Isles Down Jets - Halak To Bridgeport

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 4^th 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 14^th goal and Josh Bailey, his team-leading 19^th 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’ 9^th 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.

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 1^st 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.”