You know how teams looking to improve their goaltending have lacked options? The New York Islanders might just change that.
In what feels like an instance of serious backstage drama, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Islanders “let the league know Jaroslav Halak is available” after his agent Allan Walsh tweeted about the team’s awkward three-goalie situation.
Walsh - who actually represents two of the Islanders goalies, as Jean-Francois Berube is also one of his clients - put out these two complaints on Twitter Saturday afternoon:
Hard to figure out NY Islanders using 3 goalie system for 2nd year. Biggest issue is goalies don't get enough practice time to stay sharp.
— Allan Walsh🏒 (@walsha) October 29, 2016
Starting goalie for NY Islanders last game had only 1 quality practice in last 5 days before Penguins game. Going on 2 years of this now.
— Allan Walsh🏒 (@walsha) October 29, 2016
Say what you will about Walsh or agents in general, sometimes public complaints really get the ball rolling on important changes. Granted, it remains to be seen if this blows up in his face (or the faces of Halak/Berube) once this situation shakes out ... one way or another.
Berube is slated to be an RFA after this season, while Thomas Greiss will be a UFA likely to get a big bump from his bargain $1.5 million cap hit after 2016-17.
Meanwhile, Halak’s $4.5 million cap hit won’t expire until after the 2017-18 season.
Halak has his issues, particularly with injuries, yet one could absolutely see a team at least inquire about the situation. We’ve seen plenty of flashes of brilliance from Halak, even beyond the obvious deep, unlikely run with the Montreal Canadiens.