Islanders Notebook: Tavares, Lee and Halak in the hunt for hardware

[bsutch]

The New York Islanders are first place in the Metropolitan Division, despite having one of the worst penalty-kill rates of any team in the last 20 years. John Tavares, Anders Lee and Jaroslav Halak are big reasons why. Check out my latest post at Along the Boards.

http://alongtheboards.com/2015/02/islanders-notebook-tavares-lee-halak-hunt-hardware/

 

[TOGuy14]

What the hell did I just read?

Anders Lee in contention for Calder? Maybe in a dimension where FF, Ekblad and Gaudreau were never born.

Halak for Vezina? This is the goalie who currently ranks 17th in GAA and 23rd in SV%?

This is insane bias from an Islanders tinted set of glasses.

 

[bsutch]

What the hell did I just read?

Anders Lee in contention for Calder? Maybe in a dimension where FF, Ekblad and Gaudreau were never born.

Halak for Vezina? This is the goalie who currently ranks 17th in GAA and 23rd in SV%?

This is insane bias from an Islanders tinted set of glasses.

Lee is one goal off the rookie lead and Halak is on pace for 50 wins. Are either of them shoo-ins? No, far from it. But I won't be surprised if they both get votes.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Lee is one goal off the rookie lead and Halak is on pace for 50 wins. Are either of them shoo-ins? No, far from it. But I won't be surprised if they both get votes.

Price is on pace for 50 wins as well with considerably better SV% and GAA numbers and Rinne is still on that pace despite his injury.

Halak isn't even a finalist, imo.

 

[GreatStateofHockey]

Lee is one goal off the rookie lead and Halak is on pace for 50 wins. Are either of them shoo-ins? No, far from it. But I won't be surprised if they both get votes.

Not only is lee behind the big 3, the Sen's also have 2 players that are sure to be ahead of him in Stone and Hoffman.

 

[bsutch]

Not only is lee behind the big 3, the Sen's also have 2 players that are sure to be ahead of him in Stone and Hoffman.

I wasn't arguing that Lee should or will win the Calder. All I said is that he could generate some buzz down the stretch if he keeps up his current pace. Keep in mind that he was just shifted to the first line within the last few games. Playing on John Tavares' wing on a regular basis could help him close the gap with the Calder frontrunners in pretty short order. Maybe that will hurt him the voting — the perception of being a product of JT's playmaking — but I can easily see him finishing in the top three in rookie scoring.

 

[Tatar Shots]

Lee and Halak will not garner any attention for those awards. Tavares could go on a tear and get the Art Ross but even that is unlikely. This article would have likely been better suited discussing the Islanders depth at forward.

 

[LePalle]

Amazing season for the Islanders. I just noticed today that they're 18-2 against their own division and haven't lost to a divisional rival since November if I'm not mistaken.

 

[SLAPSHOT723]

Lee may get consideration for the Calder, but Gaudreau has to really cool off. I think Forsberg wins it anyway.

Tavares and Halak shouldn't come close to trophies. Halak's been great but there are goalies that are on a completely different level. Tavares was crap for the first half of the season.

 

[Faterson]

Anders Lee can't be a Calder candidate because earlier in the season, following an intermission interview, the Isles' own rinkside reporter, Shannon Something, asked him, "I'm sorry, what was your name?" "Anders Lee," he replied, blushing on her behalf. Either he's not a Calder candidate, or she should quit her job.

 

[The Undertaker]

Tavares was 3rd in Hart voting when he was a minus player who was 17th in scoring. Wouldn't be shocked if he won.

 

[Brunomics]

Not even going to bother to read the article because 2 out of the 3 aren't in contention to win hardware. JT has to go buckwild to finish the season to even have a chance at any hardware as well.