The New York Islanders may have some questions about who will be the backup for the 2014-15 season with goaltender Evgeni Nabokov not close on reaching a deal which means he will probably test the free agent market, and prospect goaltender Anders Nilsson who signed with the Kontinental Hockey Leagues Ak Bars Kazan team back on May 26th of this year. Two other Islanders goaltending prospects 24-year-old Kevin Poulin (RFA), and 27-year-old Ken Reiter (UFA) have also not been resigned, which means that Islanders General Manager Garth Snow and staff are probably working hard to figure out the best solution for this team.
No question is the Islanders faith in signing Jaroslav Halak to a 4-year $4.5 million AAV deal making him the front runner for the starting position. So this brings up a very interesting point. Do the Islanders go the cap friendly route and sign Kevin Poulin who has been with the organization for the past four years bouncing back and fourth form the American Hockey League’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers and the Islanders, or use some of the $27 million cap space to go out and sign a veteran free agent on July 1st? If you look at the top 30 unrestricted free agents at the goaltending position, there are some very respectable names like 28-year-old Devan Dubnyk ($3.5 million cap hit last year), or 37-year-old Tomas Vokoun ($2 million cap hit last year), or maybe on the cheaper end, a player like former Boston Bruins backup Chad Johnson ($600,000 cap hit last year) who is coming off a very impressive 2013-14 season backing up Tuukka Rask.
For a low cap hit and last seasons performance, goaltender Chad Johnson might get some serious consideration looking back at his stats from last season. Johnson appeared in 27 regular season games posting a 17-4-3 record, with 2 shutouts, a goals against average of 2.10, and a .926 save percentage. Johnson would be a very good backup that can handle 30 games a season in relief of Halak who would most definitely get most games as a starter. Although the Islanders are getting better year by year with the core players like john Tavares, Kyle Okposo, Ryan Strome, and Frans Nielsen, I am not too sure that Islanders fans are going to be hearing the names of Ryan Miller, Martin Brodeur, Jonas Hiller, or Tim Thomas, because the team is not at the point of making the playoffs or consistently winning every year to make big names like these want to sign either a one year deal or a long term.
Regardless of who is the backup that GM Garth Snow and staff agree on, I am sure they will do the right thing to put the best piece of the puzzle in place to ultimately be competitive and reach their goal of making the playoffs. Also with the Islanders picking 9 players in this weeks upcoming NHL Entry Draft, it will also be very interesting if the team goes after one or two of the highly sought goaltending prospects like Thatcher Demko (Boston College NCAA), Mason McDonald (Charlottetown QMJHL), Brent Moran (Niagara OHL), or Alex Nedeljkovic (Plymouth OHL).
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