Crowd control
Isles waive Halak, end goalie mess
Finally, the untenable situation broke, and Jaroslav Halak was the oddman out.
The Islanders placed the 31-year-old goalie on waivers Friday, meaning he can be claimed by any team in the league by noon on Saturday. That team also would assume the rest of his contract, which is worth an annual salary-cap hit of $4.5 million through next season.
Which is why it’s almost assured that Halak will clear, and when he does, it’s likely the Islanders will assign him to AHL Bridgeport. Whether Halak would accept that assignment is murky.
But the four-year, $18 million contract that general manager Garth Snow gave Halak back in 2014 is the reason he was never able to find a reasonable trade partner. It didn’t help that the three-goalie situation had made practice time difficult. Newly minted starter Thomas Greiss had outplayed Halak, with an 8-5-0 record, 2.48 goals-against average and .922 save percentage compared with Halak’s 6-8-0/3.23/.904.
The third netminder, Jean-Francois Berube, 25, needed waivers to be sent to the AHL, and likely would have been claimed. He has started just twice all season, but the franchise believes in his upside since the Islanders claimed him off waivers from the Kings before this past season.
Following a Twitter tirade in late October from agent Allan Walsh — who represents both Halak and Berube — it became public that Snow had sent a blast email to the other 29 general managers stating that Halak was avail- able in a trade. Nothing worth strong consideration ever came across Snow’s desk.
It might have been a little late, with the league now knowing Snow’s hands were tied, and the time from Halak’s terrific performance for Team Europe in the World Cup of Hockey slowly fading into the background.
The Islanders are mired in another difficult season, struggling to stay out of last in the Eastern Conference while occupying that spot easily in the very difficult Metropolitan Division. This goalie situation was a dark cloud hanging over the team’s head for months, and at least now that single piece is beginning to clear.