A large part of the Islanders’ success over the last two seasons is their goalie tandem.  When Robin Lehner signed with the Chicago Blackhawks this past offseason, the team brought in Semyon Varlamov to fill the void. Of the 16 NHL teams currently occupying either the top three divisional seeds or wild card positions, nine of them do not have a goalie who has started over 45 games.  Among those teams are the Boston Bruins, who lead the NHL with 100 points, clear evidence why the Islanders needed another starting goalie after Robin Lehner departed last summer.

The Good:

Varlamov got the worst part of his season over with quite quickly. His worst game of the season was also his second when he allowed four goals against the Edmonton Oilers on October 8th.  After that, he didn’t lose in regulation again until November 27th. Included in Varlamov’s outstanding stretch were strong games in Winnipeg, at home against Florida, and his first shutout of the season against Buffalo.
Early on in the season, it looked like Varlamov was not tracking the puck.  He overplayed shots and moved too much within his crease.  When he settled down, the pucks stopped going in. Varlamov was also a bright spot when the team was beginning to struggle. In early December, he played three strong games against Vegas, Tampa, and Buffalo. He also responded to a terrible outing against Nashville with an outstanding performance on national television against the Boston Bruins. Like Greiss, when the team played well, so did the goalies.  But I think Semyon Varlamov was even better than the team around him sometimes.

The Bad:

When Semyon Varlamov was playing well, the team almost never bailed him out. Varlamov recorded a save percentage less than .900% in 40 percent of his games this season. He won two of them, an overtime comeback against Pittsburgh and against Toronto (the Islanders were leading 5-2 with two minutes left, and Toronto scored two goals at the end of the game).
A recurring theme with the Islanders’ goalies this year is that their play reflected the team in front of them. Of those 18 games with a below a .900 SV%, half were after January 1st. He played in 21 of 29 games after New Years, emerging as the starting goaltender, but clearly unable to handle that load. Arguably his lowlight of the season was allowing six goals to the Rangers in Madison Square Garden and following it up by blowing a 4-1 lead to the Washington Capitals at home.

The Expectations:

Islanders General Manager Lou Lamoriello said in July that he was eyeing the Russian goalie since arriving in New York in 2018 and that his goaltending staff was “extremely high on him.” I think that’s why many fans expected Semyon Varlamov to replace Robin Lehner. I don’t think that’s realistic. After 2014, Varlamov has been an average goaltender at best and started the season on the wrong side of 30. Greiss was the proven goaltender, and Varlamov was brought in to challenge him for starts. I think that’s what Lou and his staff expected too.

The Moment of the Season:

With the Islanders coming off back to back losses, the Semyon Varlamov was in goal to face his former team. The Colorado Avalanche were, at that point in the season, the highest-scoring team in the NHL. Still, Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar were no match for Varlamov. He turned aside all 32 shots he saw to give the Isles’ a 1-0 win in one of their best defensive games of the season.

The Verdict:

Before the season, we didn’t know if Semyon Varlamov or Thomas Greiss would emerge as the starting goalie or 1A.  Barry Trotz didn’t care.  He rotated goalies early on, and it worked tremendously.  When he didn’t, it was usually because Varlamov was playing far better than Greiss.  Varlamov arguably took away the starting job from a better goaltender.  He was coming off a weak season where he lost Colorado’s starting job to Philip Grubauer. He didn’t replace Robin Lehner, but he was just good enough.

The Grade: 83/B

Ben Baruch

Born and raised on Long Island. Isles fan since 2009. Studying journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park.