Along with Sabres reporter Joe Yerdon, we remember Chad Johnson & Michal Neuvirth, back-up goalies who were traded for each other at the deadline but didn’t help the Islanders much at all.
On paper, Chad Johnson was the perfect addition to what looked to be a quality Islanders team in 2014. He was coming off a great season backing up Tuukka Rask in Boston and should have done the same for Isles starter Jaroslav Halak. But when called upon, Johnson was consistently inconsistent, and made giving Halak a break here and there a dangerous proposition.
Meanwhile in Buffalo, goalie Michal Neuvirth wasn’t having any fun playing on a team going nowhere but the draft lottery (again). His numbers were solid despite the roster around him, so a swap was made that everyone hoped would free one team of its biggest problem and solve another problem for a goalie who had shown skill in the recent past. On paper, the trade made a lot of sense.
Sadly, they don’t play the games on paper, and both Johnson and Neuvirth became bewildering footnotes in Islanders history. Joe helps us understand both goalies as people and the circumstances surrounding the trade from the Sabres’ side of things. We also ponder what makes a goalie good, how two proverbial “tidy pieces of business” could go so horribly awry and how to forgive a guy who was barely a villain to begin with.
Thanks again to Joe for coming on. We’ve wanted to get him for a long time and not only was he as great as expected but this ended up being the perfect time and the perfect subjects. Follow him everywhere you can on all the socials and at his website, NotedHockey.com.
We have a Weird Islanders Extra Patreon exclusive bonus episode with Joe as well so check that out, too.
WEIRD BONUS MATERIAL
- Fun Fact: Chad Johnson was a Hobey Baker Trophy finalist as a standout goalie for the University of Alaska – Fairbanks.
- In 2014, the Islanders needed a backup for Jaro Halak. They found one in Johnson, who had put up good numbers backing up Tuukka Rask in Boston (after stints with a bunch of teams). This LHH article includes sage goaltending wisdom from a certain blogger-turned-actual-NHL-general-manager.
- Michal Neuvirth’s NHL career was a wild ride. After leading the Hershey Bears to back-to-back Calder Cups and winning an AHL playoff MVP along the way, he burst on to the scene with the Capitals with a few stellar early seasons. But with injuries and Braden Holtby grabbing the Caps’ crease, Neuvirth was traded to the Sabres for Jaro Halak.
- There weren’t a ton of highlights of Chad Johnson’s short Islanders tenure, but this 30-save 3-2 win in Boston against his former team stands out as maybe his best performance of the season.
- Johnson’s time with the Islanders never got on track and he was traded at the deadline to Buffalo for… Michael Neuvirth! That team was good, while Johnson was not.
- Neuvirth wasn’t happy in Buffalo but played well in the face of one of the most bald-faced tank jobs in NHL history. Eventually, he was traded to the Islanders to back up… Jaro Halak!
- Sadly, on the morning of his first start with the Sabres, Johnson hurt his ankle, causing him to miss the rest of the season. But he did play the next year as their No. 1 starter (backing him up was future Islander Robin Lehner).
- There is even less video of Michal Neuvirth playing for the Islanders, but here he is in a 4-3 OT win in Toronto. Not the best performance but he could look good, as on this PK
- Neuvirth didn’t last long on Long Island, either. Even before free agency began in 2015, he was already talking to a few teams. He found a home in Philly, where he would spend the next and final four seasons of his NHL career.
- In a rare turn of events, the Islanders lit up Neuvirth in his first game against them as a Flyer, winning 6-1
- In a 2017 game against the Devils, Neuvirth collapsed in the Flyers’ crease and he was removed from the ice. It was a scary scene that he talks about here.
- Neuvirth signed a PTO with the Leafs and played at their 2019 training camp. But injuries (and possibly some indifference) led to him getting cut. He then signed a two-year deal with Spartak of the Czech Extraliga, but never played for them due to more injuries.
- The Sabres were not Johnson’s last stop. All told, he played for eight teams, including Buffalo twice. There are even more teams that held his rights that he didn’t play for. He’s comfortable being called a “journeyman,” which is the best description of his career (this article doesn’t even include his last NHL stop in Anaheim).
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- Be a veteran NHLer who is not generally associated with his time on Islanders.
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