By Warren Kozireski —
The New Islanders did not draft a single goaltender in 2015, 2016 or 2017. Since they have taken one goalie in three of the last four years with the latest being Tristan Lennox of the Saginaw Spirit in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) in the third round this past July 93rd overall.
Lennox has the prototypical frame for goalies of late standing 6’3” and 200 lb. and is fairly adept at handling the puck.
“He has always been a very talented puck handler; the thing we’ve been working on the most is just refining that, making simple plays,” Saginaw goaltending coach Rick Ice said. “I think puck handling doesn’t have to be always crazy with cross ice passes, it’s really about getting to your spots and making sure we’re making smart plays and he’s been doing a really good job of that this year.
“He competes every and day and he shows that in practice every day as well and I think it goes back to his competition mindset.
“This is my first year with the team and I went back and watched a lot of the film of him over the years and you see the progression. It comes from maturity of being in the league a long time (four years), but I think also just understanding and building those skills you need as a goaltender.”
Almost to the holiday break in the schedule, Lennox stood seventh in the league in goals against (2.91) and tied for 21st in save percentage (.891) for the Spirit, who were tied for fourth in the West Division.
He also helped Team Canada, with current World Junior goaltender and NY Rangers draft pick Dylan Garand, to the silver medal at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup with a .95 GAA and .951 save percentage in three wins.
“It’s been awesome just to get back into things and just with the group of guys we have,” Lennox said after a mid-December game in Erie.
“I think I’ve really worked on my game and improved it a lot. The biggest thing for me is my depth and maintaining my posture in the net. Just using my size as a strength.
He was the sixth goaltender taken in the 2021 draft. Two were selected midway through the first round and three others just prior to his selection in the third.
After that it was on to his first pro camp.
“I was with the Islanders camp for probably a month and a bit and it was awesome. The biggest learning experience by far just being around those guys for the first time and guys that have been doing it for multiple, multiple years. I think it’s the biggest learning experience anyone can have and it really opened my eyes to what the next level is for sure.”
“I would say I combine with a couple of guys. I would say Marc-Andre Fleury and the athleticism of (Andrei) Vasilevskiy; just guys like that I try to take pieces of each of their games and put it into mine.”
Two future Hall of Famers with a combined nine Vezina Trophies. The Islanders, and Lennox, can only hope.
