The New York Islanders signed a goaltender to a long-term deal, signifying their expectation that they will be better next season. cheap nfl jerseys . Numbers Game looks at the Islanders securing the services of Jaroslav Halak. The Islanders Get: G Jaroslav Halak. Halak, 29, was going to be one of the best free agent goaltenders available this summer when the Islanders made a pre-emptive move to acquire him from Washington. While there are ups-and-down in Halaks game from year to year, over the past five years, he has the third-best save percentage among goaltenders with at least 200 games played. Over the same time period, Halak has a .927 save percentage during 5-on-5 play, which puts him in pretty good company. As noted, there have been ups and downs in Halaks performance, with the worst of the downs his 2012-2013 season -- an injury-plagued season in which he finished with an .899 save percentage in 16 games. In every other season, since 2008-2009, Halaks save percentage has ranged from .910 to .926, so there is a good chance that he can provide above-average goaltending for the Islanders and that would represent a significant upgrade. Using Hockey References Goals Saved Above Average, for example, Halak has saved approximately 42 goals above average over the past five years and will effectively be replacing Evgeni Nabokov, who is 11.51 goals above average over those same five years (one of which was spent in Russia), so just on average over those seasons, Halak would provide a five-to-six goal difference and factoring in that Nabokov is 38 and Halak is 29, its clear that Halak is likely to have superior numbers over the next four seasons. Halak signed for four years and $18-million, which is entirely reasonable for a starting goaltender. His cap hit of $4.5-million ranks 15th among goaltenders already signed for next season. The decision to sign Halak and, on the same day, announce that they would be keeping this years first-round pick (meaning that the Islanders 2015 first-round pick goes to Buffalo) is a clear indication that the Islanders expect to rebound from this down season and, believe it or not, thats a perfectly reasonable decision. They finished 19th in Fenwick Close (unblocked 5-on-5 shot attempts, within one goal in first two periods, tied in third), which is a good measure for puck possession and did so with several notable injuries and players departing via trade, so its fair to think that the Islanders can be a middle of the pack club, with goaltending offering the chance to be a bit above average or, if it goes wrong again, below average. Those expectations will put Halak in the spotlight, but his track record is strong enough to justify the Islanders investment. The Capitals Get: A fourth-round pick. While Halak played well for Washington, after coming over in trade from St. Louis, posting a .930 save percentage in a dozen games, its also not a surprise that Washington might not be inclined to keep him long-term. After all, the Capitals already have Braden Holtby, who has a .919 save percentage in 105 career games, as well as prospect Philip Grubauer (.924 SV% in 19 GP with Capitals) waiting in the wings, so there wasnt a lot of upside to spending on Halak. Of course, this decision cant entirely ignore the fact that the Capitals dont have a general manager since firing George McPhee. Brian MacLellan made out quite well in the interim, however, securing a fourth-round pick in exchange for negotiatiing rights to an asset that the Capitals apparently didnt intend to keep. There isnt a lot of value to a fourth-round pick, maybe a 15% chance that it turns into an NHL player, but for a player that could provide zero value to Washington next season, thats well-played. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Cheap Juventus Jerseys . The agreement Thursday was for $5,000 above the midpoint between the $2.4 million he had asked for and the $1.6 million the Indians had offered when the sides exchanged arbitration figures last month. nfl jerseys china . Louis is going to get a chance to represent his country at the Winter Olympics after all. MARCOUSSIS, France -- Canada remained undefeated at the 2014 IRB Womens Rugby World Cup after soundly defeating Samoa 42-7 on Tuesday. Brittany Waters scored two of Canadas six tries from the backline. Mandy Marchak, Elissa Alarie, Stephanie Bernier and Andrea Burk had the others as Canada earned a bonus point in the standings by scoring at least four tries. Magali Harvey, the leading scorer so far in France, converted five of the tries, with Burk capping the scoring by successfully converting her own. "Im happy about my performance today and scoring two tries, but my teams effort was what set the platform for them and I think the team effort is whats most important," Waters said. "I think its going to be a great game against England on Saturday. I think we improved on our first game and if we can continue to be strong in the breakdown against England we can be successful." Canada improved to 2-0 and is tied with England for first place in Pool A with 10 points. England and Canada meet Saturday. The three pool winners plus the top second-place team advance to the quarter-finals. "We reached our goal of securing a bonus point against a very strong and physical Samoan team, and Im proud of their effort and attitude today," said Canada coach Francois Ratier. "Now were going to de-brief from todays game and figure ouut exactly where we excelled and where we need to improve for our final pool game against England. wholesale jerseys. " Marchak opened the scoring in the 11th minute, touching down for a try after a strong run through two defenders. Harvey added the conversion to put Canada up 7-0. On the ensuing restart, a Samoan forward was shown a yellow card for an infringement in the ruck. Shortly after, Marchak made a break to get Canada inside Samoan territory and Canada eventually scored on Waters first try of the game. With Samoa back to a full strength, Canada continued to press on and were awarded with another try shortly after from fullback Alarie, who scooped up a loose ball and ran 30 metres over the try line. Harveys third conversion of the game increased the lead to 21-0. Alarie denied a late Samoan try with a tackle on the final play of the first half. Canada struck again with a try early in the second half. Burk started the play off with a 60 metre run before being tackled and the ball found its way to Bernier, who finished off the score. Harveys conversion put Canada up 28-0. Samoa got on the board at the 54th minute mark when replacement Ginia Muavae broke through Canadas defence. Thats as close as the Samoans would come, as Canada scored two late tries from Waters and Burk at the 67th and 80th mark respectively to seal a 42-7 victory. cheap jerseyscheap jerseys from china ' ' '
