As a fan, is it worth it to always "go for it" the way Lou's Islanders do?

[KovalchukFistPump]

And by that I mean...provide a frustrating but entertaining-enough-for-82-games product and then predictably bow out of the playoffs in the first round against a better team. Always "go for it" and have the "we don't rebuild" attitude. Be in it enough where fans can go "well if our goalie goes on a hot streak", "if these players step up", etc. I.e. delude yourself to thinking you can win a Cup, but at the same time you do have 82-88 games (October to April) that are watchable and provide some sort of entertainment on the personal level.....compared to the many seasons my Devils have had where they were basically eliminated 40-60 games in.

Reason I ask is I've had a bunch of Devils fan seasons where I kind of stopped caring and just watched to see if young players were progressing. And I just see in Lou the same thing that he tried to do the last years with the Devils. The man just cannot take an off year to put the team in a better spot. Granted he gets the role players to play well and will once in awhile hit a home run with his later firsts (Dobson for the Isles and Zajac/Parise for the Devils). But that Islanders prospect pool looks bleak and reminds me of the days when Devils fans deluded themselves that Tedenby, Josefson, Eric Gelinas, Alex Urbom, Stefan Matteau, etc would end up good.

I'm not trying to troll Isles fans, I just see a lot of similarities with the end of his run with the Devils that looking back was really pointlessly going for it. At the least the Isles are making the playoffs while the Devils faltered at the end.

Click to read more...

 

[HockeyVirus]

And by that I mean...provide a frustrating but entertaining-enough-for-82-games product and then predictably bow out of the playoffs in the first round against a better team.

*sigh*

I feel you buddy

 

[tarheelhockey]

I think it’s ok to be constantly going for it, but going for it also involves aggressively replacing players who aren’t getting the job done.

 

[Xirik]

Perhaps when we get older mediocrity is preferred instead of getting your hopes up for something great?

 

[RANDOMH3RO]

I respect it. I’ve watched hockey for 25 years and with Lou at the helm it is the only time the islanders have been a respectable team with yearly playoff entries. Devils had to bottom out for ten years for one playoff visit and then missed again the next year. It’s way too unpredictable to just say f*** it, tank for 4 years and turn off the fan base and hope you get lucky. Bottoming out does seem to be the only true way to get back to the top, but I don’t mock any team that tries to go for it.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Perhaps when we get older mediocrity is preferred instead of getting your hopes up for something great?

This is a real and thoroughly documented reality of aging. It usually manifests in politics and life choices, but approaches to hockey are also fair game.

 

[Mike C]

I think it’s ok to be constantly going for it, but going for it also involves aggressively replacing players who aren’t getting the job done.

Good thing that doesn't apply here!

 

[Goptor]

Rebuilds suck the life out of you as a fan. You give up caring about the team by November and then only start feeling positive again by the off-season. Only to be disappointed again by November.
Going through a rebuild during your teens and early 20s could kill your enthusiasm for the sport altogether.
They aren't as bad when you are older and have the patience to wait the necessary years.

So it really depends how old you are. I would much rather go the Islanders route if its during my high school days. There is still a lot of entertainment in an end of season battle for the last playoff spots.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

I think it's going to make more sense in a league with 34 teams for sure, already think so much has to go right outside of a FO's control to win a cup already, and it's just going to get worse.

At the end of the day your job is to create a compelling product that people will pay tickets for. Isles fans might get tired of this iteration of the team though and move on and then that's when changes will come.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

The Islanders stood pat at this years deadline and have most of their draft picks the next few years. Only missing a 3rd and 7th this year and a 2nd in '26.

They definitely didn't "go for it" this year.

This offseason they probably retool

 

[DitchMarner]

They went deep in back-to-back playoffs not long ago. They almost reached the SCF once.

I'm not saying they'll go deep again any time soon, but you really can't say they've only been good enough to make the show and bow out in round one over a sustained period of time.

