GOAL TO GO
Understandably, most of the attention on the Islanders this offseason focused on captain John Tavares, who eventually left to sign a free-agent deal with his hometown Maple Leafs.
But that was far from the only thing that needed to be addressed by new team president Lou Lamoriello as he took over operation of a franchise that had missed the playoffs in each of the past two seasons. One of the most glaring concerns was goaltending, and yet the Islanders again are tumbling through this preseason, with no clearcut No. 1 netminder and nothing but questions between the pipes as the regular-season opener at Carolina fast approaches on Oct. 4.
Thomas Greiss was thought to be the answer two seasons ago when he performed admirably down the stretch as the Islanders rallied and missed the postseason by one point. Greiss had been a journeyman to that point in his career, and he was rewarded by thengeneral manager Garth Snow — himself a career backup goalie — with a three-year, $10 million deal.
Yet Greiss stumbled drastically last season in the first year of that deal, putting up a 3.82 goals-against average and a .892 save percentage — the worst and third-worst stats in the league, respectively, for a goalie who played 20 or more games. Of course, the Islanders also finished dead last in the league by allowing 3.57 goals per game under neophyte head coach Doug Weight.
“Obviously after a year like that, you want to look at things and see what you can do better, what you can change, what stays the same,” Greiss, 32, told The Post on Thursday morning before he stopped all 25 shots he saw in two periods of a penalty-filled 2-0 preseason win over the Devils at Barclays Center. “It was mostly mental [last year]. Body-wise, physically, I felt good last year, that’s the biggest thing. Just mentally, sometimes you get in your own head and overthink things a bit too much. Especially as a goalie, if you try to do too much, holes open up and you get in trouble.”
So in came Lamoriello, and in came new coach Barry Trotz, a defensiveminded thinker who just won the Stanley Cup behind the bench for the Capitals. Trotz also brought a couple of people with him from Washington, including not only goaltending coach Piero Greco, but also director of goaltending Mitch Korn.
“With Mitch, he has been very positive. Greco, too. They’ve both had great success in the past and both are very smart goalie coaches,” Greiss said. “I’m sure you can always look at people’s resumes, but in the end, it’s just what they can bring to the table for you, how much they can help you personally and the whole team. I think Mitch is a very smart man and knows what he’s doing out there.”
So is Lamoriello, which is why he brought in Robin Lehner to push Greiss for the starter’s role. Lehner, 27, had a couple of good years in Buffalo, but was very honest a few weeks ago when he wrote a story explaining his battle with substance abuse and mental illness. Lamoriello took a flyer, signing him to a one-year, $1.5 million deal, hoping he might have found an undervalued asset.
“Things, for whatever reason, went in the wrong direction,” Lamoriello said of Lehner, whose best year came in 2016-17 when he put up a 2.68 GAA and .920 save percentage for the woebegone Sabres. “When you sit down, have a conversation, and you find out about the individual as a person, which is the first thing, and you hear and you listen, you make a judgement, you know he has talent. It was something we felt very positive about.”
If the Islanders feel positive about the goaltending situation, they are in the minority of those around the league. But Greiss, who was replaced by Christopher Gibson for the third period Thursday, was at least hoping to be part of a solution.
“For me personally, every season is a new opportunity,” Greiss said. “You just have to work hard and stay on the ball.”