Lehner has Support From Isles After Revealing Personal Struggles

Robin Lehner revealed his battles with addiction and bipolar 1 diagnosis in a self-written article published Thursday morning in The Athletic.
The Islanders goalie detailed his struggles with alcohol, sleeping pills, depression and suicidal thoughts and his subsequent trip to rehab in the first-person article. After entering rehab in Arizona, Lehner was diagnosed bipolar 1 with manic phases, which he further chronicled in the story. Lehner completed his stint in rehab over the summer and is now clean, healthy and ready for his first season with the Islanders, which he wrote will be his first sober season in the NHL.
The story broke before his first availability with the Islanders media contingent and the 27-year-old spoke about his motivations for releasing the highly personal portrait.

"It was extremely hard," Lehner said. "The main reason I did it was to hopefully help someone else have an easier time going through what I've gone through and maybe someone in the league or maybe someone out there. It's been an emotional couple of days, but I feel good to have it out and am ready to move forward."

Lehner said Islanders General Manager Lou Lamoriello and Head Coach Barry Trotz were both fully aware of Lehner's situation and were fully supportive of the goaltender when he signed a one-year deal with the club.
"We've been extremely honest about my rehabilitation to every team and as I said in the piece there's a few things that I've been hesitant about which is unfortunate in this day and age," Lehner said. "But the first time I talked to Lou and Trotz I was surprised about their response, they didn't think anything of it, they were just happy I'm here and healthy and that's great."
"Full support," Lehner added. "Sometimes it's more than hockey. It's just my reality, my truth and a lot of things happened this summer and obviously I started over, started over in a new organization. I took a step backwards to hopefully take a few forward this year."
Trotz commended Lehner for his openness and said the organization will be there to support the goalie throughout the season.

"Total support and understanding it's a process and a day to day battle for him," Trotz said. "He is a talented young man who can help us, but we need to help him."
"The way I've been, I know with Lou's values and the organizational values that are in place, it's about the person first," Trotz added. "If we can get the person to be the best person he can be then he's going to be a better player. It starts with the person before the Xs and Os."
Lehner spent the past three seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, posting a 42-61-22 record with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage. He said he's looking forward to starting a new chapter with a new team and that he's in a good place physically and mentally.
"I never felt better in my life," Lehner said. "Finally, I got a diagnosis of something and have medication for it. Been a lot of experimenting, but I feel great and obviously I didn't have that before. As I said in the piece, this is going to be my first sober season and I don't think it's going to hurt me, so I'm looking forward to it."

The 6'4 goalie earned praise from his new teammates both for his play on the ice and for his decision to disclose his previous struggles.
"I think it was really brave," Thomas Hickey said. "Hockey is a safe place once you get in the room. It's going to be on us as teammates to help him out and make sure he's doing okay because I can't imagine going through those things and it'll help him to have all of us on his side."
As for the season, Lehner said he's eager to begin the season feeling happy and healthy and appreciates all the support from the organization.
"I'm extremely excited to be here," Lehner said. "I feel like it's a great group of guys, very mature group and I feel like management and the direction this organization is going is very encouraging and I look forward to starting a new chapter here."