It seems like not many teams try to be good enough to barely make the playoffs and hope for the best these days. Maybe they'll sell some assets off and go into a rebuild soon.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

No you need to rebuild at some point .Or at least get to a point where on paper , realistically , your team is a favorite to win a stanley cup. Betting on a fluke run is not a good strategy , that said I'd trade all the past 20 years of middling playoff round wins for 19 years of sucking+1 stanley cup. But nobody wins the cup with a weak team. As a habs fan I've never seen my team be a serious contender for a Stanley cup . Going into the season knowing you basically have no chance at a cup is meh. I'd much prefer at least rebuilding for some talent or a legit 1C than throwing seasons of my life away knowing we don't have a chance as a habs fan personally. Even when we made the finals we didn't stand a chance , not even close

 

[AssaultPK]

no, be like buffalo

 

[eviohh26]

Nope. Rather see a decent pipeline of prospects rather than trade them all away and fail.

 

[RandV]

This is a topic that preoccupied the Canucks board for a year and a half prior to this season. You always need a little something extra to be a team that can win in the playoffs vs being a bubble team that competes for a wildcard spot and gets bounced in the first round, but the problem is many fans get to caught up with the idea of a 'rebuild' because that's a predictable process you can always go down. My take is to point out this is no guarantee and doesn't always work - most of the time it doesn't as you see more failure stories than success, and there are unpredictable but possible routes a team like the Islanders can take that could push them over the top. Like make a great trade for a breakout player like JT Miller, or having a late 1st round pick turn out like a David Pastrnak.

With the Isles I would look at it as a balance between:

a) tearing down the existing core in a predictable 'rebuild' method and hoping you come out with something not only equal to but better than the existing Barzal/Horvat/Dobson/Sorokin
vs
b) Working with the existing core and finding a turn of good fortune with an unexpected boost from a great trade/draft pick.

As I said so many fans especially on here obsess with a) as the predictable path but personally I think they have better odds getting somewhere with b). And if b) does not pan out, a) is always available as a fall back option however many years down the road.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Living at the bottom hoping for generational talent has failed for more teams than it has worked.

 

[Siludin]

I think the Islanders should just hold onto their 1st rounders and try to continuously retool, at least with their existing window with Barzal/Horvat/Dobson/Sorokin.
Their obstacle will be in shedding some of these veterans before they are completely garbage and anchoring the team. They should be looking to move 2nd/3rd/4th rounders to rid themselves of these guys, and use the extra cap space to insulate with other UFAs because they don't have a good prospect pipeline now.
College UFAs should also be a big target especially for a team in New York.

 

[Mattilaus]

Go for what? Your guys' teams play more than 82 games?

 

[mm11]

personally, I prefer the draft parties

 

[BB79]

I'll switch to my Sabres fan cap for a minute...NO, always go for it. Just make the damned playoffs.

The Metro division was very weak this year, I mean someone had to make it. Might as well go for it I guess

 

[HanSolo]

Living at the bottom hoping for generational talent has failed for more teams than it has worked.

There's a difference between farming the draft for talent to get your core build started and waiting and praying for a top 3 pick that becomes a a franchise superstar.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Maybe if you're a fan of team like Boston or something but there's a real sense of futility watching a firmly average team make the playoffs just to make the playoffs and get stomped whenever they come across any team with real talent.

In theory at least I prefer the tear down and a proper build back up. Proper, being a fine line of course. You have to get lucky with your draft picks, their development, and their health. You've gotta supplement them with useful vets, not too early but not too late in the rebuild. You have to manage your cap space correctly as well. Very difficult but it's fun watching everything come together.

 

[kingsholygrail]

There's a difference between farming the draft for talent to get your core build started and waiting and praying for a top 3 pick that becomes a a franchise superstar.

You don't have to be a bottom feeder to get good picks in the draft, but many teams seemed to think that's the way.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

I thought the playoffs ended after the first round. They keep going?

 

[StreetHawk]

At some point you do end up having to pay for going with vets and adding for the PO.