Will Škarek make it in the NHL? Czech goalie signs new contract with Islanders, but they have two stars in goal

Czech goalie Jakub Škarek has signed a new contract with the New York Islanders. It’s a two-way contract that will earn the Jihlava native $775,000 a year. Will he finally make it to the first team?

Jakub Škarek grew up in Jihlava, and he first made the A-team in the 2015-16 season. The young goalie was only 15 years old at the time. In the end, he played 20 games that season with a 93.1 percent save percentage.

For such a young goalkeeper, that’s a great record. He also played twenty-eight games for Jihlava the following season and was even loaned out by Sparta Prague for four games. Škarek recorded an even better success rate, namely 94.6 percent.

It was indeed a great extraliga debut. After the 2017/18 season, he was noticed by Finnish Lahti. Škarek joined the Pelicans for the 2018/19 season, and it’s safe to say that aside from four games in the 2020/21 season, this was his last engagement in Europe so far.

It should be added, Škarek played twenty-two games for the Pelicans with a 90.6 percent success rate. After that, he was on the New York Islanders’ farm in Bridgeport.

He is still waiting for his first NHL start. But he didn’t have the same great success rate as before. Škarek didn’t even reach the 90 percent success rate.

He became a protected free agent after last season. That is no longer the case, however, as the Islanders have secured his services for the next two years.

Škarek signed a two-year, two-way contract with the Islanders organization. His new contract will earn him $775,000 if he makes the A-team.

However, on the farm in Bridgeport, he will receive $85,000 in the first year of his contract and $105,000 in the second. Either way, whether he can make the Islanders A-team is a big question. The New Yorkers have two very good certainties in goal – Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov.

Sources: New York Islanders, CapFriendly, Elite Prospects