New York Islanders Need Both Greiss And Halak

It’s no secret that the goalie situation worked out well for the New York Islanders this past year. If it ain’t broke why fix it?

A part of the game that every team deals with is injuries. There is no way to avoid it, so it’s on the GM to have the necessary depth to get by. Last year when Jaroslav Halak went down with injury Thomas Greiss stepped up and took over the role.

When both were healthy there was a debate whether or not Halak should remain “the starter”. It’s what kept Isles Twitter on their toes.

With Greiss playing so well in the playoffs many believe he earned the starting role and Halak can be used as a trade chip. Although I agree that Greiss played well in the playoffs, better than what anyone could have expected, the Islanders need to hold on to the both of them

The Salary Cap

Between Halak’s $4.5 million and Griess’ $1.5 million the Islanders are only in it $6 million for two 1a and 1b type of Goalies. Comparatively Frederik Andersen and Marc-Andre Fleury had a similar GAA  to Jaro’s 2.30. According to Sportrac Andersen’s cap hit is $5 million and Fleury’s is also $5 million.

So with similar numbers Halak is cheaper than those two who he is statistically comparative to. We saw the same thing with Thomas Greiss.

Greiss had a very similar GAA of 2.36 to Roberto Luongo‘s 2.35 and Corey Crawford‘s 2.37. Though Greiss was only a $1.5 million cap hit. Luongo’s cap hit was about $4.5 million where Corey Crawford’s cap hit was the most expensive of the bunch at $6 million.

In reality the Islanders have a pretty good bargain with these two when looking at their production for what they are being paid.

Back to Back’s

The Islanders 2016-2017 schedule just came out. We found out that the Islanders have eleven back to back’s. It’s like the old baseball analogy where you give the catcher the day game off after a night game. Same thing goes for an NHL Goalie.

You want a capable backup where you feel comfortable enough to give your starter a rest. It’s even almost an insult to consider Greiss a backup at this point, he’s a 1b. In years past, the Islanders did not have the luxury they did last year with Greiss and Halak.

Next: Biggest Needs Heading Into The Draft

You can never predict when injuries come up. That’s the main reason why for having two Goalies. Although cap is always something to monitor the Islanders have a pretty good deal with their two Goalies for $6 million. Look at Chicago with Crawford, they are having cap issues and he’s a $6 million hit, not including the backup’s Scott Darling‘s $500 thousand. Two 1’s for $6 million, you can’t beat it.