New York Islanders: Five Reasons 2018-19 Season Will be a Failure

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 18: Robin Lehner #40 of the New York Islanders makes the first period stick save against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Barclays Center on September 18, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Goaltending Won’t be an Upgrade

While scoring was a strength for the New York Islanders in 2017-18, goaltending was a significant issue for the Isles. The tandem of Jaroslav Halak and Thomas Greiss were incredibly porous.

Halak was the better of the two putting up a 3.19 GAA and a 0.908 SV% while Greiss held a 3.82GAA and a 0.892SV% through the 2017-18 season. Halak, reaching the end of his contract with the Islanders joined the Boston Bruins as a free agent. Leaving Greiss, the worst of the two goalies from last season here alone.

To address the hole in the goaltending depth chart the Islanders brought in Robin Lehner for a single year. Lehner was coming off a bad year where he averaged a 3.01 GAA and a 0.908SV%. Leading the Buffalo Sabres to not give Lehner a qualifying offer allowing the then 26-year-old to become an unrestricted free agent.

Even with Mitch Korn, the goalie whisperer, as the Islanders Director of Goaltending it’s entirely possible that Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss put up numbers like they did just last season. Again, it’s not like I’m talking about bad stats from a few years ago, these are stats from 2017-18.

We know the Islanders won’t be scoring as many goals as they did last year. The hope is that they can stop a number of them from going into their own net. If the Islanders goalie duo of Lehner and Greiss can’t do that, the Isles will be in big trouble this season.