Capellini: With Playoffs Looming, Islanders Need Halak To Be Their MVP The Rest Of The Way

By Jeff Capellini
WFAN.com

When the Islanders traded for and eventually signed Jaroslav Halak to a four-year contract last summer, they did so knowing they were getting a guy who --when on -- can be dazzling.

But throughout a tedious regular season that has seen this team look at times like the best in the league and at others a group still not ready to take the next step, Halak has been consistently good.

Not great.

With the playoffs set to begin in two weeks the Islanders need to see this guy take his game to the next level. And they need him to do it without the expectation that the players around him will get any better in the defensive zone.

That's what a money goaltender does.

No matter how hard they work at it, the Islanders are just not a very good team in their own end. And that's not to totally blame their actual defensemen. As a team-wide concept, the idea of defense isn't something that comes naturally to this bunch. So if you want to get on the coaching staff or individual players for this shortcoming, you go right ahead. I won't stand in your way.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like the Isles give up five goals a night due to a zillion odd-man rushes. It's just that during a playoff chase teams need to be executing in all facets better than they did during the season's first half, when a struggling 5-on-5 at either end or failing special teams could still be deemed a work in progress.

For better or for worse right now, the Islanders are what they are as both an offensive and defensive team -- capable of scoring the requisite amount needed to win while clearly just flawed enough in their own end to make a lot of people nervous.

Watch this team try to clear the puck. When you aren't laughing, you'll be crying. It has been a problem for ages and directly leads to more goals against than anything else the Islanders do inadequately. Remember, their PK is now suddenly awesome. Go figure.

Clearing the zone is in a lot of ways like rebounding in basketball. It's almost totally about desire. I'm not saying the Islanders lack effort. There's no way a team goes 45-27-5 by mailing it in every night. But there's no denying that there is something missing tactically in how they defend. Maybe they are afraid to ice the puck. Maybe they become deer in headlights with the puck. Maybe they all need glasses. Whatever it is, it's a problem, one that likely won't be fixed any time soon.

Compounding the issue is the fact that the Islanders often allow teams to gain the zone with ease and always seem to leave opposing defensemen open at the points. They clear the crease well enough and are pretty solid down low, but it's like a broken record watching someone wind the puck around the boards only to have a teammate either be out of position or lose a battle, allowing opposing possessions to continue.

The Isles are also, at times, a team that likes to over-pass. Granted, that mostly happens on the power play, but there have been more than enough instances over the first 77 games when that first pass out of the zone has either been flubbed or way off target, leading to turnovers and less offensive possessions.

Not being able to clear the zone is also taxing physically. Numerous times this season opponents have scored after long periods of puck possession. Sometimes you can see the goal coming before it happens, mostly because you've witnessed similar scenarios play out numerous times before.

All of this illustrates why Halak needs to be the team's MVP going forward.

A lot has been made this season of Halak's need for rest. Perhaps that's the Isles' over-reliance on analytics talking or the fact that everyone is sensitive because the veteran goalie's career high in games played in a season is 57. Either way, head coach Jack Capuano has gone out of his way to make sure Halak hasn't been overworked.

But as far as I am concerned the time for prudence is over. Halak has 54 appearances this season with five games to play, including just one back-to-back. They have a key battle with the Penguins in Pittsburgh on April 10 that could very well determine who gets home ice in a potential first round matchup between the teams, followed by the final regular season game to ever be played at Nassau Coliseum, the next day against Columbus. If the Isles were simply playing out the string, Halak would be a lock to start that game because of the sentimentality of the occasion. But since there will be other games on Long Island, don't be surprised if backup Michal Neuvirth gets the call that day.

But that should be the only time Neuvirth sees the ice for the rest of the season, barring injury. Halak needs to play to not only help secure home ice in the first round, but also to get in some kind of groove heading into what will be a war regardless of who this team faces during the second season.

One look at Halak's record -- 36-16-2 -- and you can't help but be impressed. But among goalies with at least 40 appearances this season, his 2.42 goals-against average is only 18th and his .913 save percentage is a rather mediocre 21st. You could make the argument that the Islanders' offense, which was third overall in the league in goals scored with 236 heading into Monday's action, has done more to inflate Halak's stats than he has.

If you are a glass half full guy, you could argue Halak has often been left out to dry by a defense that, as I illustrated in detail above, has left a lot to be desired.

From where I'm sitting, I've seen Halak allow enough soft ones this season to say his rather pedestrian stats by today's standards are due to the combination of a lack of focus and execution by both him and his defense.

But that's neither here nor there going forward. Halak has to take his game to the next level, a place he's gone to before. Back during the 2009-10 playoffs, he set the example for a young Carey Price, often looking stellar during the Montreal Canadiens' run to the Eastern Conference finals as a No. 8 seed.

But as we've seen since, a few teams have lost faith in Halak for various reasons despite his very good career numbers -- as if to say "we know something you don't." The Islanders, though, have believed in him since the beginning. They gave him a nice contract and job security, and all the rest a goalie could ever need.

And for the most part, Halak has been money well spent.

But let's be real. Nap time is now over, Jaro. It's time to get to work.

Read more columns by Jeff Capellini and follow him on Twitter at @GreenLanternJet