This piece will be another in my series of player profiles, where I’ll give some thoughts on the performance of a member of the New York Islanders this season. This article will focus on Thomas Greiss.
Greiss picked up where he left off last year, with a stellar start to the season. In his first 15 games of the year, he went 11-4, posting an excellent .932 save percentage with a 2.16 goals against average.
But from mid-December on he struggled– and I mean really struggled. In 14 starts from Dec. 17 until the end of the year, Greiss had a brutal .888 save percentage and allowed at least three goals in 11 of those 14 games. He seemed to have a really hard time with any point shots that got tipped and sure, so would most goalies but Greiss had a particularly difficult time adjusting to any deflections.
Greiss still finished the year with a .913 save percentage and I think it’s still fair to call the Greiss/Varlamov tandem an overall success this year. With Ilya Sorokin likely on his way to the Islanders next season and Greiss in need of a new contract, it seems like it’s pretty much a given that Greiss won’t be back in New York next year. Even with a poor end to the year though, Greiss’ tenure with the Islanders should be looked back on fondly and I wouldn’t be shocked to see a team take a chance on him as a short-term starter in the offseason.
Here’s today’s poll question (results will be discussed in a post on Saturday):
Pretend Greiss and Varlamov are the same age and you could get either on a contract for the same price/term. Who do you keep around to be Sorokin's partner in net?
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