Player Discussion: Anders Lee

[The Winter Soldier]

I like Lee, but he has to take note of Lou's 2 signings this spring. If he does take a team discount in terms of years and dollars. Otherwise, as much as I like him and he was a good captain in year 1. We will have to part with him. Same for Lehner. Cap space is the biggest weapon teams have now. It's of prime importance the Isles keep their cap situation on track. Some big signings upcoming. Barzal and Pulock.

 

[BMOK33]

I like Lee, but he has to take note of Lou's 2 signings this spring. If he does take a team discount in terms of years and dollars. Otherwise, as much as I like him and he was a good captain in year 1. We will have to part with him. Same for Lehner. Cap space is the biggest weapon teams have now. It's of prime importance the Isles keep their cap situation on track. Some big signings upcoming. Barzal and Pulock.

Lee is likely more replaceable than Tavares was but I’m not sold it can be done this offseason. They would need to get Panarin. If not even if they picked up say Kadri or Hoffman they’d still need another piece capable of 40-60 points somewhere to deepen the offense. The easiest way to make the transition would be you hope you get miracle seasons from Beau and maybe Otto or Ho Sang or Bellows next year but right now I don’t even think any of those 3 make the team

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Lee is likely more replaceable than Tavares was but I’m not sold it can be done this offseason. They would need to get Panarin. If not even if they picked up say Kadri or Hoffman they’d still need another piece capable of 40-60 points somewhere to deepen the offense. The easiest way to make the transition would be you hope you get miracle seasons from Beau and maybe Otto or Ho Sang or Bellows next year but right now I don’t even think any of those 3 make the team

I could part with Lee if he is too expensive and long in term. As for Tavares. I don't think the Isles need him or the 11M of capspace he brings. He's not a game changer to me. He's a stats pretty player. 75-85 pts a season that will be declining soon. Spend it on RFA's and players ascending not descending. There are more ways to skin a cat than to waste money and term on him.

 

[Skip To My Lou]

I'd be a terrible GM. I'd give in and give him his 7 years. I just don't want to lose Lee. I feel like he's the outspoken leader this team needs, and hasn't had in a while..

 

[Le Grec]

I could part with Lee if he is too expensive and long in term. As for Tavares. I don't think the Isles need him or the 11M of capspace he brings. He's not a game changer to me. He's a stats pretty player. 75-85 pts a season that will be declining soon. Spend it on RFA's and players ascending not descending. There are more ways to skin a cat than to waste money and term on him.

Bingo.
A) If Lee wants a Hayes type contract, he can go get it July 1st from some sucker like Philly.
B) I moved to Toronto in January of 2018 for a year. The first thing my friends and family said once I settled in was Tavares was going to end up on the Leafs in the summer. My response was, " I doubt he leaves, but is he does, I won't care and Toronto will regret it."

I know it may not come across from my previous posts, but I like Lee, and I liked Tavares. But in the salary cap world, contracts matter.
When Wang gave Yashin that stupid contract, everyone I know laughed. I didn't care if he paid him $100mil per, there was no cap. So from a fan perspective, contracts were just conversation filler.

But today contracts are everything. Shit, Hickey's 2.5mil is an issue. Lee at 7mil for 7 years would be disastrous.

And same goes with Tavares. It sucks we lost him for nothing, but we should all be thankful we don't have his contract. He became the 2nd highest paid player in the league when he signed, yet he wasn't even our best player at the end...

 

[duster19]

when they signed Eberle it was a bad sign for Lee. Lots of money still available but I think Lou has other ideas. He’s big game hunting and needs that cash. Lee might have priced himself out of the isles and Eberle capitalized.

Not sure what the hold up with Lehner is. Seems like he would play for cheap for the isles. I’m getting worried that Bob might be a target.

 

[BMOK33]

when they signed Eberle it was a bad sign for Lee. Lots of money still available but I think Lou has other ideas. He’s big game hunting and needs that cash. Lee might have priced himself out of the isles and Eberle capitalized.

Not sure what the hold up with Lehner is. Seems like he would play for cheap for the isles. I’m getting worried that Bob might be a target.

