New York Islanders: Isles need to pick one goalie and stick with him

If the New York Islanders want to rid any demons of their recent past, they must come into this season with a clear-cut number one goalie.

The New York Islanders are now coming off two straight seasons of missing the playoffs. There are multiple reasons for the recent struggles.

A big part of the struggles was the old general manager, Garth Snow, who is now gone. However, it is also easy to pinpoint the lack of defense and goaltending for the lack of success, especially last year.

The Islanders once again come into this season with a goalie dilemma. Naturally, it is not any less of a dilemma than in the past when looking at the options they have.

More from Empire Writes Back

The good news is that the battle is really only up to two netminders, not three like the Isles have been crazy enough to use in the past.

The bad news is that one of the goalies is still Thomas Greiss. The other goaltender, Robin Lehner, is a fresh face but has done nothing to prove he is any better or worse than what the Isles had last year in Jaroslav Halak who is gone now.

So, the Isles still have two goalies. None of which have done enough to prove they are a legit number one yet.

Towards the end of the preseason, it seems as if Lehner has emerged to be the number one goalie. If that is the case, the Isles should be all in on him.

Sure, Greiss has been here for a while, he also had some great games last season and was even good enough on those playoff teams from a few years ago.

However, he has still never quite been given the green light to go all season long as the guy. With Halak, and even dating back to Jean-Francois Berube, Greiss was splitting reps.

Taking injuries and everything else into consideration, that is still not ideal for a goalie of his tenure.

Luckily for Isles fans, new Coach Barry Trotz seems to understand that using multiple goalies consistently is not going to be successful at this level.

He even went as far as to tell Andrew Gross of Newsday about his thought process on the goalie position:

"“I haven’t had many 40-40 [starts each] guys . I don’t know too many teams that have been successful 40-40. Ideally, you want to get to a No. 1 who’s in there and gives your team that same feel every night.”"

It is encouraging to see the Isles finally understand that one goalie is better than some random cycle.

Sure, the defense might still be awful in terms of being able to minimize the opponents’ opportunities in their zone. Also, it is not ideal to have a goalie stop over 400 shots and still not get the win.

But, at the end of the day, Trotz wants the team to have a rhythm and identity. He is going to do things his way no matter how long it takes .

Lou Lamoriello still might need a few offseason to bring in his own pieces, but based on what the Isles have now, their best bet is to bet on Lehner to be the number one goalie.

Even if they do decide to with Greiss, who got fewer reps in the preseason, then that is fine too. It is simply committing to one that will do wonders.

There are going to be hiccups and there are going to be long nights with these goalies. But, as long as there is one who is doing his job well enough and not literally costing the team game after game, then it is smart to keep riding with just one.

The writing will be on the wall when or if it is time to make a change at that position.

But, with the season starting this week, the Isles’ best bet is to name the starting goalie and ride or die with him.

Next. Why the Isles don't need a Captain. dark

It is the lack of continuity at the most important position that has haunted the Isles in the past. Time to fix it. This is a perfect opportunity to do so.

Home/New York Islanders