Will.Pesek

"New York Isles"

United States •

Isles have Life

Isles fans have not had much news to celebrate over, but Friday they got good news (for some). Net-minder Jaroslav Halak who is statistically the "best goalie" in Islanders history was put on waivers. He was not claimed and was assigned to the AHL team the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Saturday. One of the reasons why he was not claimed was not because he is having a horrific season but his contract is extremely high. The Islanders signed him to a 4 year 18$ million dollar deal in July of 2014. After this season he has 1 season left. Halak complained last year and his agent Alan Walsh (@walsha) complained this year that two of his clients (Halak and Berube) are not seeing enough ice as the Isles have a three goalie system. Well, guess what? Halak is in Bridgeport now and now they have FOUR goalies. Halak, Gibson, McAdam and Williams, but Gibson is out long term so Halak is back to a three goalie system.

Besides the Halak news, the Isles have a glimmer of hope as they currently sit 9 points behind the 8th seed, the Philadelphia Flyers with 3 games in hand. The Islanders have Monday-Thursday off with no practices as this is their bye week and head to the west to play Colorado and Arizona this weekend as both of those teams are last in the NHL and the Western Conference. Thomas Greiss is the clear cut starter now that Halak is gone and JF Berube is the backup. If the Isles wanted a goalie who played during the bye week for the Isles, they could call up Halak but that is highly unlikely. They did a similar task last season after the all-star break they called up Berube and he gave them a 40 save performance over the Wild.

If the Isles beat the Avs and the Coyotes they are 5 out and still a game in hand, so these coming games are crucial for NY. Casey Cizikas returned to the lineup Saturday after missing the past 2 weeks with an upper body injury, meaning Anthony Beauvillier has taken a seat in the press box for now. Beauvillier and long time veteran Stephen Gionta are healthy scratches as Adam Pelech was activated off IR and was loaned to BST.