ST. LOUIS — Tuesday was Malcolm Subban’s first day with the Blackhawks, and he stayed quiet and to the outside of the locker room while adjusting to his new teammates.
That’s what most new players do.
But that’s not at all what Robin Lehner, upon arriving in Chicago at the start of training camp, did.
“Sometimes you’re not too sure how those strong personalities are going to fit into a locker room, especially right away,” Jonathan Toews said Tuesday. “A lot of guys dip their toes in the water when they come to a new team.”
“But Lenny just jumped right in.”
Lehner indeed held nothing back, on or off the ice, throughout his eventful and unforgettable — if ultimately brief — tenure with the Hawks.
His booming, sometimes snarky, always honest voice constantly filled the room, even during the depressing times when other players only murmured.
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He always spoke boldly in the face of popular opinion and hockey custom. He detailed his free-agent negotiation process the day he signed; he declared the Hawks playoff-caliber during their disastrous October homestand; he told reporters when he felt their coverage was misguided, and when it was accurate; he owned up to his shootout frustrations, and his elation when he finally won one. He distinguished himself as a player like no other in the NHL, for better or worse.
And yet his tenure abruptly ended with his Monday deadline trade to the Golden Knights, fetching Subban, a prospect and a draft pick in return. In the end, he made just 31 starts for the Hawks, winning 16 of them but struggling in the final weeks.
For his old teammates, this sudden, involuntarily divorce has been tough to immediately accept.
“I told him many times that he helped me as a captain,” Toews said. “He helped some of our veteran guys — that have been here a long time — wake up to get back to what makes us good players and good leaders, and try and get this team going in the right direction. He brought a lot in the short time he was here. Even today, you feel that absence.”
“It’s never fun to see teammates go, so there’s definitely some mixed feelings,” Patrick Kane added. “The way he played and how good he was all year, you thought that [re-signing him] might be the route [Hawks management] were going to go. I guess you never really know in this business.”
Nobody spent more time with Lehner this year than Alex Nylander, who lived with Lehner, his wife Donya and their children from the start of the year.
Although Nylander isn’t losing his home in the trade — Lehner’s family is staying in Chicago for now — he did lose a crucial mentor in his NHL development.
“He tells me what he sees and what’s good and what’s bad, just like it should be,” Nylander said Tuesday. “That’s obviously been really good, been exactly how I wanted it to be, just to make me get better as a player and as a person.”
Nylander laughed when asked if it will be weird not hearing Lehner’s voice in the locker room, because of course it will be weird. The 28-year-old Swede wasn’t just a part of the chatter — he was the chatter. His departure is like a bee losing its buzz.
And that’s going to take some time for the Hawks to adjust to.
“You felt his presence every time he walked into the room,” Toews said. “[If] you’ve got a guy like that around who brings it every day, you’re going to feel that loss for sure.”