It sounds highly like Bob is going to Florida. Panarin I’m not as sure but without a doubt if they’re serious about contending they would be one team who needs to overpay for a big time goalie

 

[LetsGoIslanders]

Grant him length and money. I tend to think in the next NHL/NHLPA contract there will be another out. Out will be going to play in Sweden or Finland as a 30+ year old.

 

[IslandersFan17]

Grant him length and money. I tend to think in the next NHL/NHLPA contract there will be another out. Out will be going to play in Sweden or Finland as a 30+ year old.

I love this logic, sign him up and buy em out! That's building!

 

[crasherino]

when they signed Eberle it was a bad sign for Lee. Lots of money still available but I think Lou has other ideas. He’s big game hunting and needs that cash. Lee might have priced himself out of the isles and Eberle capitalized.

Not sure what the hold up with Lehner is. Seems like he would play for cheap for the isles. I’m getting worried that Bob might be a target.

That’s generally my feeling as well. There isn’t really room for Eberle, Lee AND a marquee FA unless we move some salary. We can do that of course, but it takes another team to agree. I always viewed Eberle as the backup plan. While I like him perfectly well and think he will approach 30 goals under the right circumstances, I thought we could improve on him. If we improve around him, that’s cool too. But we definitely need to improve somewhere upfront.

 

[Brunomics]

That’s generally my feeling as well. There isn’t really room for Eberle, Lee AND a marquee FA unless we move some salary. We can do that of course, but it takes another team to agree. I always viewed Eberle as the backup plan. While I like him perfectly well and think he will approach 30 goals under the right circumstances, I thought we could improve on him. If we improve around him, that’s cool too. But we definitely need to improve somewhere upfront.

I don't think you need to big game hunt. Realistically Lee/Eberle/Bailey are all 50 point wingers. Add another one of these. A guy like Nyquist would fit in nicely.

 

[crasherino]

I don't think you need to big game hunt. Realistically Lee/Eberle/Bailey are all 50 point wingers. Add another one of these. A guy like Nyquist would fit in nicely.

Nyquist is a nice and reasonable add. More likely to get him than one of the top guys. I'm just not sure if he's the guy we need as he's not really a shoot first, goal scorer type of guy. More like an all around jack of all trades - like a Bailey type. He's a fine enough add - I'm just not sure that he's the difference between us and a Stanley Cup right now. Of course, there aren't many of those guys to go around so we probably need to take what we can get.

Net/net....if re re-signed Lee and landed Nyquist, that's a reasonable improvement.

Nyquist - Barzal - Eberle
Lee - Nelson - Bailey
MDC/Ladd/JHS - XXX - Komarov

(might need to add some speed to that second line and mix them up a bit).

 

[crasherino]

Just took a look at Neil Sheehy - Anders' agent - to see what his deal was. Its interesting, practically all his players are Minnesota guys. He's got Leddy, Ryan Suter and a few other names (and no names) - pretty much all from Minnesota. Its not a huge group, but considering you've got some marquee clients there, you'd think you could branch out a bit on the strength of their names.

 

[Skip To My Lou]

Just took a look at Neil Sheehy - Anders' agent - to see what his deal was. Its interesting, practically all his players are Minnesota guys. He's got Leddy, Ryan Suter and a few other names (and no names) - pretty much all from Minnesota. Its not a huge group, but considering you've got some marquee clients there, you'd think you could branch out a bit on the strength of their names.

Yeah, I genuinely think Lee's going to the talking period to use those teams as leverage. If the Isles don't budge, we'll see him elsewhere.

 

[Newsworthy]

Varlomov with the Canes. Gardiner and Duchene to the Rangers maybe. I could see Panarin with the Stars. Wouldn't be surprised if they signed Lee also.
Also could see a scenario where Panarin ends up with Florida or the NY Rangers.

If Rangers strike out on Panarin have to wonder if they put a full court press on Lee.
In that scenario maybe we sign Zucarello. I rather see us offersheet a Leaf or see what MAJO costs.

 

[Uncle Duke]

Check out this blurb from a Hockey News article entitled "Gold Mining: Every NHL team’s best late-round draft pick in the post-lockout era" by that genius Steve Ellis. Apparently the answer to our center depth problem has been here all along:

"New York Islanders – Anders Lee, C, sixth round in 2009 (152nd overall)
From 2006 to 2009, four Islanders’ draft picks chosen in the fifth round or later have played at least 400 games, but nobody has done as well as Lee. One of the best centers available in unrestricted free agency, Lee has hit the 50-point plateau in the past three seasons."

