NY Islanders Prospect Tristan Lennox Shaky In AHL Debut

After more than a year, New York Islanders goalie prospect Tristan Lennox finally returned to game-action this past Saturday. He made his AHL debut in a 5-3 loss to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. 

The Islanders selected Lennox in the third round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft from the Saginaw Spirit of the OHL. He was the highest-selected Islanders goaltending prospect since the team selected Jakub Skarek in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. 

After finishing his Junior career in Saginaw, Lennox joined the Islanders’ ECHL affiliate midway through the 2023-24 season. With the Worcester Railers, Lennox posted a respectable .909 SV% over 13 games. Unfortunately for Lennox, it all came crashing down quickly. 

During a mid-December defeat against the Adirondack Thunder, Lennox suffered a season-ending knee injury. It abruptly ended his rookie campaign, and cast major doubt over his potential as an NHL prospect. 

Even worse, information about Lennox’s status was nonexistent. The New York Islanders kept Lennox’s injury classified for much of his recovery period. The only time Islanders fans saw him was during the 2024-25 rookie camp. Even then, his appearance was brief.

After almost a year of radio silence, Lennox was activated in early February and immediately promoted to the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders. He spent his first few weeks backing up the likes of Henrik Tikkanen and Hunter Miska before finally getting his first chance on Mar 1st at Phantoms. 

Lennox’s night started off poorly and never got better. He surrendered a goal on his first shot faced, ultimately surrendering five on 22 shots. He looked sluggish, which seems reasonable. He hadn’t played a professional game in about 15 months. In fairness to him, all Bridgeport Islanders goalies have struggled this year. 

Bridgeport’s defensive “structure” is laughable. No defender has a positive +/- this season, and only one defender has a non-negative +/-. As a result, the goalies have struggled. No Islanders goaltender has a SV% over .900 this season. Every other team in the AHL (except the Rockford Ice Hogs) has at least one goaltender with a SV% over .900. 

Lennox was placed in a horrible situation. He had not played in over a year, he had never played at this level and he was playing behind the worst defensive group in the AHL. What did Bridgeport’s staff think was going to happen?

On a human level, Lennox’s return to pro hockey was incredibly impressive. He overcame a devastating injury during a critical developmental period of his career, and now he’s back on the road to the NHL. But if his AHL debut is any indication, Lennox has a long way to go. His future remains uncertain, especially after the Islanders selected two goaltending prospects in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft (Marcus Gidlof and Dmitry Gamzin) who have both performed well overseas. 

With obstacles ahead and strong competition, Lennox’s path to the NHL is anything but certain. Only time will tell if he can overcome the horrible hand dealt to him by injury and Bridgeport’s management team.