Have a Happy, Healthy & Safe New Year in 2017!
Our New York islanders went into their untimely, but mandatory 5-day NHL break after tonight’s game at the Winnipeg Jets. Casey Cizikas made a return (Beauvillier scratched) and Greiss was in net for an inspired effort as the Islanders won for the 4th time in 5 games, beating Winnipeg 6-2. In that time, they’ve scored at least 4 goals in 5 of those games and in 15 straight periods (Hornick). The Isles had 6 different players (Kulemin, Tavares, Prince, Strome, Lee & Ladd) score a goal. Anders Lee added his team-leading 14th goal and Josh Bailey, his team-leading 19th assist. They will remain at an NHL .500, 15-15-6 after 36 games over their bye-week, but have once again looked as if they are starting to find a groove. They are at Colorado on Friday, 1/6 and Arizona, Saturday, 1/7. It was great response and a character win for New York.
Yesterday,
Garth Snow elected to place starting goaltender, Jaroslav Halak (62-38-13 in 3
seasons with Isles) on waivers after a soft performance in a 6-4 loss against
the Wild, snapping a 3 game winning streak. Halak, apparently, refused to speak
to the media after the loss and it may have been the last straw of what has
become a negative image of the former All-Star goaltender. He hasn’t been happy
with the team for some time. Halak is under
contract for the rest of this season ($2.5M) and the next, with a $4.5M cap
hit. I felt it was only a matter of time that either Halak or Berube were moved
based on the comments of shared agent, Allan Walsh. If you recall, Walsh
complained that the trio of Isles goaltenders weren’t getting enough ice time and that it
was having a negative impact on their game and the success of the team. The
Islanders then made Halak available for trade. It’s no surprise that this kind
of attention brought about by a player’s agent probably didn’t sit well with
Garth Snow. Eric Hornick reminded us that it was the 2nd time in 3 months that
New York waived (P.A. Parenteau claimed by Devils) one of Walsh’s clients.
Halak’s record
was 6-8-5 with a 3.23gaa and a .904Sv% this season. Yesterday, Eric Hornick
mentioned that in 2016, Halak is 14-15-6, .908Sv% and a 2.94gaa, 2 shut outs
while Greiss was (8-5-0, 2.48gaa, .922Sv% this season) is 20-11-2,
.918Sv%2.59gaa and no shut outs. Greiss’ 9th win of the season
tonight (30/32 with a .941Sv%) was a big one for both he and his team.
Halak was struggling despite coming off a solid World Cup Tournament effort over the summer. So if Greiss and Berube are part of the Isles future in net, UFA Thomas Greiss needs to be re-signed for next season and to remain an RFA, JF Berube needs to play in 28 of the remaining 46 games. When I polled my followers on Twitter, many feel that with the efforts they have seen lately, this was the right move, but aren’t happy with the way and timing of how it went down.
Halak was struggling despite coming off a solid World Cup Tournament effort over the summer. So if Greiss and Berube are part of the Isles future in net, UFA Thomas Greiss needs to be re-signed for next season and to remain an RFA, JF Berube needs to play in 28 of the remaining 46 games. When I polled my followers on Twitter, many feel that with the efforts they have seen lately, this was the right move, but aren’t happy with the way and timing of how it went down.
Could this be the
first change in team culture forced by the new majority ownership or just Garth
Snow adjusting on the fly? Could it be that Snow was unable to trade Halak due
to his poor play lately? Will the next changes to the team fall more freely? The
pressure has to be and should be high for Snow, Capuano and the players on the
ice to start winning consistently and controlling their own destiny. If there needs
to be changes, then they should be done carefully and if they are, could right
the ship. The Penguins were in a
free-fall last year and their mid-season coaching change was a key catalyst in
vaulting them to a Stanley Cup Championship. Will a team president be the thing
that brings a GM or Coaching change and usually, a new direction for the
franchise? The Islanders need to keep riding the surge of players like Ladd and
Lee and rally around something to unify their goal to improve. There needs to
be less “passengers” and more guys ready to consistently outwork whoever they
are set to play against. With this kind of mindset, the winning should be more
likely to come.
The truth is
Jaroslav Halak had a great start to his Islanders stint, and began to fall off. On Twitter,
@ReganKingIsles mentioned “There are six teams who have enough space to claim
Halak (EDM, OTT, WPG, FLA, NJD, CAR). None of them are going to.” And after
noon today, none of them did. Halak was then assigned to the AHL Sound Tigers
after nearly 400 games of NHL experience and leading Team Europe to a runner-up
finish in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. He will have 48 hours to report to
Bridgeport. I am sure Tigers goaltender’s,
Christopher Gibson, Eamon McAdam and Stephon Williams aren’t too happy about
the demotion either.
Snow had this
to say on Halak, "Coming to the
rink and being the hardest worker, having a great attitude, that's something
that doesn't matter who you are and what position you play and what role you
have in the organization, that's what we expect out of everyone in this
organization … We expect nothing less form Jaro in that regard." JF
Berube should have a big opportunity to show more of what he can do and fight
for a role on this year’s team. Snow mentioned that Berube will see an
increased work load in the last 47 regular season games for New York according
to Cory Wright.
When he is on,
Halak is probably close to a top 10 NHL net minder, but he has struggled this
season and at the $4.5M per season price, no other team was willing to take the
chance. The Islanders needs to feel secure in their goaltending to go out and concentrate
on controlling play in all zones, applying pressure and scoring goals. This is
especially true when they are worrying about giving up early leads or blowing
them late in the game, always having to catch up. So whatever change is coming,
it needs to set them on a steady path to improvement and one that could lead to
consistency.
It has been a
disappointing campaign thus far.
Let the wave continue and the culture change
begin.
Isles Notes:
Kieffer Bellows,
Matthew Barzal and Team USA were in Toronto to play against Canada in the World
juniors and wins Group B for 1st time in 6 years with a 3-1 win, currently
4-0 in the standings. Next game on Monday vs CZE or SUI.
Adam Pelech has
been activated off the IR and loaned to Bridgeport.
The Islanders
have reassigned forward Carter Verhaeghe and defenseman Jesse
Graham to the Missouri Mavericks (ECHL).
Arthur Staple
on Josh Ho-Sang, “Some assumed JHS oversleeping first day of #Isles camp last
year was his 1st mistake. Far from it, I was told. Culmination of many
mistakes. Been some rumors around NHL that #Isles are shopping Ho-Sang. Not
true. Still want him to succeed. Part of the process, as they like to say.”