Jaroslav Halak....On Waivers

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

 

from Pro Hockey Rumors:

http://www.prohockeyrumors.com/2016/12/islanders-waive-jaroslav.html

 

Following the game in which the Islanders saw the Minnesota Wild capture their 12th straight win, the NY Islanders have apparently placed Halak on waivers.

 

According to the link, head coach Jack Capuano was very critical of Halak's play leading up to this.

 

So...questions abound:

----Does a team desperate for goaltending (maybe one still in rebuild) take a chance with Halak?

----Does Halak get past the entire waiver wire process and end up buried in the minors?

----Or does Halak call it a career?

 

Let's face it:

NY Islander defense (as well as lack of scoring for big stretches) hasn't helped him any.

Not making excuses for Halak himself, but to expect him (a decent, but not GREAT goalie) to carry a subpar team with little in the way of offense and defense is a bit ludicrous.

 

Then again, critical stops NOT made when his team needed them the most in that Minnesota game sure didn't help his own cause either.

Fair to judge Halak when he was facing down one of the hottest teams in the NHL?

 

From what is insinuated about Capuano, this may have started long before this game against the Wild......

 

Calgary? Dallas? Toronto? Philadelphia?

 

Hell, what about the two streaking teams right now (Cls and Min) who both have Vezina-caliber starting goalies this year....but very little in the way of backups (McElhinney for the Jackets, Kuemper for the Wild)?

 

Do any of the above dare take a chance on Halak that he can do better with a better team in front of him?

[jammer2]

 

 How about LA, Budji has been filling in great, but what if Quick went down again. I might let Budji start in the playoffs, but I'd want a legit goalie to turn to if that does not work out. Philly....I dunno, not much separating Neuvy from Halak. If I w as Dallas, I'd jump and send one of the two stiffs down, can't be worse...can he?

[AJgoal]

Halak's too expensive for LA. They'd be fine until Quick comes of LTIR, but after that they'd have some problems.

 

He might be a fit in Dallas, but they'd have to shed one of Niemi/Lehtonen. Buffalo might make quite a bit of sense. I guess we find out at noon tomorrow.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

I wouldn't think Halak would fit particularly well in LA either.

 

I mean, the defense first type team is there for sure, but he will STILL be counted on to bail out the team when the offense doesn't show up in LA, which is often the case.

 

Even with all that, if you are the Kings, why would you go with Halak with Quick so close to returning AND Petr Budaj actually has done a pretty good job as their goalie.

Should Quick require more time on IR, then Budaj would just continue to do what they have been doing.

 

Another interesting team I thought of though:

My own TB Lightning.

A long shot (and I am not a big fan of Halak anyways...no matter WHERE he was), but until they get Bishop back, Vasilevskiy will HAVE to be 'the guy', as it seems, the Bolts don't have too much confidence in his back up, Kristers Gudlevskiy.

 

Gudlevskiy has been given opportunity, just like Vasy, to be Bishop's backup and eventually take the starting job, but he has not run with it...and his minor league numbers aren't terribly impressive either.

 

Bishop is expected to return mid to late January, so a Halak claim to the Bolts would only be temporary, as TB likely goes back to the Bishop/Vasy combo...leaving Halak out in the cold yet again.

 

How about Pittsburgh?

With Matt Murray going down, Halak could possibly back up Fleury?

But again, when Murray gets back (not sure how long he is expected to be out), Halak, once again becomes a third wheel.

 

We could very well see Halak get buried in the minors or retire, people...

[hf101]

No one claimed Halak.  I wonder what he said, lol.

 

Looks like he will spend the remainder of the year in the AHL.  He has one more year on his contract I wouldn't be surprised if he asked to bought out. 

 

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

25 minutes ago, hf101 said:

No one claimed Halak.  I wonder what he said, lol.

 

Looks like he will spend the remainder of the year in the AHL.  He has one more year on his contract I wouldn't be surprised if he asked to bought out. 

 

 

 

Despite some possible good fits, I can't say I am surprised about him falling through the waiver wire either.

He really HAS been that bad this year...and I guess even goalie desperate teams don't want to pick up the 3.5M contract on him to see if he can do better with them or not.

 

Hmmm....maybe he gets bought out like you said...and he signs a PTO with Vegas next season? 

[hf101]

1 minute ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

Hmmm....maybe he gets bought out like you said...and he signs a PTO with Vegas next season? 

 

I don't know, but it sure seems that there is some stink involved here as he had a great World Cup tournament prior to the season.  He could be looking to get out of the NHL completely too and play in the KHL.

[nossagog]

10 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

Despite some possible good fits, I can't say I am surprised about him falling through the waiver wire either.

He really HAS been that bad this year...and I guess even goalie desperate teams don't want to pick up the 3.5M contract on him to see if he can do better with them or not.

 

Hmmm....maybe he gets bought out like you said...and he signs a PTO with Vegas next season? 

Actually just looked, his contract is a $4.5M Cap hit, with $4.75M this year and $5M next year.  Not sure how many suiters he'll have with those numbers and not playing well. 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

I hadn't even considered the KHL guys.

 

Perhaps some last place team like Dinamo Riga can use the goaltending boost. 

[yave1964]

I think Halak is toast, nothing left in the tank. I would rather have Pavelec any day of the week and I can think of no scenario in which I would want Pavelec, lol.