Wang this summer admitted there were, so you are wrong. You should update your material if you are going to defend this laughingstock of an owner/organization.
I was quoting someone else, and they were being satirical. Try again.
We are drafting, yes, and sometimes poorly. Getting caught dumping a bunch of assets into Calvin the Fra-gil-le' and trying to make up for it with a ridiculous defensemen-mostly draft was and still is embarrasing. That it leaked that we offered all of our draft picks for Larsson is even more embarrassing but at least they realized, finally, that you can't go mostly offense with your drafting like the previous years. I guess that is something. Maybe Reinhart will be a top 4 player by 2020. I hope I am still alive to see it.
Wouldn't take the deal either. Has anyone considered that Snow/Wang is spending money on scouting instead signing slightly better role players? Our front office isn't very forthcoming.
It's also worth noting Snow offered all his picks for the second overall pick. i.e. Ryan Murray. He/scouting obviously saw something in him. Though he's injured now, so we may of avoided another de Haan.
Considering we drafted all defence last draft is a good example. Snow put precedence on what (was) our weakest position. It's still at the NHL level, but not for prospects.
I wouldn't knock Snow's drafting, especially not this early. I am impressed by his drafting in the later rounds. De Haan was a flub, but his career isn't done yet.
I would bet Snow will look into drafting a bluechip defenseman. Seth Jones would look awfully nice in our colours.
If none are available, it's safe to say he'll go for a winger. Or just BPA if there's a substantial gap.
Development... now that is an interesting issue with this club, because they aren't very good at it. The club is so bereft of veteran leadership with a few skills that it hurts to see them blow games like kids vs. adults sometimes. They should be adding decent vets to help provide stability on the ice, but instead we get ahl scrubs, waiver garbage, and projects like Boyes. Some work out, many don't like Pock, Hillen, Reasoner, Schremp, etc. The club is too kid heavy, with most of the kids being average. Yes, if we had a club like Chicago that quickly scores 4 franchise players in a short time span maybe you can do it, but we didn't do that. Our draft picks that have made it to the club so far outside of Hamonic and JT are pretty middling. They aren't leaders. Martin will grow into one, but he is currently in improvement mode and shouldn't be saddled with that kind of responsibility, not yet anyway. They instead give us Mark ****ing Streit who is about as good a leader as Yashin. Bad idea.
Touche. And we need better coaching at all levels.
I feel we should look into getting an ECHL affliate. (All teams should have both AA, AAA imo) Doing this may help Bridgeport as well.
It's not like there's very many skilled players going into free agency. PA was offered 4mil for 4 years, which was risque at the time no doubt. He's scoring now, but there was no guarantee he'd continue to do so.
We need a few better parts and you would see the club's development improve more. This? This roster is just a cheap owner not giving a crap about the Islanders and Garf putting lipstick on a pig.
Of course I want to see us improve, but I know rebuilding can take up to a decade before the results play off. Chicago took eight years to rebuild, look at them now, they're unstoppable.
I'd say this rebuild started in 2008. We tried the playoffs in 2007, didn't work.
Moulson is pretty forgettable if he isn't paired with MM.
Moulson is forgettable in general, I don't think I've ever seen a more boring 30 goal scorer.
I'm not complaining, as long as he scores I don't care if he isn't flashy.
It is also the reason they haven't declared Rick medically unfit and retired him against his own will. There isn't a fan in Islander country who doesn't know Rick's done, and now we have the admission he has had a chronic condition the past three years that was kept hidden... Garth knew. Chuck knew. The Docs knew. All in the name of saving Wang money.
How is that saving money for Wang? That would mean insurance would have to pay him, (from being medically unfit to play.) If anything they're holding onto him hoping he'll retire from injury, so he won't count towards the cap and the Isles don't have to pay him for the next decade. He isn't retiring and they're getting impatient (rightfully so.)
Now they can buy him out without his cap hit sticking, it might seem like a blessing for Wang now, the next ten years? Not so much. But it's the better of the two evils.
