On Wednesday, 14-year NHL netminder Thomas Greiss decided to call it a career. The 37-year-old played for six teams over his NHL career, which included five seasons as a member of the New York Islanders.

On Wednesday, 14-year NHL netminder Thomas Greiss decided to call it a career. The 37-year-old played for six teams over his NHL career, which included five seasons as a member of the New York Islanders.

In 193 regular season appearances with New York and 101 wins -- both ranking fifth all-time in franchise history -- Greiss posted a .915 SV% with a 2.70 GAA and 10 shutouts. 

In 16 postseason games, Greiss owned a .921 SV% with a 2.41 GAA.

“Greiss was a great teammate. He was a real funny guy,” forward Mathew Barzal said during the 2021-22 season. “Funny when we played soccer, he’d always have a little funny comment and even loved having him after practice and whatnot. He took a lot of shots and took a lot of breakaways. The guy’s very unorthodox and that kind of setting, so it was really fun having to come up with new stuff, to try to beat him in different ways.

“So you know, Greiss was a great teammate.”

The Islanders inked Greiss to a two-year deal in the summer of 2015, as they were a team on the rise. 

The summer prior, they acquired Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk to provide some veteran leadership and help create a winning culture, and it paid off as the Islanders made the postseason.

Over the next five years, Greiss’s stability helped the Islanders grow from a borderline playoff team to a Stanley Cup contender.

Greiss would go on to sign a three-year extension before the start of the 2017-18 season.

“He was the perfect backup goalie,” former Islander and MSG analyst Thomas Hickey told me this past season. “He was more than that because he played a bigger role than just a backup. He was an instrumental part of winning playoff series. You look at that year in the bubble. He came in and could win big games. But outside of that, he was a fun guy, and I think it’s a skill as a goalie to have the demeanor to be the backup and be the guy that stays out with everyone and takes extra shots, and guys always appreciated that. You could never get Thomas in a bad mood.”

“He’s always had a sense of humor, and I think that’s why he’s stuck around.”

His best season on the island came back in 2018-19 as Greiss and goaltender Robin Lehner helped the  Islanders win the Jennings Trophy for the least goals allowed in the NHL (191 goals). That season, Greiss went 23-14-2, with a .927 SV% and a 2.28 GAA.

People forget that Robin Lehner struggled mightily in November, as he lost seven straight contests from Nov. 8 to Dec. 12. However, Greiss went 6-2-1 in his nine November starts to help keep the team in a solid spot.

Speaking of playoffs, Greiss was monumental in key moments for New York.

On Apr. 25, 2016, in overtime of Game 5 against the Florida Panthers (series tied 2-2), New York Islanders defenseman Calvin DeHaan closed his hand on the puck in Greiss’s crease, which resulted in a penalty shot for Aleksander Barkov.

The Islanders went on to win the game as rookie Alan Quine blasted home a shot past the legend Roberto Luongo in double overtime. John Tavares would send the Islanders to the second round of the postseason for the first time since 1993, as he scored the overtime goal in Game 6.

Greiss's second-to-last start in the blue and orange was a strong one as head coach Barry Trotz chose him to start Game 7 against the Philadelphia Flyers over Semyon Varlamov in 2020. 

Backed by a dominant defensive performance, Greiss had an easy night as he stopped all 16 shots that came his way to send the Islanders to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1993.

“Well, the great thing about Thomas is (that he’s an) awesome, awesome guy,” Trotz said. “I mean, we could go to Thomas in the last minute go ‘last-minute change you’re going in’ and he’d (shrug), okay. And there is nothing that seemed to faze him.”

“He just went with the flow, which is awesome. He’s had terrific years for us here was a big part of our success.”

Greiss may have one of the top saves in franchise history (outside of what Sorokin continues to do daily). 

On Nov. 1, 2018, he stoned Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby with the diving poke check in overtime, before stopping him in the shootout as well:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvGZJkCXKZI[/embed]

“Greiss was quite the personality. But he was really good for us,” Cal Clutterbuck said. “He was a stabilizing force, and when he went into games, he played really well for us. [He had] kind of an awkward style, so really kept teams on their toes.”

Former Islanders forward Josh Bailey mimicked those sentiments.

“Greiss was one of those guys that you know, typically when he was here, he was a '1B' if not “2 A” and one of those guys you could always rely on when he came in there to make a big save and have a big game.”

We wish nothing but the best to Greiss and his family as he begins his next chapter.