The New York Islanders have a goalie problem.
One of the best stories of the first quarter-plus of the NHL season, the Islanders are suddenly finding themselves struggling through December. They have just three wins in 10 games this month, the latest a 6-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings despite outshooting their opponent 37-22.
In seven of their 10 games this month the Isles have allowed at least four goals and the latest loss knocked the team’s save percentage to the very bottom of the league.
After Wednesday’s game, head coach Doug Weight was asked about the situation in net and whether he still had confidence in Thomas Greiss and Jaroslav Halak. The coach appeared frustrated and irritated, but did his best to stand behind his two struggling netminders.
“Yes I have confidence in my goalies of course I do … I’m pissed off,” Weight started. “They’re having a rough time right now.
“Yes they’re struggling and every shot seems like it’s perfectly placed; the last two I’m looking at them, I don’t think anybody in the world saved them,” he continued. “But it gets in your head and you feel like you can’t give any up. They’re working. Tommy was aggressive today … but it’s finding its way in, it’s disappointing. I mean the shots were 32-10 and it’s a 3-3 game.”
The latest loss puts the Islanders in the East’s last wild-card spot, just two points up on the Pittsburgh Penguins with a game in hand.
While Halak is having a poor season by his standards with a .905 save percentage there’s at least a silver lining in his high-danger save percentage, which sits 10th among all goalies who’ve played 10 games at .833.
But Greiss, who allowed five goals on 21 shots in Tuesday’s loss, has an awful .883 save rate and has allowed at least five goals in four of his six December games. His high-danger save percentage is troubling, too, at .698, which doesn’t suggest a major turnaround is on the way.
“We’re still in a good spot, it’s just tough,” Weight finished.
For the past couple years prior to 2017-18, the Islanders had a third option in net with J.F. Berube, whose presence pushed Halak to the AHL for a time last season. But with Berube now in the Blackhawks organization, the Isles will be forced into the trade market for any significant change, or to their current AHL option for a short-term fix.
Arthur Staple, who asked Weight about his goalies in this clip from Tuesday, was on the Tape to Tape Podcast last week where he talked about the team’s struggles in net and potential solutions. [sidebar]
“I’m sure Garth Snow has looked around to see what’s out there and goaltending is such an odd position when it comes to trades, what teams value what teams don’t value. You hear names like Robin Lehner perhaps being out there, a pending RFA. Do you take a shot at him who’s got decent numbers on a terrible team?
“It’s hard to find a low-risk, high-value situation and what sort of value the Islanders place on that. They do have extra draft picks, but whether they want to give up a decent one to get the likes of Jimmy Howard who’s got a year at over $5-million cap hit and the uncertainty with Tavares and a few of their other free agents going into next season, it just depends on whether they want to make that kind of commitment.
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“I think for now they feel OK about having these two guys and balancing them out to get the most out of either one. I don’t know if that’s worked out the way they’ve wanted through 31 games. Maybe they have an easier fix. They have Christopher Gibson, the former Leafs prospect, in the AHL who’s put up decent numbers so far this year and has played a little bit in the NHL for them so maybe that’s more of a short-term solution while they keep looking at the trade market as we inch closer to February and the trade deadline, but I’m sure they’d like to have a goaltender they could throw in their for four or five straight and get some consistency. And even I think they thought they were there with Halak.”
On top of their own first- and second-rounder in the 2018 draft, the Islanders also have Calgary’s first two picks, acquired in the Travis Hamonic trade last summer. Perhaps Wednesday’s announcement that the Islanders will be granted the winning bid to build a new arena at the Belmont Park site will encourage the GM to be more aggressive on improving this year’s team, as the news makes it more likely Tavares will stay beyond this season.
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