Bad enough that he gets his position wrong, but then to highlight him as being exceptional at it!? You might just have a bit of a credibility problem there Steve.

 

[Newsworthy]

Bingo.
A) If Lee wants a Hayes type contract, he can go get it July 1st from some sucker like Philly.
B) I moved to Toronto in January of 2018 for a year. The first thing my friends and family said once I settled in was Tavares was going to end up on the Leafs in the summer. My response was, " I doubt he leaves, but is he does, I won't care and Toronto will regret it."

I know it may not come across from my previous posts, but I like Lee, and I liked Tavares. But in the salary cap world, contracts matter.
When Wang gave Yashin that stupid contract, everyone I know laughed. I didn't care if he paid him $100mil per, there was no cap. So from a fan perspective, contracts were just conversation filler.

But today contracts are everything. ****, Hickey's 2.5mil is an issue. Lee at 7mil for 7 years would be disastrous.

And same goes with Tavares. It sucks we lost him for nothing, but we should all be thankful we don't have his contract. He became the 2nd highest paid player in the league when he signed, yet he wasn't even our best player at the end...

Ofcourse Lee wants a Hayes deal. He's a better player than Hayes despite his flaws. Different positions yes but look at the Skinner deal.

 

[sabremike]

Reminder: they already agree on AAV, they are arguing about term. Only a very foolish organization would let a guy like Lee walk over the idea the last year of a contract could be bad. Please don't let the Isles be that organization.

 

[eoin92]

Reminder: they already agree on AAV, they are arguing about term. Only a very foolish organization would let a guy like Lee walk over the idea the last year of a contract could be bad. Please don't let the Isles be that organization.

I’ll see what I can do.

 

[crasherino]

Reminder: they already agree on AAV, they are arguing about term. Only a very foolish organization would let a guy like Lee walk over the idea the last year of a contract could be bad. Please don't let the Isles be that organization.

Well...the AAV depends on the term. Obviously the AAV will go up of he accepts a shorter deal. I’m sure they are discussing different parameters of deals depending on the term. Maybe they’re talking $7.5m if it’s over 5 years while Lee would take $6.5 if it’s over 7?

 

[IslandersFan17]

Reminder: they already agree on AAV, they are arguing about term. Only a very foolish organization would let a guy like Lee walk over the idea the last year of a contract could be bad. Please don't let the Isles be that organization.

Nothing leaks from Lou, yet you know for a fact that they agreed on numbers. Numbers that clearly are fluid based on term, but...

 

[Uncle Duke]

Reminder: they already agree on AAV, they are arguing about term. Only a very foolish organization would let a guy like Lee walk over the idea the last year of a contract could be bad. Please don't let the Isles be that organization.

They do? How do you know that and how is the AAV not a function of term?

 

[MJF]

Nothing leaks from Lou, yet you know for a fact that they agreed on numbers. Numbers that clearly are fluid based on term, but...

You're all assuming that Lee genuinely wants to re-sign here. I remember the way Rattlesnake conducted himself 2 years ago.

AFAIC everything surrounding the Lee negotiations is white noise. If Anders really wants to stay he should sign his contract now. Don't give Lou a chance to start talking to his potential replacement.

 

[MJF]

What I would hate to see happen is that the Lee negotiations end up like what happened with Frans Nielsen. When Snow couldn't entice a UFA to come here he circled back to Nielsen and Frans told Garth "forget it I'm going to the Red Wings".

 

[Uncle Duke]

What I would hate to see happen is that the Lee negotiations end up like what happened with Frans Nielsen. When Snow couldn't entice a UFA to come here he circled back to Nielsen and Frans told Garth "forget it I'm going to the Red Wings".

If Lou doesn't have a legit Plan B lined up, and maybe Plan B is actually Plan A, then those who have been critical of him will have been on target. While I am still not 100% sold on Lou yet, I think he's too much of pro to let that happen and would be shocked, and angry, if it did.