This tells the Swede in a letter published by The Athletic.

After undergoing a rehabilitation program, he was diagnosed with bipolar.

The 27-year-old goalkeeper, who has played in North America for the past nine seasons, made 53 games for the Buffalo Sabers this past season. And it was in a match with the team at the end of March that Lehner's problems culminated.

The goalkeeper was forced to interrupt the away game in the intermission between the second and third period against the Detroit Red Wings after having panic anxiety.

He went home with a bag of beer and took sleeping pills to fall asleep.

Something, as he writes, became a habit after New Year. But the abuse of both alcohol and tablets had been going on for many years.

"I drank a bag of beer a day to calm my demons and then took pills to sleep."

He was close to taking his life several times.

"The thought of ending everything ... they were real and close," he writes.

After the season, he was helped by the NHL and the players' union and enrolled in a treatment home in Arizona.

“The detoxification took three weeks. I was told that my detoxification was the worst they have seen, ”he writes.

He was diagnosed as bipolar with ADHD and post-traumatic stress disorder.

This summer, Robin Lehner signed a one-year contract with the New York Islanders and writes:

“I had never had a sober hockey season throughout my career ... But now the reality is another. I can focus on my career ”.

CLIP: See Lehner talk about the culture of silence in the NHL

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