An independent blog on the New York Islanders, the NHL and AHL by a guy from New York.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

KoC Isles 2016 Free Agency, Part 3


With the likes of Ilya Sorokin and the other guys (Eamon McAdam, Linus Soderstrom and Stephon Williams) in the Isles system, the Islanders goal-tending prospects look really strong for the future.  But the play of 24 year old Jean-Francois Berube (2009, 4th round, 95th overall pick for LA) certainly got him noticed with the chance to show what he could do with the Islanders right now.  Berube was 3-2-1 (2.71gaa & a .914Sv%) with New York last season after being claimed off waivers from the Kings last year.  The standout AHL net minder led the league in wins (37) and his Monarchs' team to a 13 win Calder Cup championship run in 2015.  Today, Garth Snow signed the arbitration eligible, RFA to a one-way, $675K NHL deal to once again make Berube the 3rd goaltender on the Islanders roster.  While Snow has used multiple goalies several times in his tenure as Isles GM, this may be more than just a safety measure for New York.  

Jaroslav Halak was huge for New York [career highs in games (59), minutes (3550) & wins (38)] in the 2014-15 campaign and made it known that he didn’t like being 1 of 3 guys in net.  "I like it here, but they just have to decide which way they want to go for next season," said Halak. "J-F is a young goalie, Greisser played well all season long. So we'll see."  Halak missed several games while day-to-day or on the IR last season as the Isles starting goaltender, including the final 17 games of the year and did not appear in the playoffs due to a nagging groin injury.  So for now, JF Berube gets to use another year as a rostered regular to show the new ownership what he can do.  Thomas Greiss had the same shot last year and he made the most of it.  



What will Berube do with his first full season audition?





Sound Tigers Notes:



Ryan Strome and Alan Quine are RFA’s that remain unsigned from the Isles roster last season.


Per Michael Fornabaio, “The Bridgeport Sound Tigers announced today that forwards Kellen Jones, Josh Winquist and Aaron Berisha, as well as defenseman Luke Juha have agreed to terms on one-year American Hockey League contracts.”



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