’s wins and not the actual performance by the goalies.