Why the Islanders' backup goalie situation could be the key to the rest of their roster construction this preseason
Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov protects the net against the Detroit Red Wings in the second period of an NHL game at UBS Arena on Nov. 25, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
NEWARK, N.J. -- Goalie Ilya Sorokin is the most important Islander, a Vezina Trophy runner-up expected to start about 55 games in the 84-game season and keep the team in the playoff chase.
By extension, the backup goalie — or goalies, more on that shortly — is also one of the team’s most important pieces. The organization’s plan and hope — or is it the other way around? — is for Semyon Varlamov to fill that role, completing a remarkable comeback from two partial knee replacement surgeries that have kept him sidelined from an NHL game since Nov. 29, 2024.
But it is truly unprecedented for a goalie to return from such surgeries, never mind that Varlamov is 38.
Which is why general manager Mathieu Darche signed the well-traveled Vitek Vanecek, 30, to a one-year, $1 million deal as an insurance policy. He’s played 210 NHL games for the Capitals, Devils, Sharks, Panthers and Mammoth but how much, if at all, he plays for the Islanders will depend on Varlamov.
Vanecek made 21 saves in a 2-1 loss to the Devils, backstopped by David Rittich, the Islanders’ backup goalie last season, in the preseason opener on Sunday afternoon at the Prudential Center. It likely will be Vanecek’s only chance to show his skills in a preseason game with Sorokin and Varlamov likely to split the time in the final three.
“The camp is short so you have to work really hard in the practice and make it the best in the short term,” Vanecek said.
And as far as competing for a spot with Varlamov?
“I’m not thinking about it too much,” Vanecek said. “I’m just doing my best and we’ll see what’s going to happen.”
Here’s what’s not going to happen: The Islanders are not going to keep three goalies unless it’s absolutely necessary. If Varlamov proves ready, Vanecek will have to clear waivers to be reassigned to the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Hamilton, Ontario.
Keeping three would be an easy solution and shield Darche from any second guessing if another team claims Vanecek and Varlamov cannot handle the 30 games the Islanders need from their backup goalie.
But former first-rounders Victor Eklund and Cole Eiserman — who gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead early in the second period with a power-play one-timer — are making a real push for a roster spot. The same on defense for Isaiah George and former first-rounder Kashawn Aitcheson. Not all will make it against the veteran competition, but Darche needs the flexibility to carry 14 forwards and seven defensemen or 13 forwards and eight defensemen.
“It’s been discussed,” coach Pete DeBoer said of keeping three goalies. “And it does handcuff you. That’s all going to depend on how Varly’s doing and how he’s doing. I don’t think, in talking with Mathieu, that we want to go there. But it’s on the table if we have to.”
The Islanders are positioned much better this season than last with their organizational goalie depth with Varlamov’s availability and Vanecek’s presence.
Last season, Rittich served as Sorokin’s backup and Marcus Hogberg, now playing in Sweden, was the third goalie in the AHL. It proved to be former coach Patrick Roy’s undoing. Rittich’s play nose-dived midway through the season and Roy was forced to over-rely on Sorokin, who wore down under the constant use as the Islanders fell out of a playoff spot and missed the postseason for a second straight year.
So maybe it could be said the backup goalie position is of equal importance to Sorokin because he has shown he needs a game off every four or five matches.
Last season, Vanecek went 5-13-3 with a 2.93 goals-against average and an .883 save percentage with Utah, statistics not quite as good as Rittich (14-10-3, 2.76 GAA, .894 save percentage). But Vanecek served as Sergei Bobrovsky’s playoff understudy as the Panthers won the Stanley Cup in 2025.
He certainly must have known signing with the Islanders didn’t guarantee him a spot on the NHL roster because Darche was very clear at the end of last season the Islanders believed Varlamov could be this season’s backup goalie.
Still, Vanecek came to Long Island.
“I think it’s a good organization,” Vanecek said when asked what attracted him to the Islanders. “It’s a good team. They have a chance to win the Cup and it’s in the East. So that’s why.”
Any chance the Islanders have to compete for the Cup rests with Sorokin. But Vanecek may yet be an important piece to the puzzle.
That depends on Varlamov.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
