The New York Islanders have parted ways with goalie coach Piero Greco, a team spokesperson confirmed with amNewYork on Wednesday.
Sergei Naumov, who was working with the team’s AHL affiliate in Bridgeport, has been promoted to the NHL club to reunite with goaltender Ilya Sorokin. The duo had worked together during Sorokin’s final two years with CSKA Moscow before he made the jump to North America and the Islanders.
Greco had been with the Islanders since 2018, brought in by Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz. He played a pivotal role in helping reshape the franchise from mediocrity to a legitimate contender.
He developed Robin Lehner into a Vezina Trophy finalist and won the William Jennings Trophy alongside Thomas Greiss in 2019. Greco also revitalized Semyon Varlamov’s career before Sorokin arrived.
Sorokin has regressed in recent years, though, after finishing second in the Vezina Trophy voting in 2023. He allowed four goals in each of his first four games of the season before allowing three in Tuesday’s win over the San ose Sharks. New York’s netminder has an .873 save percentage with a 3.90 goals-against average.
His struggles had become concerning enough for head coach Patrick Roy to step in, something the Hall-of-Fame goalie has shied away from doing since his arrival in January 2024.
“Shame on me. I should’ve done it before,” Roy said earlier this week. “But I always felt, ‘Hey, let the goalie do their thing.’ I think I have some things I can share with him. I’m not going to help him on the technique side of the game, but I think I can help him on the mental side of the game because my career was not just a Cinderella story.
“I had good games, but I also had some bad ones. So I feel like being able to share that with your goalies is something that hopefully can go a long way.”
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