GDT: GDT #32 New York Islanders @ Chicago Blackhawks | December 15th | 3:00 PM | F/5-3 L

[MJF]

More like I want anyone else making these decisions

That would be part B of my bottoming out process.

 

[Rehabguy]

Gentlemen. Is it time for the billboards?

People really blaming Barzal? He made the offense somewhat interesting and it's his first game back, it's mindbogglng what goes through some fans heads

Don't even bother.

 

[Rehabguy]

Speaking of relevance, we can't even suck bad enough to be a story, It looks like those goddamn Rags are going to steal all of suckedness headlines again tomorrow.

And yet maybe 2 months ago many Islander fans maybe we should have rebuilt the team as the Rags or Bruins had done. Now that the Panthers are the latest example of success yet 2 or 3 years ago were just where the Islanders were- struggling to make the playoffs, thinking aha- we should be modeling after the Panthers. It never ends.

The team doesn't need a major overhaul right now of its roster but maybe it is time for a new voice to lead this organization. Maybe it is time to rid this team of this unchampionship like mentality and rid this team of Lou and his "culture". We need more of the old timer culture that Roy brings and not this boy scout well shaven, play nice bullshit that Lou seems to believe is the way. Hey I'm happy that he brought us Roy and I like the trade for Romanov but that's about it for me.

As for Roy. I like his game plan. I like his attitude. I like the way he holds players accountable. He could care less that Lou signed Engvall for too much money. He's soft as shit when they got him and he's still soft as shit. Not willing to sacrifice the body AT ALL and drive to the net with his skill. If he can contribute in other ways then fine, but the guy puts up no points and makes tons of money. So I'm not at all upset with how Roy is handling that situation it is the first step towards these guys acting like men.

Bottom line this team needs to get its balls back and the first step in that is to get rid of Lou and his silly culture.

 

[DerekKingSnipes]

But… why? If Roy was Lou’s choice, and we’re ditching Lou, what’s the logic behind promoting a random former goalie with no prior GMing experience?

We’ve done that once before you know…

He ran the Quebec league team also, I think he wants shot at it. They could kick Lou upstairs as president and have Roy work with him. I don’t know I guess they could just clear out both of them and start again with a new GM also. If they go that route it’s not happening until the summer.

if Roy has Lou's ear on every move thats sorta like being assistant gm / coach already.

Patrick might be the voice of reason in the upcoming weeks in regards to trades / extensions / waivers .

Who knows but it’s been rumored that isn’t case, Lou hasn’t consulted with Roy at all which doesn’t make any sense but it’s been reported that’s the case. I would think all GM make decisions but in the individual minutia of decisions I would think most coaches have some input.

 

[Torrey Redux]

And yet maybe 2 months ago many Islander fans maybe we should have rebuilt the team as the Rags or Bruins had done. Now that the Panthers are the latest example of success yet 2 or 3 years ago were just where the Islanders were- struggling to make the playoffs, thinking aha- we should be modeling after the Panthers. It never ends.

The team doesn't need a major overhaul right now of its roster but maybe it is time for a new voice to lead this organization. Maybe it is time to rid this team of this unchampionship like mentality and rid this team of Lou and his "culture". We need more of the old timer culture that Roy brings and not this boy scout well shaven, play nice bullshit that Lou seems to believe is the way. Hey I'm happy that he brought us Roy and I like the trade for Romanov but that's about it for me.

As for Roy. I like his game plan. I like his attitude. I like the way he holds players accountable. He could care less that Lou signed Engvall for too much money. He's soft as shit when they got him and he's still soft as shit. Not willing to sacrifice the body AT ALL and drive to the net with his skill. If he can contribute in other ways then fine, but the guy puts up no points and makes tons of money. So I'm not at all upset with how Roy is handling that situation it is the first step towards these guys acting like men.

Bottom line this team needs to get its balls back and the first step in that is to get rid of Lou and his silly culture.

Anyone who thinks that there is some kind quick turnaround/attitude adjustment/retool that is going to make this team a true contender and not the perennially somewhat competitive, middle of the pack, marginal playoff team that it is, is engaging in wishful thinking and is simply ignoring the age of the team, the contracts and the state of the farm system. While you are right about rebuilds, there are no guarantees, sometimes you have no choice.

I don't have a strong opinion about Roy one way or the other as coach but as I have said before, he is presiding of the worst PK in the league two years running. If you have decent NHL quality players you should be able to do better than that with the right scheme and according to you, this team has the NHL quality players to be competitive now. How do you reconcile those two things?

I don't know what you are talking about when you say that Lou does not embrace "old-timer" culture when he is the poster great-grandfather for it, but yeah, the silly no facial hair rules and I'm sure other aspects of what is expected is completely out of step with where the NHL is heading. I don't think those things necessarily affect what happens on the ice in a direct way but it's indicative of being out of touch.

What we do agree on 100% is that Lou has to go.

 

[Rehabguy]

Anyone who thinks that there is some kind quick turnaround/attitude adjustment/retool that is going to make this team a true contender and not the perennially somewhat competitive, middle of the pack, marginal playoff team that it is, is engaging in wishful thinking and is simply ignoring the age of the team, the contracts and the state of the farm system. While you are right about rebuilds, there are no guarantees, sometimes you have no choice.

