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The Islanders and goalie Kevin Poulin have avoided a nasty, drawn out, expensive and completely fabricated arbitration hearing by settling on terms to a new one-year contract extension this morning.
As reported by Arthur Staple and others, most likely from a beach, restaurant or patio somewhere, the deal is a two-way contract with an amount guaranteed no matter what league Poulin plays in. Poulin was the Islanders' final restricted free agent to sign this offseason.
Kevin Poulin's 2-way deal with #Isles, first reported by @Sportsnet, is for $650K/$175K with a $275K guarantee, source says.
— Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) July 24, 2014
Poulin - the Islanders one time goalie of the future, current third stringer and likely Bridgeport Sound Tiger - went 11-16-1-0 in 28 NHL games last season. His .891 save percentage placed him 78th among all goalies in the NHL in 2013-14, or on Page 3 (out of 4) of this list.
The 24-year old hasn't yet established himself as a regular for the Islanders, posting an 18-25-2 NHL record over the last five seasons. The team's goalie tandem going into next year will be a pair of free agent signings, starter Jaroslav Halak and back-up Chad Johnson.
Without a whole lot of blue chip goaltending prospects in their system, both Poulin and the Islanders get one last shot to see if the kid can find a place with the team or a future in the NHL. That's my grand and final thought on the subject.
But hey, let's celebrate. Here's Poulin's greatest NHL performance, a 50-million save effort in a shootout win over the Sharks in San Jose last December. I still have no idea how he did this.
