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New York Islanders: 5 burning questions for 2018-19 season

By Dave Stevenson

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 23: Anders Lee #27 of the New York Islanders celebrates his first period goal with teammate Mathew Barzal #13 aganst the Winnipeg Jets at Barclays Center on December 23, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 23: Anders Lee #27 of the New York Islanders celebrates his first period goal with teammate Mathew Barzal #13 aganst the Winnipeg Jets at Barclays Center on December 23, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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3. Goaltending

Last season, the New York Islanders had a lot of defensive issues. Part of this was due to their goaltending. Jaroslav Halak, Christopher Gibson and Thomas Greiss combined to have a .900 save percentage, the fourth-worst mark in the league. This led to the Islanders allowing the most goals in the NHL.

It’s hard to upgrade your goaltending. The best goalies are rarely free agents. And once a team finds a franchise goalie, they tend to hang onto them. So when someone like Philipp Grubauer becomes available, there are a ton of suitors. The Islanders lost out on him, so they had to go to Plan B — Robin Lehner.

The incumbent Halak has signed with the Boston Bruins. This leaves the Islanders with a goaltending tandem of Lehner and Greiss. Ideally, one of the two will become the clear starter. However, judging by their histories, it’s hard to see either one grabbing and keeping that number one goalie role.

Lehner is a decent goalie. On paper, his numbers look pretty darn good. Lehner has recently posted save percentages of .924 (2015-16) and .920 (2016-17). However, his underlying numbers aren’t encouraging. According to Corsica, Lehner has posted a negative GSAA (goals saved above average) in each of his past three seasons.

He struggles mightily at high-danger chances, which the Islanders gave up a ton of last season. Hiring Trotz and adding Komarov, Martin, and Filppula should help, but neither should make a significant difference. However, if the Islanders can find a way to limit high-danger chances, Lehner’s an average goalie at low-danger and mid-danger chances.

Greiss was great in 2015-16, but hasn’t touched those numbers since. The Islanders goaltending is a huge question mark. If they can get great goaltending, they have a chance. But if things don’t improve, it could get ugly.

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