I don't have a strong opinion about Roy one way or the other as coach but as I have said before, he is presiding of the worst PK in the league two years running. If you have decent NHL quality players you should be able to do better than that with the right scheme and according to you, this team has the NHL quality players to be competitive now. How do you reconcile those two things?

I don't know what you are talking about when you say that Lou does not embrace "old-timer" culture when he is the poster great-grandfather for it, but yeah, the silly no facial hair rules and I'm sure other aspects of what is expected is completely out of step with where the NHL is heading. I don't think those things necessarily affect what happens on the ice in a direct way but it's indicative of being out of touch.

What we do agree on 100% is that Lou has to go.

The problem with Lou is that he sold the farm to bring in middling type players. Pageau and Horvat are 2 such players. I appreciate what both of them bring to the table but they were not worth the assets we gave up for them. Romanov alone for a first rounder would have been questionable as well if it weren’t for the promise we see in George. There is not enough of a farm system to actually do a proper rebuild because instead of rebuilding the roster when Lou took it over he tried to enhance it with grinders who would do well under Trotz archaic system and over paid for them in the process.

If any Islander fan hopes to have any chance to see a cup in the next decade we almost HAVE to go with the current lineup and take their chances because we have nothing to give without severely weakening an already needy line up. The only proper way to perform a proper rebuild is to actually grow old and actually suck for many years rather than doing this half baked patch job that will end up bringing back mediocrity in return further perpetuating the dilemma. We do not have any assets to bring back the type of players some are looking for.

As for the age issue with the Islanders they are on the wrong side of the bell curve but that curve can be deceiving. Most of the impactful players on this team if properly coached are still in their prime. The team is also homogeneous enough in age that it is not any particular 1 or 2 impact players that skewing the age curve. We are not like the Pens whose 2 star players are 37 and 38 years old. Varlamov is the teams oldest player and Martin our second. Martin does not see enough ice time to affect the teams success or lack of. Also luck will have it that the hockey gods gifted us the likes of Eiserman, Tsyplakov, and George whose presence in the lineup can skew the teams age at or below the median age in the NHL which is now over 28 years of age. Most importantly these can be impact players.

So I say ride this group for as long as they can and hope like the Panthers one of these years in the future they win a Cup or just let them continue to grow old, suck really bad. Rack up a number of top picks and then build your team of the future. Trading mediocrity for mediocrity will get this team nowhere.

 

[Torrey Redux]

The problem with Lou is that he sold the farm to bring in middling type players. Pageau and Horvat are 2 such players. I appreciate what both of them bring to the table but they were not worth the assets we gave up for them. Romanov alone for a first rounder would have been questionable as well if it weren’t for the promise we see in George. There is not enough of a farm system to actually do a proper rebuild because instead of rebuilding the roster when Lou took it over he tried to enhance it with grinders who would do well under Trotz archaic system and over paid for them in the process.

If any Islander fan hopes to have any chance to see a cup in the next decade we almost HAVE to go with the current lineup and take their chances because we have nothing to give without severely weakening an already needy line up. The only proper way to perform a proper rebuild is to actually grow old and actually suck for many years rather than doing this half baked patch job that will end up bringing back mediocrity in return further perpetuating the dilemma. We do not have any assets to bring back the type of players some are looking for.

As for the age issue with the Islanders they are on the wrong side of the bell curve but that curve can be deceiving. Most of the impactful players on this team if properly coached are still in their prime. The team is also homogeneous enough in age that it is not any particular 1 or 2 impact players that skewing the age curve. We are not like the Pens whose 2 star players are 37 and 38 years old. Varlamov is the teams oldest player and Martin our second. Martin does not see enough ice time to affect the teams success or lack of. Also luck will have it that the hockey gods gifted us the likes of Eiserman, Tsyplakov, and George whose presence in the lineup can skew the teams age at or below the median age in the NHL which is now over 28 years of age. Most importantly these can be impact players.

So I say ride this group for as long as they can and hope like the Panthers one of these years in the future they win a Cup or just let them continue to grow old, suck really bad. Rack up a number of top picks and then build your team of the future. Trading mediocrity for mediocrity will get this team nowhere.

No offense, but to me what your saying is 'run it back', that is, the Lou plan, you just don't want Lou to be the one to run it back.

Lou created this mess, no doubt, and has to go but bringing in someone new is not going make the mess go away. That is going to take time and pain.

 

[Rehabguy]

No offense, but to me what your saying is 'run it back', that is, the Lou plan, you just don't want Lou to be the one to run it back.

Lou created this mess, no doubt, and has to go but bringing in someone new is not going make the mess go away. That is going to take time and pain.

Yes that’s it exactly. The decision was already made and we can’t go back now. There’s nothing left to do but let it all play out. Either hope for another run or hope we fail miserably and tank to begin the rebuild.

 

[Torrey Redux]

Yes that’s it exactly. The decision was already made and we can’t go back now. There’s nothing left to do but let it all play out. Either hope for another run or hope we fail miserably and tank to begin the rebuild.

Hoping for another run would be futile yet we're not so bad that we will fail miserably all of which would mean the worst possible outcome; perpetuating the status quo. As in, "the definition of insanity is .............."

Fire Lou, start selling and get on with it.