Thomas Greiss

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GermanyGermany  Thomas Greiss Ice hockey player
Thomas Greiss
Date of birth January 29, 1986
place of birth Fuessen , Germany
size 185 cm
Weight 86 kg
position goalkeeper
number #1
Catch hand Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 2004 , 3rd round, 94th position
San Jose Sharks
Career stations
1992-2003 EV Füssen
2003-2006 Cologne Sharks
2006-2009 Worcester Sharks
2009-2010 San Jose Sharks
2010-2011 Brynäs IF
2011-2013 San Jose Sharks
2012-2013 Hanover Scorpions
2013-2014 Phoenix Coyotes
2014-2015 Pittsburgh Penguins
since 2015 New York Islanders

Thomas Greiss (born January 29, 1986 in Füssen ) is a German ice hockey goalkeeper who has been under contract with the New York Islanders from the National Hockey League since July 2015 .

Career

Beginnings in the youth sector and DEL (1992-2006)

Thomas Greiss grew up in the village of Roßhaupten near his hometown Füssen and started playing ice hockey at EV Füssen at the age of six . The left-catching goalkeeper went through all youth teams of the traditional club and was appointed to a selection team for the first time in the U13. Up to and including the U18 selection, he has since played in the national jersey in every age group.

Greiss during a game with the Kölner Haien

In the summer of 2002, Greiss moved from Füssen to the Kölner Haien , where he initially guarded the gate of the junior team in the DNL . In his first season with the young sharks, he led the team to the final of the playoffs , where they lost to the young eagles from Mannheim . After Leonhard Wild left before the 2003/04 season , he got his chance as a substitute for the pros behind Chris Rogles . During this season and the following he was mainly loaned out with a license or in the cup and sporadically in the DEL with the Haie. He knew how to draw attention to himself with good performances. Above all, his calm and overview in the game distinguished him from this early point in his career. During his first two professional seasons he was selected by the San Jose Sharks in the third round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft in 94th position. At the beginning of the 2005/06 season Greiss benefited from the injury of Cologne goalkeeper Oliver Jonas , which he came to several missions. In doing so, he knew how to convince and earned his place in the Kölner Tor. In addition, he was appointed to the senior national team for the first time at the TUI Nations Cup and was also used for selection at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and the 2006 Division I World Championship in Amiens . After the preliminary round of the 2005/06 season he was one of the statistically best goalkeepers in the league and was also used in the playoffs, where he was eliminated with the Haie in the semifinals.

San Jose Sharks (2006-2013)

After the season he extended his contract with the Rhinelander until 2009, but shortly afterwards received an offer from the San Jose Sharks and moved to North America, where he played his first year in the American Hockey League with the Worcester Sharks , the farm team of San Jose, started. Together with the German goalkeeper Dimitri Pätzold and the Canadian Nolan Schaefer , he formed the goalkeeper team there for a short time. In November he moved briefly to the ECHL to the second farm team from San Jose, the Fresno Falcons . For the game against the Philadelphia Flyers on November 18, he was summoned to the NHL team for the first time, but was not in the squad for the game because Yevgeny Nabokov was on the bench as a back-up goalie after a minor injury could take. On November 24th he was sent back to Worcester from Fresno. In March 2007, the German received the award for AHL Player of the Week from March 18 to 25, after he went off the ice as the victorious goalkeeper in all three games of the week and had a catch rate of 94.0 percent, as well as a goal against of 1.67.

The 2007/08 season started again in the AHL with the Worcester Sharks. In January 2008 he was called up for the second time in the season in the NHL squad San Joses and made his NHL debut on January 13, 2008 against the Anaheim Ducks . Two more missions followed, but he failed to win. After the San Jose Sharks had signed Brian Boucher in March 2008, an experienced substitute for Nabokow, Greiss spent the entire 2008/09 season in Worcester. He celebrated 30 victories in 57 games, setting a new franchise record. He also managed his first shutout on North American ice towards the end of the regular season . In the subsequent playoffs, the German increased his performance again and led the Sharks to the Atlantic Division final. His statistics, including two shutouts in twelve games, were among the best in the entire playoffs. The management of San Joses honored Greiss' achievements in August 2009 with a new two-year contract for the restricted free agent . After changing from Boucher he formed the goalkeeper duo San Joses for the 2009/10 season with Yevgeny Nabokow , with Greiss initially acting as a substitute. Despite fewer appearances, the German played very consistently and received an invitation to the German squad for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver , where he was a regular goalkeeper.

