Why wouldn't the Stars and Isles swap goalies?

[RizzeeDizzee]

Clearly the Isles are fed up with Halak, while the Stars could do without at least one of their netminders. All three are signed though next year at numbers which are either identical (Halak and Niemi) or close (Halak and Lehtonen). Of course the Isles would just rather part with Halak entirely, but maybe the Stars think they can ignite something in Halak to help them get a better chance of playoff success and thus might give the Isles enough to make the deal work?

[Sulla]

Considering the storm of proverbial that Snow has been sat under for the three headed monster in net (though I see Berube more as a kitten at his point but hey ho) I think bringing in another underperforming netminder would be the straw that breaks the camels back. I agree that Dallas could do worse than add Halak and waive one of theirs but seems unlikely right now

[butch]

I thought about this earlier in the season figuring the isles must be keeping berube around as insurance towards halaks groin - if they made a trade with dallas for niemi they could then trade berube to lak for a pick (or something like that )since niemi-greiss could be a solid enough tandem all things considered.

[forsbergfan]

lehtonen costs more than halak, so the islanders wouldn't want to do it for that reason.
niemi is better than halak, so the stars wouldn't do that one.
the stars want bishop or fleury - there's no reason to settle on a much worse goalie when really good ones are clearly going to be available soon.
halak's contract is coming off the books after next season, and that should be the same time that ilya sorokin comes over from russia. i think the isles will ride with greiss until then. do i agree with it? no. but this is the islanders we're talking about, after all. they don't usually make the right decisions.

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lehtonen costs more than halak, so the islanders wouldn't want to do it for that reason.
niemi is better than halak, so the stars wouldn't do that one.
the stars want bishop or fleury - there's no reason to settle on a much worse goalie when really good ones are clearly going to be available soon.
halak's contract is coming off the books after next season, and that should be the same time that ilya sorokin comes over from russia. i think the isles will ride with greiss until then. do i agree with it? no. but this is the islanders we're talking about, after all. they don't usually make the right decisions.

[Sulla]

Not sure I'd say that Halak is worse than Niemi... Halak is the victim of a goalie merrygoround that did nothing for any of the goalies playing in it

[forsbergfan]

Not sure I'd say that Halak is worse than Niemi... Halak is the victim of a goalie merrygoround that did nothing for any of the goalies playing in it

the talent might be equal or fairly close, but halak is the most injury prone goalie we have seen in quite some time. he constantly misses considerable time - i'm not sure why any other team would have interest in him, unless if was on a dirt cheap contract.

sulla, you're only saying this cuz you wanna trade halak to me! not interested!

[Sulla]

I'm not entirely sure 4.5 is that expensive right now when you consider that most teams have starters on 5.5 plus and after the World Cup a lot of GMs were high on him. is his value at a low now? Most definitely but let's see how he looks after the trade deadline.

you must have me confused with someone else as I'm not actively shopping him right now... When I was of course I'd rather move him over Bishop or Allen

[forsbergfan]

I'm not entirely sure 4.5 is that expensive right now when you consider that most teams have starters on 5.5 plus and after the World Cup a lot of GMs were high on him. is his value at a low now? Most definitely but let's see how he looks after the trade deadline.

you must have me confused with someone else as I'm not actively shopping him right now... When I was of course I'd rather move him over Bishop or Allen

looks like i've got the right guy!!!!!!!

anyways, think about it this way. the LA kings didn't want to acquire halak because he is "too expensive". 4.5 might not be expensive in fantasy, but when teams don't have cap space, it's expensive. and he hasn't been producing the last few seasons. yes, he was great at the world cup, and i think that's why he was given the starting job at the beginning of the season, but that has worn off and now he's damaged goods, just like he was trending to before the world cup.

[Sulla]

Oh come on Calgary we knew we were in the same league months ago lol

The Kings also didn't have the cap space seasons of 2.43 and 2.29 GAA is trending in the right direction IMO issue has always been about health and/or time share. Right fit he can still be relevant but key will be where that fit is (and he seemed to fit in quite well on my championship winning team )

[deantime419]

I have a feeling most GM's would say Halak has more value than Niemi. Niemi is toast and won't ever regain a net whereas I'm not ready to write off Halak as a #1 yet.
If this is the case, the Islanders might not be ready to throw the towel in on this season and value having Halak in case they can make a playoff push over gaining a late round pick in order to swap Niemi for Halak.
The Stars may feel as though it doesn't make sense to give up an extra asset to swap goalies when they're targeting bigger fish in net regardless come TDD or the offseason.

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I have a feeling most GM's would say Halak has more value than Niemi. Niemi is toast and won't ever regain a net whereas I'm not ready to write off Halak as a #1 yet.
If this is the case, the Islanders might not be ready to throw the towel in on this season and value having Halak in case they can make a playoff push over gaining a late round pick in order to swap Niemi for Halak.
The Stars may feel as though it doesn't make sense to give up an extra asset to swap goalies when they're targeting bigger fish in net regardless come TDD or the offseason.

[RizzeeDizzee]

Another reason I raised this is Halak's .924 SV% in 30 playoff games. Since 2005-06 the list of goalies with both more playoff games and a higher SV% consists of Holtby, Tim Thomas, Tuukka Rask, Chris Osgood, Jonas Hiller, and Ben Bishop. More than half among them have won a Cup. Sure - Niemi has a Cup too, but his overall playoff SV% is a measly .905. And Lehtonen has been nothing short of terrible in the playoffs. What I mean is Dallas can't emerge from the West with Niemi or Lehtonen - neither one can get into the zone enough to get by the powerhouses in that conference. But Halak just might have it in him - just ask Ovi and the Caps.

[rataylor22]

I would say the biggest why is because Dallas would have to pay some sort of tangible asset to do this, and there is no evidence it would be of any benefit to them.

[stevegamer]

Partly because Garth Snow isn't a good GM.

[RizzeeDizzee]

I would say the biggest why is because Dallas would have to pay some sort of tangible asset to do this, and there is no evidence it would be of any benefit to them.

I agree that it might not help them, but in that case what is their end game? To get into the playoffs and then be destroyed when one or both of their goalies acts like a sieve? Sure, I guess that added playoff revenue from maybe a couple of postseason games is nothing to sneeze at, but when you have a team like the Stars where the window is closing more so than opening, you'd think they wouldn't just paint by the numbers. But hey - I'm no GM....

[butch]

I'm not sure Dallas should take the chance of having two injury prone semi starters in halak/lehtonen as a tandem .

but hey , if they want to chance catching lightning in a bottle with halak .

snow had pursued niemi in past when he was with sharks so theres that

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I'm not sure Dallas should take the chance of having two injury prone semi starters in halak/lehtonen as a tandem .

but hey , if they want to chance catching lightning in a bottle with halak .

snow had pursued niemi in past when he was with sharks so theres that