There's no way of knowing, because Snow will do his Bill Belichick routine. The only way we'll know is if Snow signs or trades for a goalie to a 1-way contract. That will indicate that the injury to Nabokov is long-term.
It's pretty clear that IF there's any dropoff from Nabokov to Poulin, it's really small. The only way that this significantly hurts the team is that now if Poulin gets hurt, we're utterly screwed. Nilsson has an 88% save percentage in the AHL. I've only watched highlights, but if we think Poulin is an adventure on rebounds, Nilsson appears to be a bad Jackass episode.
This is a really bad situation to be in. The problems in net this year were obviously foreseeable. It's on management.
You aren't wrong on any of this but there are several caveats and stipulations I will throw in.
First on Nilsson's save percentage. It's weak, and his play has been less than I expected. But if you think the Islanders have a lot of defensive breakdowns, surrender a lot of odd man rushes and or breakaways, and struggle to clear the zone, well then my friend you should catch a Sound Tigers game. The last 2 seasons (at least) but specifically under Pellerin the team has been complete garbage in it's own end.
Also Bridgeport this weekend has iced defenceman Mike Cornell, Sean Escabedo, Mike Keenan, Dallas Jackson... WHO?
Up with the big club are Donovan and Ness
Injured are Finley, Pedan, Cantin and now Mike Dalhuisen as well
They are dropping like flies. The last few games I have watched opponents streak down the slot with clear lanes and just riffle pucks on Nilsson trying to pick corners all night long practically uncontested. Nilsson doesn't have a prayer of controlling rebounds in these situations. I'm just thankful he stops the puck most of the time. My big issue with him, is recovery time. He goes down and stays down, and his lateral movement hasn't been there this season. Those are my concerns, not rebound control at this point.
As for the problems easily foreseeable and it's managements fault? That depends. Is this season the end all be all? if you think yes, then absolutely management blew it by not improving the goaltending situation. If it's more about future seasons (and I think it is) then allowing a situation to develop where Poulin AND Nilsson both get a lot of minutes and both see NHL time is'nt a bad idea. Decisions need to be made on these guys VERY soon if not immediately. They have invested 5 years in each so far, it's time to see where Poulin/Nilsson are at over the next 6 months before major changes are made.