On October 12, 2010 Greiss was put on the waiver list and then taken back under contract by the Worcester Sharks, the farm team of the San Jose Sharks. The German was no longer part of the Sharks squad and was only the third choice behind the two Finns Antti Niemi and Antero Niittymäki . On October 22, 2010, the Sharks agreed with Brynäs IF from the Swedish Elitserien on a loan for the 2010/11 season . After the season in Sweden ended, San Jose ordered the goalkeeper back to North America on April 11, 2011 for the upcoming NHL playoffs. Due to the NHL lockout that began on September 15, 2012, Thomas Greiss decided to return to Germany. In November he signed a contract with the Hannover Scorpions in the DEL for the time of the lockout . Greiss alternated with goalkeeper Dimitri Pätzold for the Lower Saxony . In total, he completed nine games for the Scorpions by the end of the lockout on January 6, 2013. In his first appearance in the 2012/13 season for the San Jose Sharks, the goalkeeper celebrated his first shutout in the NHL.

Phoenix, Pittsburgh and New York (since 2013)

In July 2013 he signed a one-year contract with the Phoenix Coyotes , where he played only 25 games as a substitute goalkeeper behind Mike Smith in the 2013/14 season and did not receive a new contract after the season. In the run-up to the 2014/15 season , Greiss was signed by the Pittsburgh Penguins , where he received a one-year contract with a rumored salary of one million US dollars. In the Penguins, the left catcher formed the goalkeeper duo together with Marc-Andre Fleury , with the latter receiving a large part of the starting bets. In total, Greiss was used 20 times for the penguins. His contract in Pittsburgh was not renewed after the season, so he signed a two-year deal with the New York Islanders in July 2015 .

During the 2015/16 season, Greiss developed into a top performer at the Islanders due to an injury to goalkeeper Jaroslav Halák and had 23 wins in 41 games and a catch rate of 92.5%. As a result, he was appointed to the national team's squad for the first time since 2010 and finished seventh with the team at the 2016 World Cup . A little later he was also in the squad of Team Europe , which took second place at the World Cup of Hockey 2016 , but was not used.

In January 2017, the Islanders extended his contract, which expired the following summer, by three years, in which he is expected to earn a total of around 10 million US dollars. With his new colleague Robin Lehner , Greiss formed the goalkeeper duo with the fewest goals conceded in the NHL in the 2018/19 season, so that both were awarded the William M. Jennings Trophy .

