Goes along the lines of after Trouba was traded he said “I’m not the frst guy to get fired by MSG.”
Broadway might be a great place to play but Dolan’s players (Knicks and Rags) get treated real shabby if they don’t want you.
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Goes along the lines of after Trouba was traded he said “I’m not the frst guy to get fired by MSG.”
Broadway might be a great place to play but Dolan’s players (Knicks and Rags) get treated real shabby if they don’t want you.
SI90
Registered User
Mr Misunderstood
Loser Point User
This is like Brett Baty for the Mets, he crushes AAA and cannot hit MLB pitching.
Both are AAAA players.
doublechili
For all intensive purposes, your nuts
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It also proves how difficult drafting 18 year old kids is. The AHL is a huge step up from juniors/college, and then the NHL is another huge step up. And then, to be more than a bottom 6-er in the NHL is another big step. Trying to figure out if a kid will successfully navigate those two big steps and make it in the NHL is hard.
And it's why I'm not impressed when I watch a kid score a ton of easy goals in the pre-draft highlight videos. You get those in juniors/college and even in the AHL, but not in the NHL.
We saw his DY+1 at Boston College as a disappointment. Much more had been expected of him.
Statistically speaking, he got back to speed shortly thereafter and he certainly still looked promising in the 20-21 season, which was a covid-shortened year.
But ultimately, it always felt like he needed an entire season of AHL hockey in those early years - maybe two. This franchise didn't afford him that and the 21-22 season showed us that he was gonna need time, if not a different role altogether.
Things started ok in the 22-23 season, then slowed down, and then the injury came.
He was never the same after that ACL tear.
To be fair, Wahlstrom played at the U18 Worlds as an underager and put up 4-1-5 in 7 games, which is gooood for a 16-year-old. He went 7-2-9 in 7 games the spring thereafter, which was his draft year, in which he set USNTDP records with his 77 total goals.
As a light comparison, the top goalscorer in the program this year is McKinney with 39 total goals in 74 games.
And Wahlstrom's IO the entire time was that of a one-time threat who could also pick corners. Everything else was meh, but if you have guys who set others up, he was a sniper.
It seemed fully understandable that the Islanders selected him when he fell into their laps. He had already been a childhood YouTube video star to boot.
But the team obviously didn't realize how much he was in need of a sheltered prolonged, all-round transition to the pro game that would allow him to discover and work on everything he'd need in order to translate USNTDP success to the NHL level. He had deficiencies. They weren't dealt with.
In hindsight, he actually needed the Holmstrom treatment.
Who knows, maybe he'll get that now elsewhere and take a note out of the Daniel Sprong textbook to finding NHL work.
Holmstrom basically got a season and a half at Bridgeport under Brent Thompson and developed just fine. Wahlstrom was only in BPT for a part of 1 season and got called up too soon, imo.
mm11
Registered User
hence why debating if we draft 8th or 13th really seems fruitless. Now if we had the 5th overall that would be nice.........wait......
The Real JT
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the Lou way
Flipped on the Rags-Panthers game.
Looks like I finally found a scenario where I’d actually like to see the Rags win.
Throw Skarek in goal and 2 more losses and some lottery luck, that’s all I ask for.
Looks like I finally found a scenario where I’d actually like to see the Rags win.
Throw Skarek in goal and 2 more losses and some lottery luck, that’s all I ask for.
Rags and Detroit win. Good for the draft watch
Habs get a point after a shootout loss to Chicago. Potentially leaving us to play spoiler for Columbus on Thursday.
Great debut for Demidov. Weird shootout too as refs missed a shootout goal for Chicago and it was reviewed after next shooter and led to their win. Great move by Nazar (Isles draft pick that was traded)
Habs get a point after a shootout loss to Chicago. Potentially leaving us to play spoiler for Columbus on Thursday.
Great debut for Demidov. Weird shootout too as refs missed a shootout goal for Chicago and it was reviewed after next shooter and led to their win. Great move by Nazar (Isles draft pick that was traded)
doublechili
For all intensive purposes, your nuts
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NYR beating FLA tonight is doubly good because FLA now can't catch TBL to get home ice in round 1. If TOR gets at least a point against BUF tomorrow, then on Thurs it's DET-TOR and NYR-TBL, and TOR and TBL would have zero to play for other than resting up for the playoffs.
I was watching the Oilers-Kings game last night and that was night and day in terms of watching the Islanders, both teams play with speed and incredible puck movement even in a Kings blowout. For one second though I was watching a different sport lol
You just described what's been a common experience for Islander fans throughout the years...
I saw a lot of the Sound Tigers those seasons and the thing that stood out to me about Holmstrom was how many board battles he won and his D zone work. He wasn't scoring much and that was frustrating some posters here but coming to North America as an 18 year old you don't want your mistakes to cost your team a game. That rarely happened with Holmstrom in the AHL.
Throttle
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Wally just wasn’t going to turn into much. Trotz barely played him, despite allegedly needing offense. Why? Bc he rarely found the open ice to take a high quality shot and he was often out of position - the latter is a common theme among veteran coaches seeking to win games. They don’t want rookies making mistakes that cost games.
Once the NHL changed pace to a faster game, Wally was toast. Injury or no injury.
Maybe if he was drafted in the 2000s he could have succeeded or hung around lower in the lineup in a slower more grinder-style game, but since COVID he’s not a match for this game play.
This is the same reason Michael Dal Colle was a bust, and he had a better hockey IQ than Wahlstrom. The game got too fast for a plodder like Dal Colle.
Glory Days
Registered User
Yep, both Dal Colle and Wahlstrom were too slow to get their solid shots off.
Just too damn slow to get that thing on net.
I definitely thought it was a bigger problem for Dal Colle, who was abysmal, but it was indeed also a problem for Wahlstrom. By the time they got the biscuit in a shooting position, the opponent was able to block it upon release.
For Dal Colle, it was clear from the beginning once he started getting a look at the NHL. He could not shoot. He couldn't get that far. Everything was just too slow. No sense in having a deadly shot when everyone is quicker at blocking your release than you are at, well, releasing.
And that definitely was a big challenge for Wahlstrom all the time too, although things went a little better for him when placed in the Ovechkin spot on the PP. It didn't lead to many goals but at least he was able to get the odd shot or two on net.
And when your whole game is predicated on being a sniper, you're dead in the water when this is your problem.
And guess what?
I truly think he's a different shooting beast but if Eiserman finds himself having this problem at the NHL level, then he's going nowhere fast too.
From what I've seen, he's going to overcome it. His release seems to be quicker and more accurate than Dal Colle and Wahlstrom's ever were. His hands are a plus. Even when an incoming pass isn't perfect, he tends to rifle it anyways.
But he simply cannot end up having that problem at the NHL level or he'll be cooked, like they were. Nothing else in his arsenal will make him all that NHL-worthy.
Throttle
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Well the people in the stands usually scream shoot more than skate, so goal scoring was probably the lens, albeit hoping that would be dominant over their feet.
I see it a bit, while Tavares and Stone are uber talented, their skating ain’t great. However, they have improved it, but also know where to go on the ice. Wally was beyond clueless on where to go.
