Well, that escalated quickly.
Early Saturday evening Allan Walsh, agent to two of the three goalies currently on the New York Islanders roster (Jean-Francois Berube and Jaroslav Halak), sent out a couple of tweets questioning the wisdom of the team carrying three netminders. He suggested the goalies weren’t getting enough practice in a crowded crease and pointed out this is the second season the team has chosen to do this.
While Halak and Thomas Greiss have gotten all the starts so far, the team does not want to put Berube on waivers, where he would be a prime candidate to be claimed by another club.
The Islanders have given no official comment on the matter yet, but Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman tweeted late in the evening that word is GM Garth Snow is now shopping Halak.
Halak is the most expensive of the three goalies, making $4.5 million against the salary cap. He’s also the only one signed beyond this season, with a contract that expires after 2017-18. Berube, 25, will be an RFA at the end of the season while Greiss, 30, is set to become a UFA.
It’s well known the Los Angeles Kings are in the market for a goalie since starter Jonathan Quick is expected to miss at least three months, but they have less than $1 million in cap space at the moment. The Dallas Stars, who have approximately $2 million in cap space, spent parts of the summer trying to upgrade on their tandem of Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen, but surely they’d want to move one of them out before taking on another goalie.
Some other potential candidates could be the San Jose Sharks, Ottawa Senators, Carolina Hurricanes and Winnipeg Jets.