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2018/19 season

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp S. N OTN Min GT SO GTS Sv% Sp S. N Min GT SO GTS Sv%
2002/03 Cologne EC DNL 28 22nd 1616 57 3 2.12 3 1 2 8th 1 2.67
2003/04 Cologne EC DNL 23 16 1285 54 3 2.52 Statistics not available
2003/04 Cologne Sharks DEL 1 0 0 0 20th 4th 0 12.00 60.0 - - - - - - - -
2004/05 Cologne Sharks DEL 8th 459 16 0 2.09 93.6 - - - - - - - -
2004/05 Polar bears Regensburg 2nd Bundesliga 1 60 2 0 2.00 - - - - - - - -
2005/06 Cologne Sharks DEL 27 1560 64 1 2.46 92.6 9 6th 3 533 27 1 3.03 89.9
2006/07 Fresno Falcons ECHL 3 1 2 0 180 7th 0 2.34 92.9 - - - - - - - -
2006/07 Worcester Sharks AHL 43 26th 15th 2 2555 111 0 2.61 91.2 3 0 3 172 12 0 4.18 86.5
2007/08 Worcester Sharks AHL 41 18th 21st 2 2424 125 0 3.09 89.2 - - - - - - - -
2007/08 San Jose Sharks NHL 3 0 1 1 128 7th 0 3.26 86.0 - - - - - - - -
2008/09 Worcester Sharks AHL 57 30th 24 2 3346 138 1 2.47 90.7 12 6th 6th 742 30th 2 2.43 91.2
2009/10 San Jose Sharks NHL 16 7th 4th 1 782 35 0 2.68 91.2 1 0 0 40 2 0 2.99 92.9
2010/11 Brynäs IF Elitserien 32 12 13 5 1850 90 2 2.92 90.4 5 1 4th 317 18th 0 3.41 89.2
2011/12 San Jose Sharks NHL 19th 9 7th 1 1043 40 0 2.30 91.5 - - - - - - - -
2012/13 Hanover Scorpions DEL 9 3 6th 0 535 31 0 3.47 90.5 - - - - - - - -
2012/13 San Jose Sharks NHL 6th 1 4th 0 308 13 1 2.53 91.5 - - - - - - - -
2012/13 Worcester Sharks NHL 1 0 1 0 60 5 0 5.04 81.5 - - - - - - - -
2013/14 Phoenix Coyotes NHL 25th 10 8th 5 1312 50 2 2.29 92.0 - - - - - - - -
2014/15 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 20th 9 6th 3 1159 50 0 2.59 90.8 - - - - - - - -
2015/16 New York Islanders NHL 41 23 11 4th 2287 90 1 2.44 92.5 11 5 6th 733 30th 0 2.46 92.3
2016/17 New York Islanders NHL 51 26th 18th 5 2814 126 3 2.69 91.3 - - - - - - - -
2017/18 New York Islanders NHL 27 13 8th 2 1492 95 1 3.82 89.2 - - - - - - - -
2018/19 New York Islanders NHL 43 23 14th 2 2294 87 5 2.28 92.7 1 0 0 37 2 0 3.33 80.0
DNL total 51 38 2901 111 6th 2.30 3 1 2 8th 1 2.67
DEL total 45 2574 115 1 2.68 91.7 9 6th 3 533 27 1 3.03 89.8
AHL total 142 74 61 6th 8385 379 1 2.71 90.4 15th 6th 9 914 42 2 2.76 90.3
NHL overall 251 121 81 24 13621 593 13 2.61 91.5 13 5 6th 810 34 0 2.52 92.0

International

Represented Germany at:

 

Represented Team Europe at:

year team event result Sp S. N Min GT SO GTS Sv%
2003 Germany U18 World Championship Div. I. 2nd place 2 2 0 120 2 0 1.00 95.5
2004 Germany U20 World Cup Div. I. 1st place 2 0 3 0 1.51 90.9
2004 Germany U18 World Championship Div. I. 1st place 3 2 0 140 8th 0 3.43 86.7
2005 Germany U20 World Cup 9th place 3 0 2 104 13 0 7.50 80.6
2006 Germany U20 World Cup Div. I. 1st place 4th 4th 0 240 2 2 0.50 97.8
2006 Germany Olympia 10th place 1 0 1 60 5 0 5.00 87.5
2006 Germany WM Div. I. 1st place 2 1 0 61 2 0 1.97 88.2
2010 Germany Olympia 11th place 3 0 3 179 15th 0 5.03 81.5
2016 Germany WM 7th place 4th 3 1 240 10 0 2.50 90.4
2016 Team Europe World cup 2nd place Without any effort
2017 Germany WM 8th place 4th 1 2 181 15th 0 4.96 87.6
Juniors overall 14th 2 28 2 2.84 90.4
Men overall 14th 5 7th 721 47 0 3.91 87.7

( Legend for the goalkeeper statistics: GP or Sp = total games; W or S = wins; L or N = defeats; T or U or OT = draws or overtime or shootout defeats; min. = Minutes; SOG or SaT = shots on goal; GA or GT = goals conceded; SO = shutouts ; GAA or GTS = goals conceded ; Sv% or SVS% = catch quota ; EN = empty net goal ; 1  play-downs / relegation ; italics : statistics not complete)

Web links

Commons : Thomas Greiss  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ hannoverscorpions.de, Thomas Greiss approaching Hanover ( memento from June 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 12, 2013
  2. ↑ hockeyweb.de, Thomas Greiss: First use - first shut-out , accessed on February 1, 2013
  3. ↑ penguins.nhl.com Penguins Sign Goaltender Thomas Greiss
  4. ^ Thomas Greiss agrees to contract with Islanders. nhl.com, January 31, 2017, accessed January 31, 2017 .
Squad of the New York Islanders in the season 2019/20
personal data
SURNAME Greiss, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German ice hockey goalkeeper
DATE OF BIRTH January 29, 1986
PLACE OF BIRTH Fuessen , Germany