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TRAIKOS: Vegas goalie Robin Lehner airs grievances in stream of consciousness tweets aimed at Jack Eichel, pain pills and ‘dinosaur’ coaches

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It was at 8:37 p.m. on Oct. 1 when Robin Lehner determined he couldn’t be silent anymore and took a stand for participant rights in the one means he knew how.

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“The place is the @nhlpa and all nhl gamers in all this assaults on our freedom of selection?” the Vegas Golden Knights goalie and “proud bipolar particular person” tweeted from his private account.

“Jack state of affairs is loopy to me … When does the hypocrisy finish? #lifeaftercareer”.

Jack is Jack Eichel, the Buffalo Sabres centre who was stripped of his captaincy on the primary day of coaching camp, largely as a result of he requested a commerce final summer time, but additionally as a result of he failed his bodily after refusing to bear the team-prescribed surgical procedure for a herniated disc.

Lehner, who performed with Eichel for 3 seasons in Buffalo, doesn’t respect how the staff is dealing with the matter. Lehner believes that Eichel, who needs a special kind of surgical procedure than what the staff’s medical doctors have suggested, ought to have the ultimate say over his physique. Extra importantly, he believes the union and its membership ought to be backing Eichel in a difficulty that not solely impacts his profession, but additionally his high quality of life.

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“@NHLPA it’s disappointing,” tweeted Lehner. “All I obtained to say. Identical with nhl gamers not sticking up for one another. Keep in mind subsequent time is you…”

That wasn’t all Lehner stated. What began out as a tweet about Eichel’s most popular selection of surgical procedure advanced right into a stream of consciousness assault on the NHL, the NHLPA, in addition to staff medical doctors for improperly prescribing ache medicines “with out prescriptions” and “dinosaur coaches” for treating their gamers like robots.

Lehner alleged that psychoactive medicine, like benzodiazepines and Ambien, are frequently handed out to gamers for journey and to assist with sleep. He referred to as for Philadelphia Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault to be fired for a way he handled gamers. He tweeted about how the Sabres “screwed my ankle … huge time,” which triggered him to bear surgical procedure after which get hooked on ache treatment that despatched him spiralling right into a darkish area.

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The 30-year-old, who has since performed for 3 groups prior to now three years, stated he doesn’t need that to occur to Eichel. Extra importantly, Lehner doesn’t need what’s at present occurring to Eichel — a staff holding a participant hostage by deciding what therapy to bear — to occur to anybody else within the league.

“I’m 100% an nhl fan,” Lehner tweeted on Oct. 2. “Love hockey and need the nhl to be nice. I’m not making an attempt to destroy something. However do what’s proper. It’s time to stroll away from the previous methods and in to the brand new. Issues have to vary. I discuss means an excessive amount of and I nonetheless have 90% filter on. Don’t make me take it away.”

On Sunday, the NHLPA reportedly obtained in contact with Lehner to listen to extra about these allegations. So did the NHL, with commissioner Gary Bettman telling Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek that, “We take his issues very severely. You don’t should Tweet to get our consideration.”

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On the similar time, now that Lehner has everybody’s consideration, it’s troublesome to know the place to start.

Whereas every thing that Lehner stated is regarding, it was additionally very complicated. What initially started as a tweet about Eichel’s well being and the way the union wants to face up for the rights of their members grew to become buried beneath a torrent of half-truths, second-hand information and unsubstantiated rumours relating to a random coach that Lehner had by no means even performed for.

“I don’t know the younger man,” Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault informed reporters on Monday, who tried to make gentle of Lehner’s accusations. “I’m pushing tablets? I don’t want one other earnings. I don’t know the place that comes from. I don’t know what else to say. “It’s the Nationwide Hockey League. It’s not the Slap Shot period.”

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Following Vigneault’s feedback, Lehner went into defence mode and backtracked on the insinuation that Vigneault had pushed tablets on his gamers. In the meantime, former NHLer Tom Sestito praised Lehner for “standing up for the better good” and shared a private story that backed up Lehner’s claims relating to the distribution of ache medicines.

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“The quantity of vitamin T (Toradol) and Ambien I used to be given is insane,” Sestito tweeted. “Because the NHL is getting lots youthful these youngsters ought to know what they’re strolling into … you’re taught to consider that the medical doctors have your greatest curiosity the place that’s not all the time the case. And no they don’t clarify all of the medicine they supply.”

As Sestito tweeted this, Lehner once more went into defence mode and backtracked on the insinuation that Vigneault had pushed tablets on his gamers. By then, after all, Lehner’s preliminary level relating to Eichel and a participant’s freedom of selection relating to surgical procedure had misplaced which means. Nobody was speaking about Eichel anymore, which is unlucky, as a result of it is a matter that must be addressed — and addressed rapidly.

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We’re simply over every week away from the beginning of the season and one of many NHL’s largest stars is unable to play as a result of the Sabres gained’t permit him to bear a surgical procedure that might make him worse. And but, they gained’t commerce him to a different staff, as a result of till his neck will get fastened he has no commerce worth.

It’s a stalemate that might use just a little extra stress to resolve, whether or not it’s coming from Lehner or another person keen to make use of his platform for the better good.

mtraikos@postmedia.com

twitter.com/Michael_Traikos

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