New York Islanders: Players Predictions For The World Cup Of Hockey

Team Europe

The European team is stuffed with players who used to rock the blue and orange. Consisting of a solid lineup of Frans Nielsen, Thomas Vanek, Nino Niederreiter, Zdeno Chara, and Mark Streit.

But for this article, we are only going to discuss the players who are currently wearing the true blue, which both happen to be the goalies, Thomas Greiss (from Germany) and Jaroslav Halak (from Slovakia).

And interestingly enough, this tournament seems to be a bit of deja vu (and perhaps even foreshadowing), as both of these goalies are once again fighting for the starting position not just on the Islanders, but on the World Cup team as well.

The deja vu is that Greiss had seemingly swiped the starting position from Halak once again. And the foreshadowing? Greiss was pulled after an abysmal start to a preseason game versus Team North America, leading to Halak to replace him and play solid.

As of right, now both the goalies have split starts in the pre-tournament matches, with Halak being more successful of the two.

Whether or not Greiss starts in the first actual tournament match is a mystery. But depending on how the World Cup plays out for both goalies, who’s to say that it also can’t foreshadow the future of the Islander’s goaltending conundrum.

Greiss has looked shaky and unsure at times, while Halak has looked confident and has played solidly in the times he’s seen action.

In this tournament, anything can go, and with both goalies being very similar in skill and prowess, any one of these two talents could come out on top.