Nathan Lawson
Undrafted Goalies are always a tough lot to predict, though usually their emergence is well earned. Our beloved "Roli" was actually undrafted and the Flames took a flyer on him after a 23-10-7 senior year at UMass-Lowell, after two seasons at the AHL Roli was called up and would move around the league a few times before finding his way into Isles fans hearts. Nate comes from a somewhat similar cloth, I say somewhat because he never put up huge college numbers and went unnoticed until the Phoenix Roadrunners in the ECHL scooped him up after his third year (hard to tell if he didn't make the team as a Freshman or leave as a Junior, I don't know) at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. Lawson never posted a winning season at Anchorage and never had a GAA under 3.00, so his being undrafted is pretty expected considering the numbers and the probability of a bad system. however Phoenix kept Nate for a few games before the Utah Grizzlies picked him up (I believe it was on Waivers, may have been an ECHL trade, but I'll go with Waivers) and there Lawson cemented prospect status. take a look at the stats as the GAA went down and the SV% stayed well above .910 on average:
I thought Lawson's play going into last year was worthy of a call-up and he signed a 2 way deal in February of 2010 as an insurance policy. Justin Bourne, @jtbourne on Twitter and son of Isles legend Bob Bourne, wrote about Lawson first hand here. We've seen Nate start a game this year and come on in relief of DP Monday night brilliantly. His numbers this year aren't spectacular at Bridgeport, actually in 10 games they're downright dreadful, a the same time it's 10 games, so, that's being too harsh. Lawson can stop shots and can still be a great backup netminder, I'm not sure about starter night in and out, but he's a pretty good guy to call on and make a ton of stops. My only complaint with Lawson, and the reason he may never become a starter is his rebound control, in the two games I've seen him play for New York he's given up (and been burned on) a huge number of big juicy rebounds; if his rebound control is ever taken care of he may become a starter in the NHL. I believe in Lawson as a backup right now, and there's nothing that says he can't stick as a back up...but a starter, I don't see it right now. (Picture used from the Calgary Herald after Monday's game, that's Nate and his Mom)
Kevin Poulin
Poulin is probably my favorite Goalie prospect in the system, he was a 2008 5th round selection and was allowed to develop at Victoriaville in the QMJHL. Poulin's style of play I've read is very unorthodox, but the kid stops pucks, plain as that. NHL great Patrick Roy coached against Poulin in the "Q" and said that he was the best Goalie in the QMJHL last year. and he certainly brought his A game going 35-16-0 with a career best 2.63 GAA and a .917 SV%. '09-'10 was Poulin's coming out party in the QMJHL as an elite netminding prospect and made Garth Snow's 2008 selection look pretty snazzy. This season Poulin started the year at Bridgeport and has split time with Koskinen and Lawson. He's been the superior goalie in every stat leading Bridgeport with 10 wins and 2 shutouts to go with an anemic 2.13 GAA and a .931 SV%, so it's safe to say (even with the small sample size) that Poulin can handle the pros quite well. All this has been accomplished with a Bridgeport team riddle with injuries and having a largely unstable D in front of him. I say unstable because of call-ups and injuries to the blueline not a lack of talent (though somewhat debatable). So it's safe to say Poulin can handle the AHL quite well. As mentioned above Poulin has won himself a look from the Islanders with DiPietro's injury Monday night. I certainly hope that we'll see Poulin in net against the Oilers tomorrow night. As for Rebound control, I'm unsure what to expect; the prospect game in July, I remember seeing him in he didn't give up the big rebounds and recovered well. I think we have a keeper in Poulin. (Poulin photo used from Islander's Press Release about the AHL Rookie Netminder)Poulin's Career numbers:
Mikko Koskinen
The 2009 draft brought us two huge Scandinavian netminders. The first is 6'6 202 lbs Vantaa, Finland native Mikko Koskinen (the other is Nilsson). Koskinen's pre-US career was quite awesome: 33 games for the Espoo Blues logging a 1.91 GAA and .931 SV% and winning 17 games. Last year was a lost year for the "Finnish Wall" as he spent most of the year hurt and fighting for playing time with Lawson and former Sound Tiger Scott Munroe. Koskinen got into a few games with the Utah Grizzlies going 6-0-0 and a 2.50 GAA and .924 SV%. he got into two games with Bridgeport and helped out in the playoffs. This year a healthier Koskinen has had to deal with a 3 headed Goalie rotation and inconsistent play. In 13 games Koskinen has posted a 5-8-0 record a mediocre 3.33 GAA and .886 SV%. Again, it's a small sample size and Bridgeport has had it's defensive problems, so it's unfair to judge Koskinen harshly on such a small amount of work. The Roloson trade will most benefit Koskinen if he get's a fair amount of work at Bridgeport, especially if Poulin will fill in for Rick DiPietro for an extended period of time. The jury will remain out on Koskinen until he puts it all together this year. He's certainly one to watch, and if he starts banging on the NHL door may become a good trade chip to send elsewhere to get a few pieces or to land a veteran somewhere down the road. or who knows maybe the "Finnish Wall" takes over the top job from all the previous goalies mentioned and makes someone else expendable. But for now Isles fans, it's a very "wait and see" approach with Koskinen. (Koskinen Photo used from @Islesblogger's post on Koskinen for the '09 Draft)
Koskinen's career stats:
Finally, from Michael Fornabaio (@Fornabaioctp on Twitter), Bridgeport's beat writer on Rebound control for Poulin and Koskinen: "Poulin, there's nothing he hasn't handled. Koskinen, missed a few of his games, no rebound issues I can remember lately."
So there you go, a solid backup in the making and two potential starters. What more could you ask for? Aside from another potential gem refining his game in the Swedish Elite League...but for that you'll have to wait for part two.
Update 5:09 am: so while I'm still awake at this ungodly hour (what a surprise) I figured I'd update with news from last night's game. Nate Lawson got the start and played for only about 5 minutes as Edmonton got 3 shots on goal, netting 2 quick goals, pretty much ending the game. The first goal came of a pretty awful rebound that Lawson should have smothered, while the second was a beautiful shorty from Dustin Penner that no goalie would've stopped. Jack Capuano showed a quick hook and pulled Lawson immediately after the Penner goal and put in Poulin. Kevin kept the Islanders in the game delivering an admirable "Long Relief" (Butch used a baseball reference in Monday's game and I sort of feel obliged to carry on with it) stopping all 19 shots he faced while the Islanders lost 2-1. while Poulin did have a tone of rebounds deflect off, his provided the D in front of him quick puck possession and ability to clear quickly. Poulin delivered a great performance after Lawson's quick exit. In no way am I going to gloat over Lawson's quick hook, but he may be like Marty Biron in showing early what sort of night he'll have (in this case, not a good one, but he hasn't allowed a "soft" goal, just bad rebounds). A tough loss but some positives in showing Poulin can hang around with the big boys a little bit.
Expect part two some time later today, need to look at Nilsson's numbers and others as well as attempt to figure out Jase Weslosky's deal (simply put he's back playing in the ECHL and doesn't NEED to be listed amongst the Islanders Goalie Prospects)....
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