Player Discussion: Greiss is the word - appreciation thread

[Hunn]

even if he turns out to be the cats meow I don’t see it being from day 1. So a fraud of course not , why would you even go that far? However let’s also remember that one of the most feared scorers in the KHL has been Nigel Dawes.
I hope Soro will be great the greatest even but I believe he will have to catch up to the speed of he North American game . LGI

Don't forget also that European league goalies numbers are inflated by (1) inferior competition and (2) large rinks. Don't you think it's a coincidence that Finnish goalies were first to accommodate to NHL, followed by Russians?

 

[ThreeLeftSkates]

even if he turns out to be the cats meow I don’t see it being from day 1. So a fraud of course not , why would you even go that far? However let’s also remember that one of the most feared scorers in the KHL has been Nigel Dawes.
I hope Soro will be great the greatest even but I believe he will have to catch up to the speed of he North American game . LGI

Greiss has had his moments, both good and bad, during his time here. He has shown again and again that he cannot bear a heavy load, and his time here is up. Varlomov is still a work in progress under Korn, and a lot of us are excited about next years goalie duo. Your post sounded like sour grapes to me, and I believe Greiss would be the odd man out if his contract was not up.

 

[ScaredStreit]

Letting Lehner walk was Lou's biggest mistake since becoming GM. What a dumb decision.

 

[PK Cronin]

Letting Lehner walk was Lou's biggest mistake since becoming GM. What a dumb decision.

Yeah, we went further without him than we did with him.

 

[ScaredStreit]

Yeah, we went further without him than we did with him.

I don't get your point? We went further when we lost Tavares.

 

[PK Cronin]

I don't get your point? We went further when we lost Tavares.

I think it's pretty silly to be complaining that Lamoriello didn't re-sign a goalie with potential issues when the goalie we currently have has gotten us this far? Why exactly was it dumb? The only problem I have with the Varlamov signing was the money given.

 

[ScaredStreit]

I think it's pretty silly to be complaining that Lamoriello didn't re-sign a goalie with potential issues when the goalie we currently have has gotten us this far? Why exactly was it dumb? The only problem I have with the Varlamov signing was the money given.

Lehner's the better player and we could have had him on a cheaper contract. I'm not suggesting Varly was a bad option (he wasn't)...but if he worth letting a Vezina finalist caliber player who was 28 walk? Absolutely not. Varly got us this far, but Lehner would have as well.

 

[PK Cronin]

Lehner's the better player and we could have had him on a cheaper contract. I'm not suggesting Varly was a bad option (he wasn't)...but if he worth letting a Vezina finalist caliber player who was 28 walk? Absolutely not. Varly got us this far, but Lehner would have as well.

I'll defer to the guys who know goalies better than us, and the background information. The fact that Lehner has personal issues that can pop up at any time could be a reason not to re-sign him. Varlamov's connection with Sorokin could be a reason to bring him in. Maybe they think Varlamov is the better goalie and they can improve his goaltending more than they can with Lehner?

I don't know, I'm over it and don't think it's that big of a deal. Still rooting for Lehner to do well though.

 

[MarsTBOW]

Did signing Varly impact signing Soroken? It could very well have been the reason to help get Soroken here......

 

[MarsTBOW]

A Russian Bridge? if you will?

 

[Seph]

I'll defer to the guys who know goalies better than us, and the background information. The fact that Lehner has personal issues that can pop up at any time could be a reason not to re-sign him. Varlamov's connection with Sorokin could be a reason to bring him in. Maybe they think Varlamov is the better goalie and they can improve his goaltending more than they can with Lehner?

I don't know, I'm over it and don't think it's that big of a deal. Still rooting for Lehner to do well though.

I'm pretty sure that was the main reason. All reports are that they offered Lehner a 2 year contract at the same 5 per year money that he signed for in Chicago for one year, and Lehner declined it wanting a longer term. Doesn't seem anyone else was willing to give him that term at that money either since he signed a one year deal, so it's not like Lou was alone in these concerns. I don't think the thought was so much that Varlamov was necessarily the better goalie, but more that he was the more reliable bet over a 4 year deal due to fears of Lehner relapsing, not to mention that having one of Sorokin's idols on the team would be good incentive to get him to sign here.

 

[Lights911]

Great Isles career for Greiss, played great in the Florida series to help get the Isles their first series win in 23 years, huge part of the Jennings trophy win and then was in net for game 7 and shutout the Flyers as we advanced to the ECF for the first time in 27 years. Great goalie and seemed like a great guy. I’ll be sad when he leaves but I hope he goes to a team where he can be the starter.

 

[Throttle]

I'm pretty sure that was the main reason. All reports are that they offered Lehner a 2 year contract at the same 5 per year money that he signed for in Chicago for one year, and Lehner declined it wanting a longer term. Doesn't seem anyone else was willing to give him that term at that money either since he signed a one year deal, so it's not like Lou was alone in these concerns. I don't think the thought was so much that Varlamov was necessarily the better goalie, but more that he was the more reliable bet over a 4 year deal due to fears of Lehner relapsing, not to mention that having one of Sorokin's idols on the team would be good incentive to get him to sign here.

The other part about Lehner was that season really shown a spotlight on him. He was very out front about him. While he thanked the team and fans routinely, he was the storyline that season. Doesn’t seem like a Lou-approved storyline above the team. Lehner almost became a media distraction in A way taking away from the team. Seems to me like Lou made an offer, one the player was not expecting, Lou really wanted Varly, but kept the Lehner option open to upping the offer, if needed. He didn’t need it, Lehner hoped Isles would amend, market moved, Isles got their guy, Lehner had to scramble. You are a UFA - time to look out for yourself as a player in whatever way you want: money, term, team, location, teammates, etc.

Lehner is an excellent goalie, but didn’t seem to me to fit Lou’s team-first motto.

 

[IslandersGER]

Letting Lehner walk was Lou's biggest mistake since becoming GM. What a dumb decision.

so we could not beat Tampa because of not having Lehner? absurd!

 

[ScaredStreit]

so we could not beat Tampa because of not having Lehner? absurd!

Where did I say that? My post was before game 2 of the series even started...

Varlamov didn't lose us that series and Roy wouldn't have won it for us. That doesn't mean that letting Lehner go wasn't a mistake.

 

[Quickdraw2828]

Great Isles career for Greiss, played great in the Florida series to help get the Isles their first series win in 23 years, huge part of the Jennings trophy win and then was in net for game 7 and shutout the Flyers as we advanced to the ECF for the first time in 27 years. Great goalie and seemed like a great guy. I’ll be sad when he leaves but I hope he goes to a team where he can be the starter.

I just hope he goes to a team with a good defense because even an elite goalie will look bad with a below average defense - look at Halak and Greiss three years ago. I don't know what the Carolina goalie situation is now but a few months ago it looked like a good match for him. Not to mention he probably had two or three of his top ten games against them so they certainly know what he can do. I wish him well, he was an excellent Islander.